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Old 06-27-2006, 05:41 AM
Michael1 Michael1 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Northwest of Los Angeles, just outside all the traffic
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Default Re: Questions from a potential buyer..

Quote:
Originally Posted by BEST 4x4xFAR
Morning All,

Thanks in advance. We are of course planning to go and test drive one, but we are having trouble finding an area dealer with a manual transmission to drive. Area dealers list over a 100 H3s in stock, but all autos?!?!?[/font]

You really have to call around to find one with a manual transmission. I finally found one and was impressed. I'm pretty picky, too. The clutch effort was light, and the modulation was fantastic. The shifter works well, and is in a comfortable position.

I had heard the reports of lacking power in 5th gear, and purposely took it out on the freeway to find out. I got it up to 75, and it was still pulling, even in 5th. I came away perplexed about what the magazines were talking about. I think they may be use to many vehicles, which really don't have an economy top gear. I like the tall gears GM uses. It cuts engine wear, engine noise, and boosts fuel economy.

Everybody's bodies are different. Here is a nice thing. Hummer thoughtfully put lumbar adjustments even in the standard cloth driver's seat. Many companies don't. It's a real back saver. If you still think you may have trouble getting comfortable in the cloth seats, get the Luxury Package with the leather seats. It comes with 6 way power adjustment for the base, and power lumbar, plus manual adjustment for backrest angle, for both driver and passenger. After a couple of minutes of adjusting, I was able to get just the right amount of thigh support, and lumbar support for those long trips.

Every woman I know loves heated seats. The Luxury Package includes those.

Do you like a nice sounding stereo? The Monsoon system blew away every other SUV I looked at.

Although the price went up $150 this year , the navigation system is still reasonably priced compared to the competition. That's something to keep in mind if you want navigation.

It is also one vehicle you can take off-road without worrying about it getting torn up (I'm talking family outings here). You can also add rock rails (factory accessory) to protect the rocker panels from rocks, and a full underbody cage (also factory accessory) to provide additional protection for the transfer case and transmission.

Another nice thing about the manual, is, if you get the Off-road package with its 4 to 1 transfer case, you get an industry leading crawl ratio of 68.9 to 1. That's 1.7 mph per 1000 rpm. Great to crawling right over those boulders, that could be troublesome otherwise.

I drove the Standard and Adventure Package back to back over the same route, and neither I nor the salesman could detect any difference in the ride. I think many off-road packages have a negative effect on ride, and it's nice this one doesn't appear to.

If you have a family, I would be thinking about safety, too. There are side curtain air bags available as an option, which have rollover activation. Rollover is a leading cause of death in SUVs. The manual transmission models come with Stability Control in '07 which can help prevent rollovers in the first place. The headlights are better than most, too.

Michael
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