[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Huck BB62

The six speed is also VERY expensive. The little H3's platform was avilability. Ok, so some of us wanted a V8, that's not too hard or expensive. If you added the six speed in there, the premium would be almost $5k! I'm not so sure that you'd get people chunkin' up over $45k for an H3.

The six speeds are wonderful, but the four with the overdrive and a low low range t-case works great and is STOUT. The six speed is complicated, very complicated, and expensive.

The H2 is a premium marquee. It can sustain the hit that's going to be incurred in that driveline.

IF GM would just go ahead and make the 6sp their platform tranny like VW has done it would cut the costs considerably. For only $38K you get Tourareg V6 with 6 sp transmission.

Originally Posted by Huck BB62

As far as the Touareg vs. the H3. You're serious? ... I've read numerous accounts of the things creaking and flexing like an old RV when they're used that way. The ground clearance, hell, ALL the offroad capabilities are a compromise compared to the H3. I've driven a Touareg, it's ok but it's tight, very tight. On the road, they handle very well. I think offroad it's about 30% of what an H3 is.

The H3, it's slanted towards offroad. It's hell bent for stout. There's none of that flexing doors thing going on when it's crossed up. It's ground clearance, approach and breakover angles make the Touareg look like, well, the CAR that it is. That's why it's so heavy. It handles the road reasonably well. It's about 60% of what a Touareg is on the road. With the new V8, I'd place it much higher than that, more like 80%. If you did something silly like lowered the H3 and put street tires on it with the V8, I bet it'd surprise you (BUT THAT AIN'T HAPPENING!).

I would never argue the capability of a fully indie suspension (Touareg) over an indie front with solid a solid rear. About the same difference in capability as Indie front/solid rear, to solid/solid (as in a Jeep). I have run my Touareg in some pretty heavy offroading. It has 85k miles now and I have never seen or heard any of the flexing of the doors that you describe. As a matter of fact it is still the most solid and rattle free vehicle I have ever owned. Quite frankly one of my worries IF I did get a H3, is that it wouldn't end up a rattle-trap, a few years down the road.

Here are a few numbers that might surprise you:

Ground clearance T: 8.3 H3: 8.5
Weights: T: 5168 H3: 4700
Fording Depth: T: 19.7 H3: 24"
Towing T: 7700 H3: 4500
Payload: T: 1325 H3: 1150

Of couse the H3 has the Touareg beat in the approach, departure, and breakover angles.

I regularly drive my Touareg down those isolated stretches of south Texas at Autobahn speeds (110 mph) and it is so smooth it feels like I'm doing about 70. But I'm a four time former Jeep owner and like the utilitarian look.

To me, an H3 Alpha seems to be a good compromise between a Jeep and a Touareg. I just don't understand why for as much as you pay, it doesn't AT LEAST have a 5 sp tranny.