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View Full Version : Just Picked Up Our New H2, Drove it From L.A. to Vegas and here is my review...


www.TheLAPD.com
10-25-2003, 05:18 AM
Dear Fellow H2 Hummer Owners,

Last Thursday night, we picked up our new 2004 Yellow H2 from Hummer of Sherman Oaks.(http://www.casaautomotivegroup.com/hummer/)

We dealt with Bob Nelson who is the fleet manager over at Hummer of Sherman Oaks and he gave us an unbeatable deal. If you are looking for an H2, Hummer of Sherman Oaks is the biggest volume H2 dealer in the nation. They sell 75-100 H2s per month and they have a bunch of 03s in stock and a ton of 04s in stock. If you want you can email Bob Nelson at: bobnelson@casaautomotivegroup.com Tell him Shawn from L.A. Performance Division referred you for an even better deal.

This truck is AWESOME! We love it, but we feel that it needs a little improvement in various areas.

We got the H2 with 20 miles on it which was on Thursday night. Friday morning, we drove to Las Vegas loaded with 4 adults and full baggage in the rear compartment in addition to a full 32 gallon fuel tank. Let's just say the H2 was heavier than the curb weight of 6400 lbs., but not as much as the GVWR of 8600 lbs. Now, I am aware that the engine is a 6.0L GM truck engine and NOT the Escalade GM LQ9 option and I am aware that the truck is a full-time four wheel drive vehicle, but whether the H2 is empty or full of people and cargo, getting the vehicle up to speed takes a lot of time. You don't want to read my review on the gas mileage. Again, I am aware that when we took the trip to Vegas, the engine was very new and not broken in, so I wasn't expecting the best gas mileage and that is why I opted to fill it up with ARCO fuel the entire trip since ARCO is the cheapest and I knew I was going to gas up frequently. The best gas mileage I achieved was 11 miles per gallon and those were highway miles.

Starting from the front to the back:

The H2 rides very comfortable and has a very nice suspension system. The turning radius is great for an SUV it's size.

The headlamps are very nice and have great coverage, but were misaligned from the factory. We are going to change out the halogen system to a DOT approved HID system within the next week or so.

When you first drive the H2, it feels as if you are in a military tank and I loved that feeling. After awhile, I got used to the way it felt and now I drive it like it is a small sports car.

The brakes are fair, but they need more brake torque over the big factory brake system. I just don't feel very safe driving at a high rate of speed knowing that I can't stop on a dime in a truck this heavy.

Front passenger comfort levels are very nice, but a 6 foot tall adult sitting in the back is sort of difficult. Since the seats in the back are raised and don't offer adjustability to lower them, a 6 foot tall adult may find it uncomfortable.

The GM Delphi factory installed navigation unit is nice, but difficult to use and will not allow you to enter in an address while you are driving even if the front passenger can easily do it without the driver being distracted. The stereo is also nice for a factory installed Bose system.

The interior is beautiful. Much nicer over other GM SUVs.

Cargo area is somewhat limited to the spare tire being installed inside, but the spare tire holder that we are going to install will get rid of that problem.

Getting someone to sit in the third row seat is a task in itself. You have to put the second row seats down and the passenger has to crawl back into the third row seat while possibly causing damage to the passenger compartment not to mention getting it dirty while crawling back there.

The H2 definitely needs more power. The truck is starving for air and feels very restricted. I don't know if we should wait for the engine to get a full break in before we start performing some modifications.

A cold air intake is a necessity, so are long tube headers if they are available as we haven't done the research on that yet. An exhaust system is almost required, so is some custom LS1 edit tuning. We are trying to decide on if we are going to install a supercharger or do a stroker motor. Maybe a 408ci.

All in all, GM did a great job on styling and everything else with the H2, but there is a lot of room for much needed improvement which we are already underway in doing.

We will post pictures of the exterior and interior of the truck in stock form and then we will post pictures of modifications as we perform them.

Just wanted to let you know that we finally got our H2 and we will be busy bringing it to life before your very eyes.

Thanks!

Shawn

"Your Speeding Ticket To The Finish Line."
The Los Angeles Performance Division
4854 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite # 5
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Toll-Free: (877) THE-LAPD (843-5273)
Local: (818) 501-DYNO (3966)
Website: http://www.TheLAPD.com
Email: Sales@TheLAPD.com
Business Hours:
Monday-Friday: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Saturday-Sunday: Closed

WE ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.

www.TheLAPD.com
10-25-2003, 05:18 AM
Dear Fellow H2 Hummer Owners,

Last Thursday night, we picked up our new 2004 Yellow H2 from Hummer of Sherman Oaks.(http://www.casaautomotivegroup.com/hummer/)

We dealt with Bob Nelson who is the fleet manager over at Hummer of Sherman Oaks and he gave us an unbeatable deal. If you are looking for an H2, Hummer of Sherman Oaks is the biggest volume H2 dealer in the nation. They sell 75-100 H2s per month and they have a bunch of 03s in stock and a ton of 04s in stock. If you want you can email Bob Nelson at: bobnelson@casaautomotivegroup.com Tell him Shawn from L.A. Performance Division referred you for an even better deal.

This truck is AWESOME! We love it, but we feel that it needs a little improvement in various areas.

We got the H2 with 20 miles on it which was on Thursday night. Friday morning, we drove to Las Vegas loaded with 4 adults and full baggage in the rear compartment in addition to a full 32 gallon fuel tank. Let's just say the H2 was heavier than the curb weight of 6400 lbs., but not as much as the GVWR of 8600 lbs. Now, I am aware that the engine is a 6.0L GM truck engine and NOT the Escalade GM LQ9 option and I am aware that the truck is a full-time four wheel drive vehicle, but whether the H2 is empty or full of people and cargo, getting the vehicle up to speed takes a lot of time. You don't want to read my review on the gas mileage. Again, I am aware that when we took the trip to Vegas, the engine was very new and not broken in, so I wasn't expecting the best gas mileage and that is why I opted to fill it up with ARCO fuel the entire trip since ARCO is the cheapest and I knew I was going to gas up frequently. The best gas mileage I achieved was 11 miles per gallon and those were highway miles.

Starting from the front to the back:

The H2 rides very comfortable and has a very nice suspension system. The turning radius is great for an SUV it's size.

The headlamps are very nice and have great coverage, but were misaligned from the factory. We are going to change out the halogen system to a DOT approved HID system within the next week or so.

When you first drive the H2, it feels as if you are in a military tank and I loved that feeling. After awhile, I got used to the way it felt and now I drive it like it is a small sports car.

The brakes are fair, but they need more brake torque over the big factory brake system. I just don't feel very safe driving at a high rate of speed knowing that I can't stop on a dime in a truck this heavy.

Front passenger comfort levels are very nice, but a 6 foot tall adult sitting in the back is sort of difficult. Since the seats in the back are raised and don't offer adjustability to lower them, a 6 foot tall adult may find it uncomfortable.

The GM Delphi factory installed navigation unit is nice, but difficult to use and will not allow you to enter in an address while you are driving even if the front passenger can easily do it without the driver being distracted. The stereo is also nice for a factory installed Bose system.

The interior is beautiful. Much nicer over other GM SUVs.

Cargo area is somewhat limited to the spare tire being installed inside, but the spare tire holder that we are going to install will get rid of that problem.

Getting someone to sit in the third row seat is a task in itself. You have to put the second row seats down and the passenger has to crawl back into the third row seat while possibly causing damage to the passenger compartment not to mention getting it dirty while crawling back there.

The H2 definitely needs more power. The truck is starving for air and feels very restricted. I don't know if we should wait for the engine to get a full break in before we start performing some modifications.

A cold air intake is a necessity, so are long tube headers if they are available as we haven't done the research on that yet. An exhaust system is almost required, so is some custom LS1 edit tuning. We are trying to decide on if we are going to install a supercharger or do a stroker motor. Maybe a 408ci.

All in all, GM did a great job on styling and everything else with the H2, but there is a lot of room for much needed improvement which we are already underway in doing.

We will post pictures of the exterior and interior of the truck in stock form and then we will post pictures of modifications as we perform them.

Just wanted to let you know that we finally got our H2 and we will be busy bringing it to life before your very eyes.

Thanks!

Shawn

"Your Speeding Ticket To The Finish Line."
The Los Angeles Performance Division
4854 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite # 5
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Toll-Free: (877) THE-LAPD (843-5273)
Local: (818) 501-DYNO (3966)
Website: http://www.TheLAPD.com
Email: Sales@TheLAPD.com
Business Hours:
Monday-Friday: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Saturday-Sunday: Closed

WE ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.

NJ H2
10-25-2003, 05:34 AM
Shawn, thanks for the review, I am looking forward to seeing PICS of your MODS as you do them. By the way I purchased a few items from you guys @ LAPD for my Z06 and I was very impressed with the quality of the products and knowledge everyone I dealt with has.
You mentioned you age going to switch your headlights over to a DOT approved HID system. How are you going to go about this? Do you have a company that is making them or are you doing a retrofit?
Either way can you post your plan, I am looking to set up my H2 up with bixenons.
TIA

www.TheLAPD.com
10-25-2003, 05:46 AM
NJ H2,

Thanks for the compliments and I hope you get all of your Z06 parts through us.

Our H2 site will be launched this weekend or by the latest this Monday.

Check out our front page of featured products for that DOT approved HID kit. What makes it the only DOT approved HID kit is that it comes with it's own optics/headlamp fixtures and it even comes equipped with low beam HID and halogen high beams. It also has an option so that you can activate the halogen high beams without turning off the HID low beams.

If you have any other questions, you can post them here or email us at: Sales@TheLAPD.com and we will be happy to help you out.

Keep checking our website at: www.TheLAPD.com (http://www.TheLAPD.com) for our new H2 site.

Thanks!

Shawn

"Your Speeding Ticket To The Finish Line."
The Los Angeles Performance Division
4854 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite # 5
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Toll-Free: (877) THE-LAPD (843-5273)
Local: (818) 501-DYNO (3966)
Website: http://www.TheLAPD.com
Email: Sales@TheLAPD.com
Business Hours:
Monday-Friday: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Saturday-Sunday: Closed

WE ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.

NJ H2
10-27-2003, 03:19 AM
I received lots of compliments on the Z06 Carbon Fiber High Flow Air Duct http://www.elcova.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

I am looking for BIxenons. Can you make this? IMO, the best part of having xenons are for the xenon high beams.

DRTYFN
10-27-2003, 01:45 PM
And I'm sure that you just so happen to offer all of the things you feel the H2 is lacking.

This sounds like a thinly veiled promo for your shop.
Why don't you contact Jason about advertising?

Buckeye Hummer
10-27-2003, 01:54 PM
I'm in Pasadena, bought my H2 at Sherman Oaks and enjoy this forum. I agree with most of your input on the H2, however, I call it as I see see it. You're going after some free advertising here, which is not a good start on this forum. Just pay for it, come back and people will appreciate your comments far more. It's better to be straight up.

PARAGON
10-27-2003, 03:19 PM
Let's cut a little slack here. They don't have an H2 portion to the website yet, haven't begun mods to an H2 yet and (as any good business should) are trying to score points by offering some good info.

Once they get up and going with the H2 portion of their business, then there might be room for complaining. Until then, maybe they can help by offering discounts, tips and more insight.

KenP
10-27-2003, 04:26 PM
I must agree that when I saw LAPD's posts in the Lighting Forum I thought about the advertising that was going on. Then I considered the info they put forth as worth while. There are many "sig" lines with web adds. in them. There have also been many instances where a respondent will reply "I sell these for $XX.XX" etc. Advertising seems to be in many places on this forum. It may come down to how blatant it is being done. LAPD's sig line is HUGE and is clearly meant as an advertisement.

Now I must admit to the following:
I e-mailed Ed Potter @ Lingenfelter and he responded today. Here are copies:

Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 1:32 PM
To: Ed Potter
Subject: H2 forums, Perry H2


Ed,

I have a Black H2 that you all did for me a while back. I love it. Graham is coming down Nov. 17 – 19 to fix a few problems. That is what I call SERVICE. I dealt with Tim on the sale.

I am writing, not because of that, but because I saw your posts on http://www.h2fanatic.com .

It may be of more interest to you to visit http://www.h2source.com/

I am a frequent contributor to this site and you will find it gets much more traffic than any other H2 site.

You will find I speak very positively of your company. My username is KenP and sig line is “Black Lingenfelter Lux”.

I look forward to reading your posts in the future.


Hi Ken -
Thanks for the tip, I have noticed that there isn't much interest in the H2fanatic site. I will definately check out the H2source forum, and probably do some posting over there. Hopefully yours will be an easy fix for Graham, and he won't have to spend the whole time working.
Please let me know if you need anything on this end.
Talk to you soon,
Ed

So here I am to blame for inviting someone that may have valuable technical information to this site, but one that will no doubt advertise to some degree or another. Heck, if I got a commission for each H2 done by LPE I would be considered to be advertising myself, but I don't, so I am not.

This sort of thing is best left to those that make the $$$ to run this site. I am sure they are quite aware of this and may just leave well enough alone unless things get too blatant. I, personally, welcome the technical advice and opinions as expressed by those who are in the industry and deal with these vehicles on a day to day basis.

Black Lingenfelter Lux

DRTYFN
10-27-2003, 05:11 PM
AD ALERT!!!!!!

Centerfire
10-27-2003, 08:30 PM
I just jokingly posted an answer to the recall police.. In fact I too like the little adverts. and as long as they do not get carried away. I do not see it as an issue.

Mike

www.TheLAPD.com
10-29-2003, 05:17 PM
Guys,

We have been in contact with Jason Rosoff since last week and we are in talks in becoming a supporting vendor on this site.

We haven't launched our H2 site as of yet. We haven't advertised any products. We have just posted info that may help you whether it be recall info, DOT news, etc.

Is that wrong? I don't know why some have lashed out against us so strongly. The comments that DRTYFN in particular has posted towards us has demonstrated the type of individual he is. That is all I can really say. I am sure if he continues, the moderators will address it.

Maybe Jason can come on and vouch for us that we have contacted him in becoming a supporting vendor.

In the meantime, we are just trying to participate in H2 discussion and that is the extent of us being here at this time.

Thanks!

Shawn

"Your Speeding Ticket To The Finish Line."
The Los Angeles Performance Division
4854 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite # 5
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Toll-Free: (877) THE-LAPD (843-5273)
Local: (818) 501-DYNO (3966)
Website: http://www.TheLAPD.com
Email: Sales@TheLAPD.com
Business Hours:
Monday-Friday: 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Saturday-Sunday: Closed

WE ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT.