(staff photo, Jim Evans)Dave Violette, owner of Corvette¹s North, calls his 2003 Hummer H2 amazing - a big, wide vehicle that runs like a Cadillac.
Posted on 08/23/2003 10:47:50 AM PDT by doug from upland
(staff photo, Jim Evans)
Dave Violette, owner of Corvette¹s North, calls his 2003 Hummer H2 amazing - a big, wide vehicle that runs like a Cadillac.
WATERVILLE — High, wide and handsome, a white 2003 Hummer H2 hit the highway on a recent morning with a quiet roar, its 17-inch tires hugging the road as the vehicle picked up speed.
"It's got a nice powerful sound," said David Violette, owner of Corvettes North, as he maneuvered the big sport utility vehicle into traffic. "It's amazing. Good visibility, nice handling. It's a big, wide vehicle that runs like a Cadillac."
Violette, whose son Chad sells the popular vehicle at Pape Chevrolet in Portland, the state's lone Hummer dealership, has sold several Hummers from his lot on College Avenue.
Introduced to the general market last year, the H2 is produced in partnership between General Motors and AM General, the Indiana-based maker of the military Humvee — High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
The military uses the Humvee to transport cargo, troops and weapons, and occasionally as an ambulance.
The standard price in Maine for the smaller, civilian Hummer H2 starts at about $48,500. There also is the diesel-powered Hummer H1, which is half as comfortable, half as quick, twice as loud, and twice as expensive as its smaller sibling at more than $100,000.
Riding a three-piece, ladder-type frame with coil spring rear suspension, 6-liter V-8 engine and OnStar Communication System, the H2 also comes with luxury and off-road option packages, which can bring the price to roughly $56,000.
The excise tax alone will run about $1,500 the first year.
Violette said there are probably a dozen Hummers in the greater Waterville area — a couple of black ones, a couple yellow ones, a pewter one and a big red one.
The H2 is capable of going over big rocks and logs and through water as deep as 20 inches, he said. They can climb over walls 16 inches high.
"They like the look of it, I think, the comfort and convenience," Violette said of Hummer owners. "It's really a different automobile, SUV. It's like a street rod or a special Corvette."
H2s weigh from 6,200 pounds to about 6,600, depending on options, Chad Violette said.
Bill Cleaves, co-owner of C&C Distributors in Winslow, said he and his partner, Edward Cullivan, each drive an H2 as a company vehicle. He said he saw his first Hummer in Michigan at a snowmobile event last year and wanted one immediately.
"That was last September," he said. "The day I got back I ordered it. I had the first one in the area for sure — I had one before anyone."
Cleaves has a yellow one. His partner has the pewter one.
"It's a tough, rugged truck and it's different," Cleaves said. "It rides smooth, you'd never know you're in a three-quarter-ton truck."
Cleaves said his Hummer comes with the optional "air ride" system. Instead of springs, it has air bags for a suspension.
He said that at seven feet wide and two feet from the ground to the door opening, the Hummer is safe and very stable in snow, a fact that appeals to both men and women.
Marlo Dibiase of Waterville agreed, saying she drives the H2 she purchased two weeks ago for her husband-to-be, local developer John Jabar Jr.
"I bought it as a wedding present for my husband-to-be," she said. "I love it. It's awesome. It's a lot of fun."
Dibiase, like others who own and drive the flashy Hummer, said it also is fun getting looks from people who point and stare at the unusual vehicle.
"Probably to a point, with the novelty of it all right now," she conceded. "It's different. There's not any other car that looks like it."
Dibiase said the high-function aspect of a wide wheel base and big tires also make it a safe vehicle to drive. Besides, she added, it is roomy enough to accommodate a family like hers — one with a teenager and a Great Dane.
"I love it, love it, love it," she said of the couple's white H2. "Men just absolutely go partially insane over these things. I'm not quite that hepped up about it, but I love it."
In a recent Associated Press poll, 60 percent of respondents said they find Hummers unappealing, 33 percent found them appealing and 7 percent offered no opinion.
Hummer salesman Scott Curit at Pape Chevrolet said the company has sold about 100 of the vehicles since they first took delivery of the H2 last July.
The H2 gets about 9 or 10 miles per gallon of gasoline in city and town driving and about 12 or 14 mpg on the highway, he said.
He said the standard price of the Hummer is right in line with other luxury SUVs, such as the Lincoln Navigator and the Cadillac Escalade.
"From $42,000 or $43,000 people don't see much of a step to $55,000," he said of comparisons with other large four-wheel-drive vehicles manufactured by Ford, Dodge or Chevrolet.
"People like the looks of it," Curit said. "A lot of people want to be the first to have something, like with the IROC when that came out. This one kind of caught on a little bit more."
Might as well go on up to $72,000 and get the only real luxury SUV.
But I will settle for a Pinzgauer 710K.
It is built on the Silverado platform. The AM General guys helped with the suspension and tuning a bit, GM did everything else.
OK, I was preparing a knee jerk flame about the "sissy" English/German pseudo jeep when you blindsided me with...
But I will settle for a Pinzgauer 710K.
Ah, the Swiss Army's Pinzgauer! 16 forward gears and 12 reverse. According to the old Road and Track review "if you have the guts, it'll climb a tree." And no one has a clue what the heck it is!
I forgive you for the lame Rover reference (ducking and running for cover (g))
Oh, and I'd take a Moog, too.
Bye, bye, Hummer! (IF, that is, it makes it through the muddy and/or rocky spots along the way...)
IMNSHO, as far as the Hummer II goes, "SUV" stands for "Stupid, Ugly Van"!
Why do you think men built them like that?
Preach it, FRiend! I hate 'em.
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