Base price: $48,800
Vehicle type: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive; 5-door 6-passenger wagon
Interior volume, F/M/R (cu ft) 64/60/23
Cargo volume, seats up/maximum (cu ft) 4/87
Wheelbase 122.8 in
Length/width/height 189.8/81.2/82.0 in
Turning circle 44.3 ft
Curb weight 6700 lb
EPA city/highway mpg 10/13
Fuel-tank capacity/range 32.0 gal/320 mi
Passive restraints driver and passenger airbags
POWERTRAIN
6.0-liter pushrod 16-valve V-8, 315 hp; 4-sp auto
SUSPENSION
F ind, unequal-length control arms, torsion bars, anti-roll bar
R rigid axle, coil or air (opt) springs, anti-roll bar
BRAKES
F/R vented disc/vented disc
ABS standard
|
HUMMER H2
The Hummer H2 is the result of a December 1999 agreement in which General Motors bought the rights to the Hummer name and marketing. Although it is built in a new AM General plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, the H2 is based on a Tahoe/Suburban platform with 7.2 inches chopped out of its midsection to make for a 122.8-inch wheelbase.
It’s big but not too big. Thanks to short overhangs its overall length is just 189.8 inches, nine inches shorter than a Tahoe.
The steel body structure differs from the Tahoe’s and Suburban’s in that the H2’s radiator support and engine box are welded to the body, not bolted to the frame, to keep the large forward-opening plastic hood and grille from shimmying out of phase with the rest of the car.
The only engine currently available in the H2 is a 6.0-liter gasoline V-8 that puts out a rock-crushing 315 horsepower and 360 pound-feet of torque; the only transmission is a four-speed automatic. Weighing in at nearly the same 6400 pounds as the last K2500 Suburban we tested, we’d expect the H2 to arrive at 60 mph in just over 10 seconds—some five seconds earlier than a 6.5-liter diesel-powered H1. The H2 is rated to carry 2400 pounds or tow 7000 pounds.
The front control-arm and torsion-bar suspension is from a 2500-series Suburban as it its live-axle, air-spring, five-link setup in the rear. It’s all retuned for off-road flexibility, using new monotube shocks at all four corners.
The H2 gets a brand-new four-wheel-drive system, which is an electronically controlled full-time BorgWarner 44-84 transfer case with a center differential that normally sends 60 percent of the torque to the rear wheels but can be locked at any speed into a 50-50 front/rear split.
An optional off-road package replaces the standard 17-inch LT285/70R tires with special LT315/70R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/As featuring three-ply sidewalls with rim-protecting shoulders.
A load-leveling rear air suspension is optional; it can raise the rear in tough going to increase the off-road package’s already impressive 39.6-degree departure angle to nearly equal the approach angle (40.4 degrees).
The H2 may not be able to climb a three-foot wall, traverse a 40-percent slope, or straddle a 16-inch boulder, as the H1 can. But it is clearly equipped to be the most capable GM-designed off-roader on the market. It has the strike-force styling of the now-legendary AM General Humvee and its civilian clone the Hummer, though it’s much more refined. And starting at about $49,000, the H2 costs less than half the original’s price.
|
