Among Hummer Die-Hards, A Twinge Of Doubt - Chicago Tribune

[hatrack]

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GM's 2002 introduction of the H2 — more polished and sold in considerably larger numbers — netted enemies. One Web site, FUH2.com, drew hundreds of photos from people saluting the Hummer with their middle fingers.

The stepped-up culture war found its way to a leafy Washington, D.C. neighborhood last July, when two masked men attacked a parked Hummer with a machete and a baseball bat. Hummer owners from around the country called Gareth Groves, the owner of the vandalized vehicle, to offer help, even garage space. But they were outnumbered by people who sent hate mail. Groves wasn't too surprised that people loathed his Hummer. It was how much they seemed to hate him, lambasting everything from his bleached hair to the fact that he lived with his mother.

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Even a few hardcore Hummer owners are rethinking. "It's not a very practical truck," says LaForgia, who plans to sell his H1 to save for a house. Others are adjusting to new realities. There's a small crowd of Hummer enthusiasts out there running on biodiesel. Welch, the surgeon, is leaning toward buying a hybrid for commutes to a hospital parking garage with ceilings too low for his truck. "I want to save my carbon footprint, not blow it on my way to work," he says.

But Hummer owners see such decisions as personal choices, not bows to external pressure. "It's easier to ask for forgiveness then permission," Andres says. "I've always found that to be true." He's describing only the fess-up-later approach he takes in explaining money lavished on the Hummer to his wife. For all those folks waiting for Hummer owners to cry uncle, well, don't hold your breath.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-hummer-fans-jul27,0,3697612.story

[Waya]

1. Our Firechief owns one of those monstrosities.....

...everytime I see him rumbling down the road with it (and taking up more than his share of said road) I wanna flatten his tires. Gawd, you wanna drive a Hummer, join the Army, will ya? gas prices ain't high enough, I guess..............

[Ian David]

3. I don't begrudge First Reponders the use of Hummers. n/t

[Catch22Dem]

4. I get the impression it was his personal vehicle

Not the department's.

[Waya]

5. It's not his 'official' vehivcle.......

...it's his private toy.

[Ian David]

7. Oh, well that's a little different. n/t

[Ian David]

2. I enjoy giving the finger to people in Hummers.

Especially when Mommy has to explain to their little children why strangers give her the finger all the time.

"It's because Mommy is a selfish bitch, dear. Now, please be quiet and pull the legs off your kitten."

[Fovea]

6. As a cyclist

I have seen far too many humvees nearly flatten even other cars because their sightlines for the driver suck.

I won't even go into the attitude of HummDrivers except to say that the owner of the largest liquor store chain in KC is currently fighting assault charges and damages for destroying a neighbors yard while allegedly assaulting two cyclists with his humvee and a sap who caused him fifteen seconds wait to get into his driveway.

[Warpy]

8. I've never seen a driver who looked like s/he was enjoying

the H2 experience. It's usually either been a pinched looking trophy wife who got stuck with using it to pick up the groceries and cleaning because it doesn't fit Himself's parking garage or some man who looks like he really has to wrestle with it to get it to turn into a parking lot.

I've only seen one on the road here in the past 3 months. I think most of them are parked except for showoff days with other owners.

They'll mostly end up as museum pieces, evidence of the dying gasp of the current Gilded Age.

[phantom power]

9. Thelma, I declare that I'm experiencing a twinge of doubt...

[depakid]

10. They're not even good 4 wheelers!

Witnesseth:

The Truth behind the Hummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpxoomyFs_0

[happyslug]

11. When I was in the National Guard the Humvee were just coming into service

The Humvee were a vast improvement over the Dodge Pickups most of them replaced (The Dodges had been bought in the 1970s as part of the bail out of Chrysler, the Dodge Pickups were dogs fit only to be taken "Down range" and used as targets). I never did get a chance to drive one, my units only Humvee were for the Medics (i.e. Ambulances). Despite that we had an opinion of them, they were inferior to the M35 2 1/2 ton truck that they were suppose to replace sometime in the Future (Which never came, the Humvee were to light and the Army had to go with a new 2 1/2 ton truck to replace the old M35 series My unit was, and I believe still is using).

We still had the M551 Jeep, it went everywhere, and when you were stuck two people could push it out of any problems, just like the WWII jeeps. The CJ, the XJ and newer Jeeps are all to big to do that. WWII era Jeeps and the M551 series were not much bigger then the off road four wheelers we have nowadays, except they could also operate on Highways unlike todays off road four wheelers.

During WWII the main two vehicles made were the 2 1/2 ton truck (Which the M35 series replaced starting after WWII) and the Jeep (Which was replaced in the 1950s with the M551 series of Jeeps). The US did NOT have a good 1 ton vehicle, the US used various 1 ton Vehicles none were very good but with the Jeep and M35 series the 1 ton vehicle range could be ignored.

After Vietnam it was decided to replace all gasoline powered vehicles with diesels (Tanks had gone diesel in 1959, prior to that even US Army tanks used gasoline engines). The problem was low end power. A gasoline engine gives very good acceleration, which is required when starting from a start. Diesel provide more power at cheaper costs but they ability to provide power on the low end (i.e. pulling out) is way less then a Gasoline Engine. For Tanks and large vehicles this was NOT a problem for such vehicle have to use a lot of power just to move, thus the lack of power on the low end of the power range was NOT that much of the problem, on the other hand smaller gasoline engines provided a lot more power then similar size Diesel engines. In simple terms, they was no ready Diesel replacement for the M551 Gasoline engine that could do the job of propelling a small vehicle down a mud path. The only diesel that provided the needed power was either a large in-line six Cylinder diesel or a similar sized v-8 diesel. Both are LARGE ENGINES that need a large car just to haul the engine. Thus once the decision was made to get rid of gasoline engines, the Jeep had to go and the smallest Vehicle that could be designed was the Humvee, a one ton monster of a replacement for the Jeep.

Now small Diesel engines can be used to generate electrical power, no load on the engine except as a generator. Small diesel engines can be used on small vehicles, but at the cost of no ability to operate on the Highway or any where near highway speeds (And I do NOT mean 55, I mean 25 mph). This lack of ability to operate at low speeds was the reason small diesel never took off (Some on coming on line now, but for use on paved roads only, not cross country).

In the picture the problem seems to be the lack of low end power from the Hummer's diesel engine. The Jeeps that past it were all Gasoline power and thus had more power available at low speeds. The Humvee also did not have the three axles of wheels a 2 1/2 ton Truck has (Or the winch a 2 1/2 has to pull itself out of the mess the Hummer was in). This was why the US Army refused to convert to Diesel even as late as the Vietnam War, the superior power of SMALL gasoline engines when used in Vehicles. The Hummer would NOT have been adopted except for the US Army adopting a Diesel only policy. Had gasoline (Mogas in army terminology) had been retained, then the Jeep would have been retained (In fact when the US Army went in Macedonia in the 1990s the M551 series of Jeep had to be called back into service, Macedonia roads were so bad and narrow that the Humvee could NOT be used in them (To wide), the M551 had to be used instead.

I am one of those people who foresee the US Army bring back the Jeep, it probably be a diesel hybrid (The diesel does NOT directly propel the vehicle, the Diesel just provides electrical power, electric motors propel the Vehicle thus the problem of low power of small Diesel engines does NOT come into play). Such a Hybrid could be as small as the old WWII Jeep but without the rear seat (Where the battery or engine will be). A good runabout when you need to get someone somewhere (i.e. The Officers of a unit together for a Meeting) or to use as a Scout. Right now the Humvee is suppose to perform those duties, a duty it uses to much diesel performing and is to big. Now the Jeep will come back, but probably as a hybrid for then it can be a diesel, like the Army wants all of its Vehicles to be.