2005 Hummer H2 Test Drive

American Excess

The second citizen's Hummer; backpack included.

From The Driver's Seat

But, how can that be? In this case, it's because the ground clearance of a Civic is about five inches, while that of an H2 is no less than ten. And whereas the entire wheel/tire height of the Civic is about 18 inches, the top of the H2 SUT's huge tires is more than 40 inches, or about as tall as your average dishwasher. If you jacked up a Civic to that height, it would look a heck of a lot more imposing, but would still have no more passenger room than it presently does. It's funny what the eyes tell the brain about the interior dimensions of an object, don't you think?

Luckily, the one thing H2 SUT passengers get -- which those seated in a Civic don't -- is a ton of shoulder and hip room. This pays off when you have to transport family like we did this past Christmas. Three, full-sized adults had no trouble riding in the backseat of this behemoth, whereas in a Civic there would have been much more griping from the cheap seats.

Of course, my 65-year-old mom would've had an easier time climbing into and out of a Civic. Luckily, mom's a good sport. And once aboard, H2 SUT passengers are treated to nice ammenities. There are front- and rear-heated seats in all of the outboard placements, rear-seat audio controls, an oversized sunroof and our tester also had an upgraded audio unit which featured an XM Satellite radio. Outside, there was extra chrome to increase the visibility of our large-styled ride -- and, since that chrome was largely on the running boards, it also aided ingress and egress.

We still say the Hummer needs its own, more distinctive gauges and instruments. Granted, there's a monstrously large shift lever that's unique to the H2, and the door levers and faux hex-bolt heads are distinctive and carried off decently (this isn't an Audi interior with "jewel-like accents," mind you). But, for heaven's sake, is it too much to ask of the GM penny pinchers to spend a few cents on a Hummer-logo speedometer? Details such of this are what make a brand; it's also why, even if buyers know a Lexus ES 330 is a Toyota Motor Camry clone, they'll pay the extra $8,000 for the Lexus badge. This is because it's not just a badge -- it's a very well worked-over machine that feels different in as many facets as possible.

All that's left to say is that, once again, if you sat behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Tahoe, the dash wouldn't look too different than the one found in an H2 SUT -- and we think that's a shame.

Also borrowed from another GM product is the manner in which the midgate works in the back of the Hummer. Like the Chevy Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT, with the SUT you can push a button to lower the rear window, then fold the rear seats forward -- for protection, they have a treated, plastic back -- and fold down the door between the bed and the back of the vehicle. Once this is done, voila, you have a longer pickup bed, albeit one that intrudes on your allowable passenger room, not to mention bringing some of whatever potentially grimy object from outside into the sweet, clean, leather-clad interior of your H2.

Fortunately, you may not need to do that operation very often, depending, of course, on which activities you use your Hummer to perform. The H2 bed boasts 47 inches of width between the wheel wells, the box is 20 inches deep and the distance from the liftgate to the rear glass of the vehicle is 34 inches. That was enough room to pile in some snowboards -- they hung over the lip of course, but not so far that they'd be hard to secure and boots, and -- on a separate jaunt -- to easily stack three mountain bikes -- with the front tires removed -- in the space. And, if you measure the volume of the bed, it's larger than almost any passenger car's trunk.

Measure the cargo room another way and the SUT isn't so impressive. In fact, its total cargo capacity is worse than that of a Subaru Outback.