RIP: Hummer, 1992-2010

[wtmusic]

"For years, Hummers – each one somehow bigger and more polluting than the next – were the easiest target in the automotive world for environmentalists . Need examples? How about this and this and this and, oh, you get the picture.

General Motors has been trying to sell the brand to Tengzhong, a Chinese company, but announced yesterday that this will not happen. GM said that it is still listening to offers for the brand, but it's looking likely that Hummer is not long for this world. To mark the news, we wanted to have a moment of silence for this tribute to the excesses of the 1990s and Naughts and the military mindset of the drivers bold enough to get behind the wheel, even the ones who think driving a Hummer is "a highly moral consumption choice."

There, that's long enough.

Don't worry, Hummer haters. These vehicles will be on the road for years to come and, when they're all gone, attention can turn to other gas guzzling monsters, like this year's thirsty champion the Ford F-250 Lariat."

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/02/25/rip-hummer-1992-2010/

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Double T]

1. 12 feet under is not deep enough for this obscene, emission spewing bucket of bolts.

One of the epitomes of American overindulgence is gone. Mc Mansion next?

[wtmusic]

2. Viagra rendered them obsolete nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. one of the funniest videos I ever saw involved a HUGE HUMMER

involved in an off the road international race. The Hummer got stuck, badly, and could not move. They had an itty bitty 4WD foreign truck, easily 1/2 the size of the hummer, tow it out onto safe ground.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. "When an armored car just isn't enough"

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Good riddance

"That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down"

I cannot remember any other vehicle that elicited such a visceral response in me each time I saw one.

[MercutioATC]

6. To be fair, Hummers were used as a SYMBOL of excess.

They were really no worse than many other vehicles on the road.

[wtmusic]

8. They weren't practical for anything except stroking egos

At least you could take the kids camping in a Tahoe.

[MercutioATC]

9. They were as "practical" as a lot of other vehicles.

You can also take the kids camping in a Hummer...or a Mercedes G55 which gets 11 MPG in the city, about the same as a Hummer H2.


I live in a wealthy suburb. There is no shortage of vehicles with low MPG ratings. The Hummer is visually distinctive, so it is singled out for criticism.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. You know, the first time I saw the Mercedes, I just laughed

It was the same obvious excess, but it just seemed ridiculous.

[MercutioATC]

12. The G55? It looks sorta like an old Land Rover.

It's not that big and it's boxy.

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. Actually, the very notion of a Mercedes SUV made me laugh

The Hummer was all about driving a military vehicle.

The Mercedes seemed like an oxymoron on wheels; designed for people who want to fight a war whilst drinking martinis.

[MercutioATC]

16. An SUV is really just a cool alternative to a minivan...for most people, anyway.

BMW and Porsche make them, too.

[OKIsItJustMe]

17. Strange, I never noticed a minivan being driven as agressively as I've seen SUV's (esp. "Hummers")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummer#Criticisms

...

Poor fuel economy

Even compared to other heavy passenger vehicles, Hummers without the alternate Duramax V8 engine have very poor fuel economy. Because the H2 is built to the over-8500-lb GVW class, its fuel economy is neither published by the EPA nor counted toward Corporate Average Fuel Economy.<30> For instance, H2 in one engine configuration averages about 14 mpg-US (17 L/100 km; 17 mpg-imp) on highways, 10 mpg-US (24 L/100 km; 12 mpg-imp) in the city, and has a curb weight of over 6,000 lb (2,700 kg), making it technically illegal for use on some streets.<31>

...

[Dead_Parrot]

21. oops - delete...

[wtmusic]

15. No, it was singled out for criticism because it was a war toy

for impotent men who never served.

I don't know details but I would bet the Mercedes also outperforms, outhandles, and has more storage than the Hummer. Practical is not all about MPG.

[OKIsItJustMe]

18. Absolutely. It was a military vehicle

Slightly tamed for the civilian market.

However, that's the way marketing works. Grab hold of the current thing on people's minds (i.e. the "Gulf War") and play off of it. They couldn't market patriot missiles to civilians, so they settled for selling lightly armored personnel carriers.

Think of all of all of the marketing of the word "Atomic" in the post-war period. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atomic_Cafe">The Atomic Cafe some time.)

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Yes, they were a very visible symbol of excess. That's why Arnold needed a personal "Humvee."

I mean, it's not as if he was getting one for practical reasons...

http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-indiana/156883-1.html

[MercutioATC]

13. You're talking about the Hummer H1...and less than 12,000 of those were produced.

The H1 was produced from 1992-2006.

A total of 11,818 civilian models were built.

http://www.lynchhummer.com/changes/h1.changes/production.numbers.html

[tabasco]

7. When I was in the infantry, we got these things to replace our Jeeps.

They were too big to go where a Jeep would easily go.

I preferred the 6-cylinder Jeep with a trailer for infantry support.

I still laugh at civilians who drive these behemoths.

[texastoast]

19. The people who have a need to drive these make me laugh

I just love it. Driving one of those monsters is just like yelling, "YES! I'm compensating for something!" I've never done it, but often threatened to use this bumper sticker.

[NNadir]

20. Ah, but we'll also lose FUH2.

Quoth they: http://www.fuh2.com/index.php">Mission Accomplished.

[Dead_Parrot]

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