Hummer H3

First impressions

Sick of the humdrum? Then you need a Hummer. The Arnie-mobile is now officially on sale in the UK and what's more, like the actor-turned-politician, it's now right on. As in, right-hand-drive, right-sized for UK, and right-priced, too. Yours for £26,495, and enjoying the full marketing support of the mighty GM UK, it's now more viable than it has ever been. Well, as viable as a big petrol-engined SUV can be in these ecologically-enlightened times. That bit is not quite so right-on. But as Hummer rightfully points out, it's like nothing else. Righting the planet is not why you'll buy an H3. At least, as we'll see, not yet.

H1 and H2 Hummers are massive behemoths that won't even fit in a UK parking bay. This H3 will, though. What's more, onlookers will no longer flee in terror when they see you. Oh, sure, they'll still gawp; with all that chrome, the distinctively square-set profile and the sort of ground clearance that allows Labradors to gallop beneath, they can't fail to. But militaristic might has been civilianised. You'll no longer see one on the road and fear a coup. You may even admire the chrome detailing, the moodily-shallow windows, the Meccano-look underpinnings. Will you from behind the wheel, though?
Performance

Hummer doesn't yet offer a diesel H3. It will do in time, but for now it's a 3.7-litre five-cylinder petrol, producing 244bhp and 241lb/ft of torque. These are decent stats for the class, if not for such a large engine. And fittingly, Hummer only quotes off-road performance stats; there are no acceleration times available. So what's the subjective impression? The parpy-sounding powerplant is raucous during acceleration, still there but less offensive at a cruise. Lift off the throttle and, in our test four-speed auto, the revs drop appreciably, before zapping back up when you apply the throttle; you notice this most because of the vibes it produces.