I've got a 2006 H3 with the I-5 engine. I've had no problems with the engine, reliability, etc. It now has approximately 30k on the clock, and still runs great. I'd buy another one. My only doubts for your situation would be the power in mountain driving. The V8 motor might be a little better for you, especially in situations like trying to hold highway speed on I-70 through the mountains. That being said, I've been very happy with the I-5.

 

There's a component of ownership never addressed by Consumer Reports and other consumer media; passion.Our H3 is just loaded with personality and my wife and I absolutely **love** it!Are some other SUVs easier to get into or see out of? Yep. Are there someother SUVs with a smoother ride? I imagine so. Do other SUVs elicit the excitement of ownership that the H3 does? Not for us. The only other SUV with personality that we looked at was the Jeep Unlimited, and it didn't have the safety equipment that comes standard on the H3, nor did it feel as substantial as the H3.
We only have about 2,500 miles on our '08 H3 and we haven't had a single problem with it.
I can't speak highly enough about the H3!

 

The H3 is a little Tank imo, plenty of room, simple interior, parks great, turns on a dime, decent gas mileage, full size spare.

 

I love my H3. The only thing i can think of is when the exessive wind noise to the fron windshield but after a stop at my dealership they fixed it.

 

you should definitly consider the H3 i just bought an 06 with the I-5 and offroad pkg and it by far the best vehicle ive ever owned. mine has 74000km and it runs like new.

 

Well, to be honest I think I have decided I'm not going to buy an H3 after getting out of grad school. I loved the test drive I did of a H3 and definitely wouldn't mind owning one. However it is just that after talking with a bunch of my friends that own 4x4s, all the ones who owned really nice ones never felt comfortable pushing them off road for fear of breaking something expensive. The guys who were out each weekend were all the guys owning trucks cheap enough they didn't need to make payments on them. Maybe in several more years when a used H3 would be about $10k I would feel comfortable wheeling in it, but as of right now I think that something tough yet a little less expensive would serve my needs better. It doesn't really make sense for my utility/offroad truck to cost nearly ten times what my very nice Miata daily driver did.

I'm thinking that a decent condition FJ60 Land Cruiser or similar would work better for me, because even after adding lockers, lift, body armor, winch, and all that other stuff to make it a beast off road it still would be cheap enough that it wouldn't bother me when it gets scratched and dented while off roading. Not to mention that if I somehow rolled it I could just shrug and go do something else or do a home brewed repair instead of continue making payments on a wrecked 4x4.

 

Well you should be able to get an FJ60 fairly cheaply. If you want something you cab beat up and not worry about then a new Hummer probably isn't right for you. Sounds like you want something very cheap that you can just walk away from if you need/want to. Good luck.

 

Yeah, at first I was thinking I wanted something nice and pretty new, but I think cheap and old is more of what I am looking for now.

 

Good luck with whatever path you chose. It sounds like you know what you need to do.

 

Hi There- I stopped into the Hummer Dealer last Tuesday and was surprised to find no-one there waiting for the service dept except me. Of 12 lifts, there were only 2 H2 models in service. I traded in my Land Rover and am used to a backlog of service issues with them. The wait times were extraordinarily long. The Service Manager at Land Rover is friends with the Manager at Hummer and they agree that the I-5 is an impressive trouble-free product. I am very excitedto find that the h3 gets much better mileage at 87 octane and there are few problems with the I-5 engine. The finance rate and warranty are exceptional and I am so glad I bought the H3....