I am graduating college this year with a Bachelors in Criminal Justice. I am going to be a State Trooper and currently work as a local cop. I was going to get a corvette Z06 but have decided not to because I want something safe. I currently drive a nicely modified mustang cobra. I have decided that if I get another sports car I will get a dodge challenger b.c they have a 5 star front and side crash test and are overall nice. I am thinking maybe a truck would be safer and also get me to work in the snow.

I plan on buying a full size dodge ram 2500 later on but for right now I want something really nice since I am just graduating. I drove a mercedes CLS AMG which is a 110,000 Mercedes which I can pick up for 40k used.

I really want a hummer H1 and found out they get 16 MPG. I have my eye on the wagon models. If I use this as a daily driver, what could I expect in up keep, and other costs? How much are decent slightly larger than stock off road tires? I drive a lot of high ways but also have to go to work in all weather. Any ideas? This seems like a nice looking safe vehicle that I could haul 7 people and have the option to take it off road at the family cabin.

 

You may get 16 mpg if you keep it to 55mph on the highway, usually you'll get around 12-14 [that's my city/hwy average over the last 15,000 miles].

An H1 will only seat 4 adults, although in theory you can fit 2 jumper seats facing back to back and have room for 4 more really small people.

Generally the upkeep on a mildly off roaded, street driven H1 isn't too bad, provided you buy a maintained truck. Given that most owners don't follow the maintenance procedures, I'd assume a few items may need fixing shortly after getting a used H1.

In my case, I had a t-case failure and the heating and A/C was bypassed and leaking which I wasn't aware of when I got the truck. Both of those items ran me about $3000 to fix. On the upside I have a new t-case and the A/C and heat works as good as the day as it came out of the factory.

Then I had old surplus hmmwv tires mounted on my truck that started to crack and rot shortly after I got the truck, so I wound up buying all new rubber [another 1200-1400$].

On the other hand, I know owners who got a truck and only had to replace a 300$ fuel pump solenoid [common issue on the turbo diesel trucks], and never had any problems past that.

Others can add more things but off the top of my head, issues/upgrades to look for:

1992-1997 trucks: Check for the AM General HVAC upgrade [$3000 option] the original old style heating and a/c is non serviceable. Some owners install other after market heaters in their trucks instead of getting the factory upgrade. Check to see if the truck has the upgraded system .

1996-2000 trucks: Turbo Diesels from this period had a water jacket casting design flaw on the 6.5 turbo diesel on the #8 cylinder. The block cracks at that point and you'll need an engine replacement. I'm not sure of the failure rate, but most seem to occur within the first 20-30,000 miles, an older high mileage truck from that period should be ok. I purchased a 1998 that already had the engine replaced by AM General under GMPP warranty. Look for trucks that already had the engine swapped with the improved block.

2001+ trucks already have the new style block.

Non turbo-diesel trucks do not have the #8 issue.

99-2006 trucks have a TT4 traction control system along with ABS, 98's and earlier do not have an ABS system. The ABS system can be expensive if it fails, some owners prefer to have a non ABS truck. For a hard core wheeling truck without ABS's, many owners consider 1998 to be one of the best years.

1997.5 vs 1998: midway through the 1997 production run, the H1 got several improvements including the new HVAC system, a new soft top system for open tops, and other improvements.

1998->2003: only minor changes to the H1 during this time, ie. new stereo, dash cluster redesign, more cupholders.

2004: new interior, new version of the 6.5 diesel called the optimizer which has a bit more power and torque and has a ECU designed by CAT.

2006: Major changes, heavy duty fleet chassis, brakes and driveline shafts by default [12,100 lb GVW] with a duramax diesel engine mated to a allison transmission. The ultimate H1, but it comes with the ultimate price tag.

You can look up flashoffroad, lynch hummer and the hummer network for more articles for shopping with h1's.

A few nice H1's sold recently down in California. Someone picked up a 2001 black wagon that just came out of a dealer service for $26,000, a low mileage 2000 2 door pickup just sold for $30,000. There's deals to be had.

That being said, are you planning to work on your own trucks? The H1's aren't bad to work on at all provided you have a spot to turn a wrench. There's lots of user support and it wouldn't hurt to seek out H1 owners in the area if you get one.

 

How hard is it to roll these? If I were to get in a high speed crash on the high way, rear ended, or side impact, how much safer isthis than other vehicles? I know the H3 has not so good crash ratings. I was affraid that the H1 needed major repairs thats why I never looked into itbefore now. But it seems like if I get an 01 I should be fine. Are these really good in the snow? I had a suburban with huge mud tires and it slid alot in rain and snow.

 

Does the front and reardifferential lock? What makes a H1 much better than other trucks or jeeps? Whats top speed on a 6.5?

 

83 mph for the 6.5. rated the same for the turbo and NA engines. 2003 had a rear locker. 2004 and up had front and rear lockers. some of the older trucks have had lockers added. The rest have a T-Case with HL, H and LL. You BTM in situations where you need to. H1s are hard to roll. ( very low center of gravity and wide wheel base )

 

3Hummers hit on the head.

It's extremely hard to roll an H1. I was on the 405 southbound in Los Angeles when the truck in front of me lost a pallet of tiles in front of me. I had just enough time to check the 2 lanes next to me and swerve wide and back over again to dodge the the mess at 60mph and the control was pretty tight.

That being said I wouldn't want to make a high speed maneuver like that again if I can avoid it.

And the H2/H3 shares nothing with the H1 in regards to safety. Completely different design, the H1 is military spec.

As for high speed impacts, the H1 has a steel box section frame with steel bumpers front and rear. You'll have roll bars and a solid steel roof, steel door with side impact beams, rocker panel protection, etc.

I've personally had cars rear end me in traffic where i had absolutely no damage to my hummer. Their cars easilly had a few thousand dollars in damage. Logically they didn't want to involve authorities since they hit, in their mind , a $100,000 car.

I had another friend who accidentally took out a bunch of metal railings and a collision barrier while backing up at a gas station, no damage to the H1.

I can cite 2 examples from other forums. One where a border patrol officer going 55mph in one direction hit thieves in a stolen BMW X5 SUV going 70 mph in the opposite direction... head on.

The border patrol officer escaped with a broken leg, the BMW sheared in two, and the occupants were DOA, and had to be cut out of the wreckage.

Another guy hit a greyhouse bus head on, and only lost a wheel.

Another guy was t-boned by a semi at a blind intersection. he walked away, although the passenger side was crushed, but the damage stopped at the frame rails.

These are very touch trucks compared to what's on the road today. Remember the humvee/h1 was designed to be air lifted and dropped on a regular basis, every part of frame and bumpers is built to support the weight of the vehicle. Try to lift a modern land rover by the bumper and you may break the plastic cladding and/or bend the bumper.

Here's a few examples of hummers in accidents, going through brick walls, surviving flash floods and other stories:

http://www.flashoffroad.com/Articles...flashflood.htm

http://www.lynchhummer.com/tailgater.html

http://www.humvee.net/pix/eb.html

http://www.humvee.net/pix/crump.html

http://www.humvee.net/pix/gorman/gorflip.html

Even though some of those pictures are extreme examples, it shows how tough the truck is, especially wagons. You have cases where the vehicles on very steep hills roll over and over and the owner is still able to drive it away.

That being said the truck isn't indestructible. But chances are you'll walk away from most accidents, and that's what matters. Insurance can always buy you a new truck.

 

Hey Kurt. Going back to Moab 4.12-4.19.09. You should try to get away and join us.

 

I could take the time off but the tail end of those dates, I have to be in Primm, NV to help Rob with the Terrible 250 desert race.

I still haven't installed my elockers, new suspension and upgraded cross members yet and I won't have time to do that until late April or early May. I want all those upgrades in place and been on a few small trail runs before I go on a big trip.

I'll be up for a Moab trip later this year for sure. Thanks for the offer!

 

Let me know when you are ready to go. I do have a tentative trip planned for October.