That stigma came from several run-ins with people that drive or were driving their Hummers. I had an incident with 2 H2 owners while off-road. They had no respect for anyone else, were extremely intoxicated, and trashed(tried to cut donuts, ran over a fence, and left their trash everywhere) the private land that the owner had let us use. On several other occasions Hummers, H1's, H2's and H3's in traffic have just driven without regard for anyone else. I know these isolated incidents don't reflect the group as a whole, but would certainly put off an unnerving aura about the people that drive this particular brand of vehicle to someone who hasn't seen any good.

And as I saw in another thread, you generally only see the negative side of things.
With that in mind I have had several good experiences too. I based my own opinion on the good versus the bad experiences I have had, and do not have the same feelings I had before.

 

Hi jake,

its unfortunate that you had a run-in with some negative folks.

if the bolded comment was meant as you=greenblade, i'm sorry i come/came across that way. I don't think that my comments are generally or necessarily ever negative or positive, but i do guess i don't try to gloss them over. I'm sure that some folks don't like my over-pondering, but i don't mean to offend. If you'd like to point out a specific, i'd be happy to address.

otherwise take it easy & welcome to the wild & wacky world of hummers

 

No, no, not directing the bolded comment at you, at all! I am saying from the Jeep side. When we were coming into contact with people who drove Hummers, I didn't want you to think all we ever had were negative experiences. I wanted to communicate that not all of those were negative some were indeed positive.

 

i got you. just wanted to say i didn't mean harm in case.

i think quite a bit about internet and posting, and while i guess one is more or less as anonymous as you choose to be here, at the same time i think about all the attention hummers draw, and how probably these hummer forums draw just as much from lord-knows-who.

often i think the neatest thing would be to find groups of folks to go hit some of these famous trials with - certainly experienced folks couldn't hurt ones cause on the trail, and company is good. But i also often think that this jeep/hummer, h1vsh2, and so on and so forth... does it end at the real world? I mean, is all the bickering and insults and craziness just online or are people really thsi nuts in the real world too?

i guess all the competitiveness and machismo surrounding the online offroading thing sort of contrasts my real-world offroading experiences. its usually fun, sometimes scary, and mostly just really really relaxing. In a way, its as perplexing as finding yoga web sites full of insults and rivalries. but, hey, maybe yoga websites are just like it, lol

 

I completely agree. 99% of my off-road experiences have been great. Everybody is there for the goodtimes, no matter what they drive. It's the 1%ers that can turn a great time upside down.

 

hey, i accidentally blocked you. i didn't even know that could happen.

i have had one bad experience where i'm pretty sure a couple of other guys "helping out" were trying to get the H2 in a jam. i ultimately just parted ways headed another direction... but i guess it did make me wonder if sometimes this stuff does spill out onto the trails.

 

Thats just down right dangerous. Letting brand of vehicles get in the way of safety off-road is juvenile to the point of being criminal. I would hope to never find an occurrence of that out in the wild.

 

Thanks for all the great responses to my question...some very interesting points, indeed. I haven't encountered any negative reactions from anyone, but then I only have my H2(which I affectionately dubbed "the tank")for about a week...so it's early. I try to be friendly and courteous when I'm on the road so as to quell any misconception people may have about Hummer owners.

One of my good friends and a co-worker of mine...loved "the tank" so much, she's now shopping for one to replace her JEEP CHEROKEE[sm=happy046.gif]

 

the tank, that's pretty good.

a friend of mine started calling mine "the short bus" but i had guilt about that as there's a shortbus with a membership here.

the whole ruckus and competitiveness among the offroad community has sort of left me with the biggest urge to 'wheel with people i know. if i crash, i crash, but it'll be at the hands of me and a spotter i nkow wants my truck to go home in one piece, not some jeep nut trying to get a picture to post alongside that tie rod video.

lol

but the H2 has some kind of mojo, that's for sure. i can't imagine anything else on wheels that could generate such a wave...

 

A thought that came to me over the morning java:

I've wondered at times if the jeep/hummer thing isn't basically about money. I can't imagine that the typical hummer driver had anything against jeeps before all the insanity (or probably even after all the anti-hummer insanity from jeepers, its very interesting, and its fun to poke back, but does it really bug anybody?). Questions of money and social status can often result in the "rich guy" getting judged harshly.

For example, if somebody in a pinto pulls up to the bar and George says hi, and pinto-man doesn't respond, george might just think "what is he, deaf?"

But if a guy in a Maybach pulls up & sits next to George, also not responding, George might be more prone to thinking "a-hole, thinks he's too good for me"

certainly the maybach guy would be more likely to be judged a snob than the pinto guy.


And i think the same thing comes into play with hummers.

So i ask - if somebody showed up with a brand-new shiny Rubicon or Grand Cherocar w/all the options... would they perhaps get the same reaction but to a lesser degree?


Please note, i'm not saying that hummer drivers have never done wrong, i'm just observing that its unlikely that the reaction among the jeep (and some other, but notably not land rover, offroading communities) community is realistic or rational. more emotional & competitive.

I note that i have not seen continuous streams of hummer hysteria on land rover sites. In fact, i think most of the land rover-vs-hummer stuff i've seen on the web isn't by land rover guys. its other guys (not hummer or LR) saying LRs are so much better.

But, then, you could get a land rover valet parked & take it to broadway, couldn't you? I think there's a distinct correlation there.