The SF Chronicle astounds with Super-SUV makes splash in Bay Area - Gas-guzzling Hummer 2 with military amenities inspires love, hate:
San Francisco -- The Hummer 2 treats boulders like pebbles, lakes like puddles and has hood handles designed for helicopter transport. But the 3-ton wonder designed for tearing across a desert or racing up a mountain is more likely to be used by soccer moms bent on homeland shopping.I'd feel better about this if I didn't think Sam and the folks in Mill Valley would gladly vote for all sorts of restrictions on vehicles driven by the "little people".
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A beastly bundle of contradictions, the H2 is an unrepentant road hog, capable of making a splash at the opera or scaling mountains. General Motors is selling as many of the $50,000 H2s as it can make and touting them as the "SUV that can drop and give you twenty."
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The H2, designed with input from longtime Hummer fan and owner Arnold Schwarzenegger, went on sale July 12. Designed for buyers in their 40s who earn more than $150,000, the H2 is modeled after the original made-for-the- military Hummer, now called Hummer 1. The H1 sells for more than $100,000.
Because of its classification as a medium-duty truck, it is subject to even less stringent air pollution standards than other large SUVs and is entirely exempt from the federal gas-guzzler tax.
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GM sold 3,871 H2s in November -- only about 150 fewer than Nissan sold of its Pathfinders and more than Land Rover sold of all of its models combined. Hummer outsold the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade EXT, the Lincoln Navigator and Ford Excursion.
There are now Hummer dealers all over the Bay Area.
Mill Valley resident Penny Wright-Mulligan bought her first Hummer in October. She loves the macho frame and 316 horsepower V8 engine. And she doesn't seem to mind that, on average, her vehicle gets 10 miles to the gallon -- particularly when she has to shuttle four children between the ages of 11 and 16, and three dogs.
"I drive it to pick up the kids at school," said Wright-Mulligan, who previously drove a Suburban but said the Hummer is more comfortable and easier to park. "I get a lot of funny looks. People love it or hate it. It upsets some people because it's a big SUV and a gas guzzler. But it's what we need. And I just love feeling like I'm higher up. It's like driving an armored car. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile."
Sam Bernstein, a San Francisco dealer of Asian art, said he had never driven an SUV before he fell for the Hummer. He drives the Hummer to work and uses it to transport art and sculpture. On the weekends, he and his wife like to go off-road to look at birds.
"I'm a Sierra Club member," said Bernstein, who noted that he avoids such disposables as paper cups. "You can be environmentally correct and drive a Hummer."
And thanks, but out here, we'll stick to our pickup trucks.
