Thoughts on the new GMC Hummer EV?

[Papa]

1000 h.p. and 11,500 lb.ft. of torque, 0-60 in 3 seconds with up to 350 mile range at approximately $113,000.00.

It also has some really cool off-road capabilities. Looks very impressive.

[wareaglescott]

Pretty impressive performance numbers. I have a lot of things I would rather spend 113k on though. I think they did a nice job with the styling.

[Papa]

Pretty impressive performance numbers. I have a lot of things I would rather spend 113k on though. I think they did a nice job with the styling.

They show four levels (versions) on their reservations page with differing features spread over the next few years:

1. Hummer EV2 starting at $79,995 (available spring (2024)
2. Hummer EV2X starting at $89,995 (available spring 2023)
3. Hummer EV3X starting at $99,995 (available fall 2022)
4. Hummer EV Sedition 1 starting at $112,595 (available fall 2021) - Reservations are full

[GoDadGo]

Will it be built in Red China or will it be American Made?

I think a re-bodied Tahoe would have been more appealing.
My gut tells me it will be a flop, but you never know.
The Bronco will likely be a lot more popular.

https://www.ford.com/suvs/bronco/2021/

[Papa]

Will it be built in Red China or will it be American Made?

I think a re-bodied Tahoe would have been more appealing.
My gut tells me it will be a flop, but you never know.
The Bronco will likely be a lot more popular.

According to a Wikipedia citation (https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3...firmed-2021/):

The Hummer EV will be produced at GM's Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant in Michigan. Availability is expected to begin in Fall 2021. The company recently invested $2.2 billion in the plant for the production of electric vehicles.

[cnutting]

Not too bad style-wise, I see some of the old HMMWV lines in there. Big change for what was once an eco-protest magnet. Much better than the Mach-E.

Too rich for my blood, but I think it will do well.

[FLPBFoot]

Every time I see that add I think its a Raptor. they totally copied Ford's Raptor grill with enough difference to make it their own.

Every electric vehicle owner I know says those performance numbers come from being in exactly the right temp conditions for the batteries. My brother in law in Virginia says he gets around 40 to 50% battery capacity in 30F vs 80F.

I'm sure those numbers are when the battery is brand new and in optimum ambient.

Steve

[KDubU]

The Hummer has always been and always will be crap IMHO. It’s not a vehicle that should have been designed in it’s first iteration let alone a second.

[Straversi]

It will compete with the Raptor and sell in limited numbers but I think that’s the goal. More of a Halo platform to change the mindset of customers towards EVs. I like it.
-Steve

[nuhale]

It's cool.. gimmicky... crab walk?? Not sure who would take their $120+k vehicle out for some rock crawling. Sure they're out there. Cost of that thing is 3-4 other toys I'd rather have

[Jeff Kleiner]

1000 h.p. and 11,500 lb.ft. of torque...350 mile range

However these are mutually exclusive. If you use all 1,000 horsepowers you ain't going to go 350 miles and vice-versa!

Kind of like a Raptor it's a toy and fashion statement, but good for ya' if you have the cash to play!

Jeff

[miller7448]

This is sure to offend.... I'll stick with my Cybertruck order.

[dukegrad98]

Not too bad style-wise... Much better than the Mach-E.

Yes, like Tesla, the Mach-E has set the bar for styling very, very low.

Reading car reviews these days is only about the specs -- a "shootout" article comparing cars feels just like a review comparing computer processors to me. With incredibly few exceptions, there's rarely any reason to include the photos anymore. When it comes to styling, a Consumer Reports article comparing toasters probably makes for better reading!

Cheers, John

[Papa]

Just to be clear, I won't be reserving one, but I'm really impressed with the direction automotive technology in both the electric and general safety features is heading. I'm not eager for self-driving fully autonomous cars, but the safety bubble (sensors and processing) cars are now creating is impressive. I have two newer cars, both bristling with technology that is intended to "help" the driver. My wife's Lexus gently vibrates the steering wheel if you venture too near the edge of your lane. My BMW practically rips the steering wheel away from you, which I don't like. I've had to swerve to avoid a road hazard, and the car made it very difficult to allow me to do that, as it tried to pull me back into my lane.



Once all cars are equipped with the proper features, the numbers and severity of collisions at intersections should be significantly reduced. Also, as more and more distractions are added to our cars, features that aid the distracted driver are welcomed. Electric technology is getting better and better and I can see the end of internal combustion engines in my lifetime for production vehicles. I only pray I don't see the fictional scenario of the Rush song, Red Barchetta, become reality.



Lyrics:

Red Barchetta
Rush

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And now on Sundays, I elude the eyes
And hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire where my
White-haired uncle waits
Jump to the ground as the turbo slows
To cross the borderline
Run like the wind as excitement shivers
Up and down my spine
But down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me
An old machine
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new
Has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant Red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
We'll fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge
Well-oiled leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me two lanes wide
Oh, I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase
Ride like the wind
Straining the limits
Of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside

[dukegrad98]

We've wandered, but it's your thread, so I don't feel so bad about it!

I have two newer cars, both bristling with technology that is intended to "help" the driver. My wife's Lexus gently vibrates the steering wheel if you venture too near the edge of your lane. My BMW practically rips the steering wheel away from you, which I don't like. I've had to swerve to avoid a road hazard, and the car made it very difficult to allow me to do that, as it tried to pull me back into my lane.

Yes, I hate that crap -- we have a couple that do that stuff, too. It serves as little more than an irritation. I follow the rules when I drive. But when I'm doing hundreds of miles through BFE without seeing another car for miles and miles at a time, let me tell you how cranky I get at the wheel from jiggling and the car trying to steer just because I didn't signal a lane change to avoid some road kill or something like that!

Also, as more and more distractions are added to our cars, features that aid the distracted driver are welcomed.

I respectfully disagree. We don't need more aids -- we need fewer distractions. If the car's "features" themselves are a distraction, that's no excuse for the maker. Before long, Elon Musk will have you believing that it's a good idea to watch a movie on the 60-inch OLED screen that used to be a windshield, while his magical taxpayer-subsidized tragedy of styling drives itself along. When it winds up underneath a semi trailer, I promise you that I am going to laugh.

I think I told this story on the old forum once, years ago. A wealthy friend of mine (also a genuine car nut, with an exceptional collection) bought his 15-year-old a Volvo P1800 as his first car. At first, this was a real head-scratcher to me. It's old, it's used, it has basically nothing modern at all, including safety devices like airbags, etc. We were talking about this over lunch one day, and he gave me a counterargument that I understand more and more these days: "It's a manual shift, and doesn't have power steering, so there's no opportunity for him to play with his phone. There's no nav or screen in the car, nothing to look at -- just basic gauges. And it's slow as crap, so he's not going to be doing any stoplight racing." Turns out...the choice was not too crazy at all!

I think there's probably more demand out there for cars like this than manufacturers suspect. For example, how many of us would not prefer really good tactile controls and ergonomic layout -- think top-notch switchgear, dials, knobs -- over yet another cluttered menu-driven touchscreen device, replete with slow response times and "haptic feedback" to make us believe our fingers are touching something more than a computer screen. Blech. (This is precisely the tip-top #1 reason I haven't replaced my ten-year-old daily driver truck, or a similarly-aged SUV we use to haul the kids around. I don't want the new iPad-operated models! Everything else about the newer model is improved, but the whole UX renders the entire product undesirable to me.) One of the reasons I find FFR products so interesting and enticing is that they are a bit of a throwback to my preferred approach. They're surely not slow and underpowered like the old Volvo, mind you! But even nicely-appointed FFR cars by and large are built pretty bare-bones when compared to new cars on a showroom floor. I've had more than one long brainstorm session about the idea of the forthcoming F9 as a solution to my automotive boredom: stylish, fast, well-engineered...but still something which can be built without navigation, heads-up display, lane change assist/warning, alertness monitoring, the list goes on -- all the unnecessary frills that are standard even in many base-model cars these days.

Thanks for the diversion. Someday my friends and kids will be able to trace my decline into curmudgeonhood through posts such as this one.

Cheers, John

[Papa]

We've wandered, but it's your thread, so I don't feel so bad about it!



Yes, I hate that crap -- we have a couple that do that stuff, too. It serves as little more than an irritation. I follow the rules when I drive. But when I'm doing hundreds of miles through BFE without seeing another car for miles and miles at a time, let me tell you how cranky I get at the wheel from jiggling and the car trying to steer just because I didn't signal a lane change to avoid some road kill or something like that!



I respectfully disagree. We don't need more aids -- we need fewer distractions. If the car's "features" themselves are a distraction, that's no excuse for the maker. Before long, Elon Musk will have you believing that it's a good idea to watch a movie on the 60-inch OLED screen that used to be a windshield, while his magical taxpayer-subsidized tragedy of styling drives itself along. When it winds up underneath a semi trailer, I promise you that I am going to laugh.

I think I told this story on the old forum once, years ago. A wealthy friend of mine (also a genuine car nut, with an exceptional collection) bought his 15-year-old a Volvo P1800 as his first car. At first, this was a real head-scratcher to me. It's old, it's used, it has basically nothing modern at all, including safety devices like airbags, etc. We were talking about this over lunch one day, and he gave me a counterargument that I understand more and more these days: "It's a manual shift, and doesn't have power steering, so there's no opportunity for him to play with his phone. There's no nav or screen in the car, nothing to look at -- just basic gauges. And it's slow as crap, so he's not going to be doing any stoplight racing." Turns out...the choice was not too crazy at all!

I think there's probably more demand out there for cars like this than manufacturers suspect. For example, how many of us would not prefer really good tactile controls and ergonomic layout -- think top-notch switchgear, dials, knobs -- over yet another cluttered menu-driven touchscreen device, replete with slow response times and "haptic feedback" to make us believe our fingers are touching something more than a computer screen. Blech. (This is precisely the tip-top #1 reason I haven't replaced my ten-year-old daily driver truck, or a similarly-aged SUV we use to haul the kids around. I don't want the new iPad-operated models! Everything else about the newer model is improved, but the whole UX renders the entire product undesirable to me.) One of the reasons I find FFR products so interesting and enticing is that they are a bit of a throwback to my preferred approach. They're surely not slow and underpowered like the old Volvo, mind you! But even nicely-appointed FFR cars by and large are built pretty bare-bones when compared to new cars on a showroom floor. I've had more than one long brainstorm session about the idea of the forthcoming F9 as a solution to my automotive boredom: stylish, fast, well-engineered...but still something which can be built without navigation, heads-up display, lane change assist/warning, alertness monitoring, the list goes on -- all the unnecessary frills that are standard even in many base-model cars these days.

Thanks for the diversion. Someday my friends and kids will be able to trace my decline into curmudgeonhood through posts such as this one.

Cheers, John

John,

I can relate to your Volvo story. When I was 15, my dad and I bought a 1968 Buick Riviera that was to be my first car. I worked after school and through the summer to strip the car to bare metal and my dad did all the body work and painted the car white. I tirelessly cleaned and restored the interior (black) to like new condition. A few month before my 16th birthday, my dad had second thoughts about putting me into a car with a 430 c.i. big block and he bought my grandfathers 1965 VW Bug that would ne my actual first car. Very basic car with no radio, manual brakes and steering, manual transmission and a whopping 40hp that achieved speeds in excess of 60 mph if the hill I was driving down was long enough and the wind was to my back.

Dave