Hummer H3 review

3. Equipment and design

There can be little doubt that the H3 is the ultimate definition of an offensive 4x4, yet the vehicle is actually smaller than the Land Rover Discovery, Audi Q5 and even the five-door Shogun. Due to its brutish, hunched-shouldered shape though it looks like a colossus, and its large radiator grille and muscular wheelarches are about as American as George W Bush, and for many people probably just as odious too. Some 4x4 enthusiasts though, feel a certain amount of respect for its larger than life nature, though if you’re turned off by its looks, you’re unlikely to warm to its other aspects.
We have the top spec Luxury model here, which for an on the road price of £32,995 offers a kit-list comprising of stability control, leather upholstery, a premium stereo and a swing-mounted spare wheel. Hardly breath-taking stuff then… and hardly of ‘luxury’ quality either.
The stereo system is the worst, most inoperable example we’ve ever tested. It looks pretty naff for a start, the radio constantly cuts out or detunes itself and as it includes just three buttons, switching stations, increasing the volume, playing a CD or even turning off the damn traffic announcements requires a PhD in bad electronic gadgetry. In case you suspect this is a case of a lazy journalist not being able to get his thick head around a simple piece of equipment it should be pointed out that every one of our testers eventually opted for the sound of silence in preference to contending with the awful system for any longer. For a 10k vehicle to include such an item would be a crime, for it to be featured on vehicle with the Hummer’s price-tag is absolutely unforgiveable.
Thankfully the vehicle’s sat-nav was a little more functional, though this is as you’d expect given it’s a £2210 extra, and when combined with a £780 sunroof and £670 metallic paint, we were pretty alarmed to discover our test vehicle’s total price was an eye-watering £36,665. One other bizarre feature of the vehicle is its speedometer that’s written in kilometres per hour, which requires you to either be particularly good at mathematics or rely totally on guesswork when heading along speed camera-lined routes.

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