Test Drive Hummer H2 since 2002 SUV

Battle of Giants: Toyota Land Cruiser vs Hummer H2

The most insane contractions in the world usually get sound short names: Red VS. Blue (Name of the Popular Television Series), Holyfield-Tyson (Boxing Duel between Holyfield and Tyson), Lingerie Bowl (Women's Football Cup Linen). Despite the fact that the battle of which will be discussed is not yet completed, the collision of Hummer and any decent SUV, especially the Hummer version against Jeep, would have done so much noise in the automotive, and not only there that we decided to figure out the situation. Without a single Jeep one at its disposal, we were strained by Hummer with Toyota Land Cruiser on three sites of the California desert, to find out if one of them will come off from the route, or they will go to the whore, let me and with creak. Stay with us to find out the answer to this question, and also see the photo gallery dedicated to our off-Road Intrigue.
Very few here do not consider Hummer a real SUV. Most of those who have happened to manage Hummer outside the route, do not have any doubts about its possibilities in combat conditions ... and often because of this are criticized and attacks from the first. We have H2, who once visited the mud, we went to H3 and H3T, visited the Baja 500 highway on the H3 Alpha, and also overcame the first stage of Baja 500 per H2, from the improvements on which only different from the stock shock absorbers were present. In other words, we not only saw what Hummer was capable of, we did it. And we believe in it.
But to be fully objective, we put Hummer and a decent SUV represented by Toyota Land Cruiser in equal conditions at neutral territory. Yes, the North American package of Land Cruiser is no longer as popular as in former times. But with new steps and mudguards, a parking radar and a leather interior, Lexus steering wheel and other luxuries, he remained the previous trouble-free movement of the UN representatives, which is still used to move on the backyards of Southeast Asia and other impassable landscapes. So, he is still good.
So, what we have: two cars, two days, three routes. For forest objectivity, a writer and photographer who worked on a solid publication in a solid cover was taken to the companions, both have extensive off-Round experience and verbal battles about Hummer. Our photographer, sitting down in Hummer, said that he feels incredible excitement and should urgently see his wife.
We had no task to arrange a merciless comparative test with these cars. We had a limit on both the tests and the level of check-in. After all, we could not call the representatives of Toyota and report that, they say, they will be able to pick up their Land Cruiser, who fell to the bottom of the thoughts of the Rib, and that he will not go from there anywhere. After all, such statements are very poorly helping the formation of friendly relations with the PR-Agents of the fleet.
The meaning of our test was to drive both cars along the routes requiring a full drive, and see how they behave themselves. The northern part of the Californian desert offers a wide selection of landscapes, but since none of these machines were created for the rivers storming rivers or maneuvering in closed spaces, our choice fell on open areas, although one of them was abounded by pits, moams, cobblestones, sandy plots, steep lifts and descents, serious rolls and a couple of such descents that the hair rose end.
As a result, we got to the Nightmare Gulch gorge (nightmare gorge), but a little later.
On the one hand we had a Toyota Land Cruiser car. Its V-shaped 8-cylinder engine with a volume of 5.7 liters issues 381 hp and 543.7 nm of torque through a 6-speed automaton. The purple horse is equipped with a double-handed pendant with screw racks and a 43 mm stabilizer in front and 4-lever with screw racks and a 25-mm stabilizer from the back. The curb weight of this car is 3,292 kg.
H2 is supplied with a V8 of 6.2 liters with a capacity of 393 hp. and 415 Nm of torque aggregate with a 6-speed automatic transmission. He has an independent front suspension on the torsion, with single-cylinder gas shock absorbers and a 36 mm stabilizer. The rear suspension is represented by a 5-lever system with pneumatic self-leveling springs, single-cylindron gas shock absorbers and 32-mm stabilizer. Weigh all this 3,901 kg.
The first significant difference between cars steel tires: H2 is equipped with all-terrain rubber size 315/70 R17. Land Cruiser, the luxurious flagship of the Toyota line, comes with all-season rubber 285/60 R18. And although at first glance, the opponents were in an unequal position, it turned out that the tires did not have a significant effect on the outcome of the battle.
The second serious difference was the system to pull out the car from a difficult situation, which is from each of the competitors. In fact, all the battle has been made to compare the operation of two modes: locking the rear differential in H2 and the Crawl Control mode from Land Cruiser. In H2, the central and rear blocks work in such a way as to transmit all the power on the wheel on the ground, and thereby not give the car to get stuck. The Land Cruiser system works with brakes, like ABS, but in contrast to ABS it prevents the wheel rotation, and does not provide its lock. Instead of deaf blows on the brake pedal, which you feel when the ABS is triggered, you hear how the caliper is rapidly pinching the brake disc and refuse to respond to a further effect on the pedal. It sounds as if the gigantic spring shot sharply and then returned to its original position. Or as if the car is now breaking in half.
But it works. Thanks to her, Land Cruiser was chosen from all the controversial situations in which we put it. In essence, you activate this system it has three speeds and allow the machine to do all the work. You only need to stay alive. And turn the steering wheel.
Now about the routes. We visited El Paso mountains, in the Red Rock State Park Natural Park, in the Last Chance Canyon Canyon (Last Chance Canyon) 17 km with a level of complexity (USA) equal to 5 points; in Cudahy Camp 11.6 km from the HSD in 4 points; And at Opal Canyon Road 10.14 km from the CSA in 5 points.
The first section of Last Chance Canyon is a soft sand and gravel. With both our participants did not like it, but if you keep the optimal speed and trajectory, you can go through this segment of the path without any problems and delays. But if you stop, it appears a chance to learn how the dynamics of the jeep varies the reaction of the throttle to work the gas pedal. H2 choke works smoothly and stable, it has a very comfortable gap between the moment of stopping the wheels and the moment of the beginning of their rotation. You know exactly when the torque goes on them, and you still have time to adjust the speed of the wheels.
Any pressing on the Land Cruiser accelerator in 4W HIGH mode, if the machine is stripped in the sand, gave the following two effects: wheelchair and sand fountains. And no other options. Very similar to Road mode. But if you set the 4W Low mode on the selector, the throttle reaction becomes more flexible, allowing you to more accurately dosing the power supplied on the wheels. And then it remains only not to forget to return Cruiser to 4W HIGH mode when you return to decent speeds.
In the same site, we have the first to test Crawl Control mode. Slowly passing a complex turn, our purple handsome managed to get bogged into the ground with rear wheels (in 4W HIGH mode), having flown on a couple of stones. Following it on H2 in 4W Low mode, we traveled this dangerous area of \u200b\u200bpebbles. While we thought, as we should do with Cruiser, one of our companions expressed a valuable thought about H2: it is really an SUV for idiots. You just show where you need, and he goes there.
But it was said not as a compliment. And only then we realized that with Hummer it is exactly the case, and nothing else. He does everything you need from him, but instead that for some reason it receives a SUV for idiots in his address.
We have included CRUISER Crawl mode, listened to the screening sound of the brakes, and you imagine it got out of this trap. Contrary to our expectations, this process went smoothly, without jerks; He looked like a ride riding when a horse gently clings you up the stony slope. All that is required from you is not to fall out of the saddle. This is the confrontation of electronics and mechanics where electronics does not break, where it is cheaper, easier and not so expensive if compared with the mechanism of transmission of differential to the desired wheels to achieve the same effect.
In fact, all two days we observed the same picture: the infantry of H2 against the civil Land Cruiser. Since the current Cruiser is being developed for asphalt roads, he fought the steps of stones (Toyota, sorry), and a smaller tire sizer meant that overcoming yam and other obstacles demanded from the driver of great skill and tireless attention. And we almost coped with the task, and the key word almost (Toyota, forgive again). The angle of inclination of the plane to which Cruiser can save painlessly and from which it can also be solently descended, 10 degrees are smaller than H2. And yet in Land Cruiser there is still a spirit of a real SUV, which he thought.
Another proof of this approach was obtained by passing the Opal Canyon Road site, where the road turned cool to the left of 90 degrees and went down. The rear right wheel H2 was quite severely broken away from the Earth, but when the Cruiser went to the same way, we repeated the maneuver again with their continuous bridge and Panar's rods, it raised only three or four centimeters. And although at first glance it is difficult to suspect, the stroke of the suspension is significant, and in general the car rides very confidently.
On a steep descent, which is crowned with that descending turn, we got another opportunity to make sure the difference of these cars to nature. Turn on the H2 mode 4W Low and listen as the V8 growls, storming the slope. Move Cruiser to Crawl Control mode and listen to Jacomo Puccini, presenting yourself by Don Quixote on a replenished horse named Rinsonan. Everyone is good in its own way.
I hope you have not forgotten that we have observed almost all two days of our tests. We are too far away in the gorge and eventually rested in a zigzag narrow passage from Western good, bad, angry. Moreover, he was not just evil, he was disgusting disgusting, indescribable. Then we found out that it was a gorge Nightmare Gulch.
In fact, it consists of naked stones. It seems that he created a deity consisting of a stone, with the intention to turn this place in a quarry, where the stones could multiply, giving off every few hours. And all this is covered with sand. It is almost like Disneyland. If disneyland were made of stones and covered with sand.
In fact, we planned to avoid similar places, but since we were there, and the end of our path was visible in some pair of kilometers, which in itself is very tempting, we risked. And, as expected, we faced face to face, or rather the body to the stone, with the most vulnerable place of SUV limited space.
N2 immodest dimensions make it unsuitable for places like Nightmare Gulch. But before you take the Hummer H2, we would like to note that this gorge will be able to overcome units. Even jeeps prepared for off-road with raised bridges and lightweight bodies would be powerless here. Any crew cabin with a long base would be here at least a couple of serious scratches. Land Cruiser also got. Perhaps, Wrangler Rubicon felt more confident here, but only at the expense of its more modest sizes and a short base.
And H2, and Land Cruiser made their way surprisingly. Drivers of both cars tried not to deviate from the specified course. But the stones living here could not let go of our Mahina without paying the MZDA in the form of a robust paint and the cut metal.
The trap waited for us in one slippery turn. Approaching the bottleneck, formed by the wall of the gorge and the massive boulder, the left wheels of H2 hit a couple of cobblestones, who were on the road and ... rested in the rock. It would seem that the sand and gravity were on our side and promised relatively painless exemption, but all our attempts to rescue the car turned out to be unsuccessful: as soon as we managed to move H2 to a couple of centimeters, he again scorched and rested in the rock (Hummer, sorry).
After a couple of hours of intensive work, the shovel, Kirk and God knows than with an unbearable heat, in a kilometer until the end of the route, we surrendered, returned the car back, up the slope, which was also not the most simplest task, and headed for the exit from the gorge. Then we turned to the bypass road and headed for the nearest patch of Cafe Cafe Denny's.
What do we have in the end? The opening of this test for us was the fact that H2 and Land Cruiser can drive to any place you choose. Point. Anyone who approves the opposite is simply the wrong. The only difference will be how they achieve the fulfillment of the task. H2 is pure mechanics and coarse force, it overcomes obstacles due to the blocking of differential and pressure. Land Cruiser partly consists of the same brute force in the electronics, but in the end also copes with the task. The only thing we would like to change in Land Cruiser as an SUV is steering: it's too weightless steering wheel, and regardless of the situation. As long as the wheels are not stuck, it can be twisted with one finger. Otherwise, these cars will deliver you where you wish.
Well, where they will allow them to get their size.
And yet we failed to convince our companions. H2 is still meaningless, they argued. But he has the right tires, this was this test. H2 failed to get an unbiased judging: he drove wherever we wanted, but for some reason they counted it with merit correctly selected tires. We objected: nonsense. H2 passed the entire route, showed a good time, and it was about it that was this test.

A source: Autoblog.com.