Newbie-Type Question

[Khamul]

Booyah!!!!



You'll understand the passion once you own one as I have owned over 14 vehicles in my lifetime from a Daytona Shelby, to a cobra GT, to a jeep to a Hummer and nothing has been as much fun as a Hummer!



Anyone can drive fast (Trust me.... one license suspension later...) but going where most vehicles cannot..... that's a rush!

[Cookie]

Thanks so much guys, this has been a great help! Out of curiosity, wht's the fuel mileage difference between the I5 and the V8? I've read on line that its close to 10 mpg??!? I can deal with the 20(+/-) mpg of the weaker engine, but im not sure I can afford 13mpg...

[Khamul]

[quote name='Cookie' date='11 August 2010 - 05:34 AM' timestamp='1281526459' post='20100']

Thanks so much guys, this has been a great help! Out of curiosity, wht's the fuel mileage difference between the I5 and the V8? I've read on line that its close to 10 mpg??!? I can deal with the 20(+/-) mpg of the weaker engine, but im not sure I can afford 13mpg...

[/quote]





That is not close to the truth!! Honestly I don't know the rating but I barely noticed a difference from the 3.7 to the 5.3 becuase the 3.7 has to work very hard and the 5.3 not hard at all so they are pretty close...

[JL]

On my H3 with 35" tires I see about 12mpg (about 20L/100km) in around town driving and 18-20mpg (right around 12L/100km) on the highway. I don't remember exactly what mileage was before the tires went on, I just remember taking a big hit to the gas mileage! So with stock tires you'll see better economy... especially in around town driving.

[Sugarphreak]

Depends on what you are doing with it too, I could see the V8 getting close to the same mileage as the I5 just because you have to spend so much time in the upper RPM's to keep your speed.



I have the I5 with a manual transmission; with stock (33") tires I was getting around 10L/100km on the highway. With the 102L tank in the T model I was able to drive from Calgary to Vancouver (although I filled up in Hope because it was way cheaper than Van). Since I made the switch to 35" tires my mileage has gone down a lot on the highway though. Maybe 11 or 12L/100km now. But keep in mind I am not exactly taking it easy, I spend a lot of time at high speed and passing people.



Around the city though my mileage is exceptionally good compared to the V8 models though, not sure how the automatic tranny would compare. I average between 14L/100km to 16L/100km.



All of that said, as much as I love having a standard tranny (and I do seriously, I have never actually owned an automatic car or SUV... ever). I would be tempted to go for a V8 if I had to do it again. This truck is just too heavy and I am constantly burning the clutch on hills with it.

[Sugarphreak]

Funny, of the 3 H3 owners (and former owner) we have all three different powertrain options... lol

[Khamul]

Very true! Good knowledge base then definitely as between us 3 - we've pretty much had them all....



I'm seriously thinking of getting my Truck re-geared. That's one thing I never thought of - gas mileage when going to the bigger tires and from stock 34's to now 37's... quite a change!



I think Kevin did that and he noticed his truck alot more responsive, better mileage, and better top end... I wonder the cost seeing how I'd have to pay someone....



Maybe we can get a deal if all three of us go somewhere?

[Archngel]

Well guys, as a H3 Owner for the past 5 yrs I had the 2006 i5 3.5 for 3yrs and now have a 2009 3.7 and I can see the difference. i averaged 13-14l/100k with my 3.5 and with the 3.7 im easily averaging 10.0 to 11. on HWY. Ive even been told on a certain trip to TO to stop rubbing it in as I wasnt even half tank then some H1 and Ford were running on fumes half way down from Montreal. hihihi



It all came down on the driving habits. for sure if you like to to be leader of the pack and like to keep your speedo at 110 , 120kph and above youll get around 20l/100. But if you dont jerk the gas pedal every 5 min. I kept the cruise control on at 105/110kph and I could have done the trip to TO and some back since with my 85l thank ive gone as far as 825km before the warning lite comes on. Keep in mind that I have M5 on adventure package also. I wanted a V8 for power and ease on HWY, the specs showed only 1l /100 difference with the specs of the I5 but after trying one, the auto transmisison was so very long to shift, you had to rev up to 3800rpm in order to shift to second gear, and almost the same for the 2 next one. so every bit of gas I was expecting to save by the biger engin, was going out the exaust just to shift the tranny. I change gear at around 2300 on my M5 unless I want to do a power start and race the civic that just keep pushing on my spare tire,so that I let him pass, I let him pass and push him up to 150kph. with the V8 I could surely still just run him over even at that speed but hey,, im old now, speed trip have gone by. my 30 yrs of jeep told me that it wasnt a race car, and I dont pick a car to race. I pick a vehicle for its utility and my overall nature. Im a quiet rebel that want its vehicle to go where I want to go when I want to. SO the V8 for me was for increased towing capacity, but I rarelly tow more than a TON, which is largely within the limit of the I5. It would have been tha cherry on top if I had one, but im very pleased with my I5.



As for the off road question, I'm stock, no mod, but rocker protector, I have front and rear locker, and my M5 surelly permit me to do almost anything as climbing capability, since my 1st gear combine with the transfercase ratio, on idle speed its really crawling and if I have front and rear lock ON I think the only unclimable obstacle would be a near 90degrees wall. ( got to get my self a 12000lbs winch to remedy this problem )



Regading clutch wear, well I have to admin that with my 2006 never had the problem and I did put almost 200k on it and it was still good. On the 2009 with the 3.7, there were few occasions especially off road where you have to let slip too much too long you can smell it burn. Will have to change this with ceramics stage 3 or 4 clutch to remedy that. Changing this will probably require beefing up other stuff like drive shafts and drive chains since I did twist a drive shaft on my YJ after that type of upgrade.



SO as Sugarfreak mentionned, it all come to what you want to do with it. Off road of on road, you can get a good middle point that will benifit both use, more on one side thant the other, one of the side will suffer. But ultimatly , Im sure you will enjoy your hummer.

[shotgun-cam]

Okay just from our Stand point we have an 08 H3 Alpha plain . We suggest if buying the bigger v8 5.3l one should get an adventure package for the stronger transfer case. 09-10's have front and rear lockers (nice to have but Rhino only needed tow once Blown transfer case.) Tires we changed from stock wranglers p265/75r16 to Kumho Roadventure KL71 mt lt285/75r16's with little change. Also if off roading we may suggest a snorkle (talk to TC on here ) and a Sy-klone unit and K&N air filter they'll save money and change-outs a lot. Early model 5's have a bad rep for head gaskets and warping See HUMMERNET.com. Ron Crew Black Rhino.



Mileage on our H3 was 14l/100km mostly highway with the snorkle and K&N filter as for salvage here in Toronto H3's are sold before they reach the wreckers ( dealers are buying them for parts.)