Well,you're not alone. Lots of people are ranting about the mess GM has gotten itself into and Hummers would have to be up there with one of their dumbest moves yet. Glad you feel better Andie.

Good thing you don't live here. Next door has two hummers and there are four others in the 90 house neighborhood. We only live here because we have for 45 years. The houses were a lot cheaper then.

We had an absolute deluge of Hummers when they first came out. I have no earthy reason as to why. We were just remarking the other day that we see one only once in a while now.

So maybe the trend is beginning to go away. Let's hope so. Cross your fingers, rant, and maybe it will come to pass in your area too.

I think the most stupid sight was driving the kids three or four blocks to school.

A friend was taking a tax accounting class and they were told to never depreciate the Hummer. They're completely impractical, and most are sold within a year.

Whenever I see a guy driving one I think: "Dude! Sorry to hear about your penis."

Have you ever been in a Hummer? A friend of DH's bought one, took him for a drive. Upon returning, DH said that he would have gotten down and kissed the ground except that his old knees wouldn't have been able to get back up. Apparently, visibility is near nil, and [as we know] the vehicle is wider than most, meaning it takes skill to drive safely within your lane. Those who buy Hums rarely demonstrate that skill. And, yes, the friend sold it within a year. The neighbors cheered.

GM -- along with all other car manufacturers -- does not have my sympathy in re to their poor business decisions. I am reminded of the original Ford Mustang, a very compact sporty little car which could be jazzed up into a fairly serious road zipper, or left with it's engine smaller and, for that time, peppy yet considerably more economical version. There was a waiting list for buying one, which indicates serious public desire. However, within 3 years Ford began expanding, widening, lengthening, redesigning in general to make the Mustang into a much bigger car. Of course, the waiting list evaporated. Did any of the manufacturers actually pay attention to the general public's desires? I don't think so. The same thing happened with the Omni... a distinctly non-sporty, roomy, practical, SMALL car obtaining better-than-average mpg, which sold out as soon as arriving on the car lots. I mean, it was a repeat: within 3 years, the little Omni was redesigned into a much larger, clunky, blob that deserved the public's snub. If I remember correctly, the Prius has pretty much had a waiting list ever since it first came to our shores... in spite of (or because of?) minimal re-designing. However, in the past hundred years of manufacturing, the US car companies have repeatedly demonstrated that if they actually sell something the public desires (as opposed to being told to desire), that model will rapidly be re-designed into an oversized and poorly engineered blob requiring great bundles of advertising for sales, until the lack of public appreciation -reflected in the lack of public sales-- is so overwhelming that the model is discontinued even by a company which is noted for producing failures.

You know, it's interesting. John Q. Public seems to accept the fallacious reasoning that a more-or-less skillfully designed and engineered machine is only worth using for a few years. And it is true that occasionally there are engineering feats which do indeed supercede the prior production. Yet skillful media manipulation glosses over the fact that a well-maintained metal product should be durable for many years while urging the consumer to replace the usable for the new... not upgrade, just change. What draws my consideration is not that cars seem to come with this built-in expectation of a short life, but that furniture, linens, housing does not. We expect a house and its contents to perform well and last for more than a few years. In fact, the expectation is that these (often distinctly non-durable) items will last decades. How and why we succumbed to and accepted the non-logical reasoning of short-term automotive life, is worthy of contemplation.

Whenever I see a guy driving one I think: "Dude! Sorry to hear about your penis."

ROTFL! My thoughts exactly!

And Meldy, standing only at 5'2" I fail to see the appeal of a vehicle that I have to use a step-ladder to get into. To me those Hummers are an expression of aggression on the road.

They remind me of the cars made out of appliance boxes we gave to our son. 2 other thoughts.

Andie..we've met and no way are you 5'2"..are you? I guess your persona makes you appear much taller.

Meldy....what can I say? LOL I can think of many instances where I could have used that line. I guess it wouldn't go over very well in a cocktail party type situation but who cares anymore? I'm not going to give you credit though when I say it.

That was Marilyn's quote and was laughing out loud when I read it, since I can think of absolutely no respect in which a Hummer surpasses any other car in benefits, aside from maybe being impervious to armor piercing artillery and mortar fire.

I agree with Meldy on her statement "in the past hundred years of manufacturing, US car companies have repeatedly demonstrated that if they actually sell something the public desires......that model will rapidly be re-designed into an over-sized and poorly engineered blob requiring great bundles of advertising for sales"

It's intentionally manufactured obsolescence, disquised as improved technology, sort of like Windows operating systems. You replaces XP with Vista????????? And then you have to put commercials on the tube to convince the consumer they aren't giving Vista a fair shake? Gimme a break. LOL.

The makers of SUV's had great success with them as long as gasoline was cheap. It's the price of gas that has been the ultimate death knell for these monsters. The buyer is not an innocent in this mess - if they not bought big and inefficient GM et al would have stopped making them long ago.

I was at a dealership yesterday getting my car serviced. They told me they are seeing the sales of SUV's going up again in direct ratio to the price of gas going down. They are, of course, delighted.

Thank you Suzy for correcting me. Marilyn...I won't give you credit either LOL .Sorry for the slip up.

I wasn't correcting you for correction's sake, or I wouldn't have. I have played on this site for nearly 14 years, and 9 times out of ten, on the rare occasion when I managed a funny joke, or novel idea later a respondent would come on and credit a later poster. Back then, it would make me feel invisible. Doesn't bother me anymore, but remember how intense people were back then, and all the emotional hoop-la? So I try to be careful now to acknowledge the person who actually does the contribution. Just a quirk of mine. Sorry.

Honesty isn't a quirk, Suzy:)

Marda, Thank you thinking my persona makes me tall, but I actually am 5' 2" tall.

Driving DH to the urologist this afternoon we saw two more Hummers on the road & he wants to shoot them too.

Suzy...I didn't think you were that's why I thanked you and aplogized to Marilyn. Some days it's like walking on eggs around here.

I wonder why there are so many hummers on the highway in Texas? I was talking to DH about this yesterday. We live in an area where people could certainly afford them but I've never once seen one...ever. Most of the roads here are narrow and very twisty turny. Maybe that has something to do with it...I don't know.

"Dude! Sorry to hear about your penis."

snork!

The other day I saw 2 hummer *limos*.

there may be some sunshine in those Hummer clouds. We are seeing more and more of the scaled down Hummer around. It looks as if they took the tiny little windows from an original Hummer and built a smaller car around them. Looks better, but still not a good looking car.

One of the things that bother me is the amount of Blind Spot at the rear of these vehicles. How on earth would anyone with good sense dare back out a driveway without a spotter to watch out for the neighbor's child or dog.

What absolutely kills me is the fact that this is a military town. Soldiers driver Hummers (actually, the acronym is HMMWV which stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) every single day. When they deploy, they drive Hummers. When they go out to the field on an exercise, they sometimes sleep in their Hummer. Can someone please explain to me WHY they want to buy one to drive in their personal life? There are tons of them in this town! My theory is that soldiers come back from their deployment with more money than brains. If it's not a Hummer, it's a motorcycle.

There isn't too much difference between the military version and the civilian version, except for the comfort items. The military makes every driver go through training and obtain a special license to drive one and if you're caught backing up without a ground guide, you'd better kiss a free weekend good-bye, you'll be on extra duty...does that say something about them? Scares me to think that the DMV allows any fool to drive one. Very scary....

My, my, my.
Just stopping by to say hi.
I used to hang out here back in the mid-to-late 90s, but I don't quite recall when or why I drifted away. Too much estrogen, maybe? I dunno.
Still recognize a few familiar faces - andie, sylvia, - and suzi, I've never lost track of you or cuz'n dorie - always enjoy touching base with y'all.

I don't have a Hummer, never wanted one, but SUVs are not all bad - with 4 kids and all the assorted gear & friends that goes with them, the miles/gallon/passenger that I get in my GMC Suburban may be better than what a solo driver in a Prius gets, and the wife/farm manager uses it to haul a trailer to and from the ethanol plant on a weekly basis for distiller's grain products to feed the cows - tows better and actually gets better gas mileage than the farm pickup truck.

Good to see y'all again. Don't know when I'll be back.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

There was a big red one from California, in the motel parking lot, at the height of the gas hike. The motel was in Chicago ~$4.45 gas. First reaction was- the grrr already expressed. The next reaction, was- the poor guy[gal?], he's on his way to the poorhouse in that thing, no wonder he's staying at the motel 6! I never expected to feel sorry for a hummy.

Hello Lucky! I am taking a grafting class this winter, and I thought about you and your trees when I signed up.

Lucky, amortizing price per gallon with per gallon per head you're correct. Impact on the environment? Not so good. A vehicle like the Suburban takes a bigger toll on that than a hybrid. A hybrid uses less gas and has less noxious emissions. However, I do understand your need for a big vehicle and hopefully one day they will come up with a family car that gets better mileage and is kinder to the environment.

I'm not sure why it seems to be primarily Hummers that everyone is getting so exercised about. Want to talk about huge Cadillacs? Outsize trucks on those giant wheels?

Unless you have environmental concerns (which I don't see mentioned much in this thread) why does anyone care what other people drive?

Look again, Sheila. Andie mentioned it right in the original post "My usual reaction to them is that the person who owns it is a total a**hole who cares nothing for the environment". I suspect that is what causes the knee jerk when the word Hummer is spoken.

It's called unconsciousness-raising. Unless issues are on the public's lips, ergo in the public's minds, they are sort of put away into a "let's not think about it" catagory. I don't suppose folks like to get labeled as holier-than-thous, or fruitcakes, but there has to be a faction who keeps reminding people of things they'd rather not think about.

Hummers are not only environmental issues. The new low gas prices are transient, and scary for several reasons. One of them is they are temporary. It lulls us into not getting serious about becoming energy independent. When the costs shoot back up again, it's going to catch a lot of people with their pants down. It also tells our automakers that it's OK to build energy monsters. Since we are bailing them out........you, me, our children and our children's children......it's very much our business to have a say in what they build from here on out. In my mind, that means real money and time going into alternate fuels. I have been following the research since the 60s when I was young and zealous, lol, and it's gotten more lip service than action. Energy companies had windfall profits after Katrina and they've been using the excuse of 'energy exploration' for not paying a tax on it. They would like us to CONTRIBUTE green dollars on our bills to fund it. Hah!

Hummers are also not a safe vehicle. I drive a small SUV, because I haul farm-related products and need to do it, regardless of weather. It is more prone to tip-over because of its design, and I find the visibility in it poorer than a sedan or coupe. It's also a given that if a hummer were involved in an accident, its passengers would fare well, but it seems to me that it would almost be a lethal weapon under many circumstances to another pleasure car. No?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I surely can't be alone in getting angry when I see them on the road, and it's not about how much I care what someone else drives, or lives in or spends their money on.

Suzy, I said environment wasn't "much" mentioned. I didn't say environmental issues were not mentioned.

I also said that "unless you have environmental concerns" when wondering why people care what someone else drives.

Let's not forget that Hummers are actually POS cars, I live very rural and many around here live in the so-called outback, but you don't see Hummers around - yes, you see large pick-ups with outsize wheels and tires, because folks have to cross rushing streams in winter, some have snow-blades mounted on their front bumper and most carry a shovel and a chain-saw in the truck-bed. It is pretty rugged in the back-country.
There is bio-diesel available in town and the fuel station is well patronized - exhaust smells like French fries or something like that.
Hummers are not made for that sort of thing.

Snip I don't have a Hummer, never wanted one, but SUVs are not all bad - with 4 kids and all the assorted gear & friends that goes with them, the miles/gallon/passenger that I get in my GMC Suburban may be better than what a solo driver in a Prius gets,

That's assuming that I am a lone driver in my Prius. I take four other women and our 5 packs up hiking on Mt Rainier on a regular basis and all are comfortable. On the way back down the mountain I got 99.9 miles to the gallon for ~ 40 miles :-> My partner and our dogs do well with it and I moved most of my household belongs. I even have transported 40 or 50 8-10' long base boards in it.

I am not saying my Prius replaces a truck, but I think trying to justify using an SUV by comparing it to a Prius is a stretch.

It's too bad people consider the Prius a small car. My daughter traded her Camray for one and I think the Prius is just as roomy. I have a 1998 Mitsu Mirage - sometimes I have a hard time finding it in the parking lot but my little 4 lunger is fine for me.

i'm thinking now wouldnt be the time to admit i've never owned anything but SUVs, would it..........
taking my jeep and going to play at the Hummer forum....
g

G'ann you are one of the few people i know who should drive a SUV....you live on the top of a mountain for Petes sake.

I was thinking of this post today as I was flipping through last month's Consumer Reports& saw that they had an article on luxury SUV's (Toyota Land Cruiser, Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover Sport & the Hummer 2), and interestingly enough the Hummer had nothing to recommend it other than it's ability to drive over rocks, and was rated the worst of the 4 vehicles tested.

Specifically it said that the breaks took a long time to bring the vehicle to a halt; the high beams provided little extra distance vision; the visibility was poor all around, especially to the rear;it had only moderate storage capacity; the head restraints were inadequate and the rear gate was extremely hard to open. It also had the worst mileage, although comparing mileage between these land yachts may be besides the point. The Hummer gets 7 mpg city & 14 mpg on the highway.

So besides showing off one's ostentation, why pay $65,000 for one of these clunkers?

I just heard something very startling on one of the morning news shows: Toyota has never made a profit on the Prius! Go figure! So the question posed was, if Toyota can't make a profit on the Prius, why are we pressuring Detroit to go green?

I'm not saying I support this position. Just that this was a revelation to me, and I wish they had gone more into the "why" of why the Prius is not profitable.

Karen, who drives a Yaris sedan and is quite happy with it.

It's probably because there isn't enough volume in sales. any manufacturer increases profit (up to that mystical point of diminishing returns) when sales volume increases and they can cut costs due to economies of scale.

There is a place for SUVs in this world.

Toyota has never made a profit on the Prius! Go figure! So the question posed was, if Toyota can't make a profit on the Prius, why are we pressuring Detroit to go green?

Two of the best selling cars (perhaps the best selling) in the last few years have been the high-mileage Camreys and Accords, made by Japanese owned Companies. They're not hybrids, but they're a lot 'greener' than many of the American models. From what I've read on earlier comments about hybrids, is that most car companies didn't really expect them to be profit-making until they become more mainstream.

But, it does say a lot about what the American public is wanting at this point.........a quality smaller auto with good mileage and that is a lot greener than SUV or Hummers. I'd be hesitant at getting a hybrid, just like a lot of people are.......waiting for "somebody else" to work the kinks out and bring production costs down. Had we not had a break in oil prices after the $4+ episode, I suspect a lot of people would be screaming for hybrids.

Green is not apple or forest.....but all the shades in-between.

Need my SUV for the snow, ice and cold we get for 6 months, call it a false sense of security but it works for me.

I'd be hesitant at getting a hybrid, just like a lot of people are.......waiting for "somebody else" to work the kinks out and bring production costs down.

The Prius has been in production for 8 years.

I have several friends who have a Prius & there are no kinks that I've heard of. The problem seems to be that Americans live in a world where they think they deserve these behemoth cars. I live in Texas where there is no snow and only an occaissional ice storm (where the SUV is no help whatsoever)so why do people think that these huge vehicles are necessary? Even when I lived up north where snow & ice were common in the wintertime, I dealt with it with a normal sedan or station wagon & never had a problem.

I know the Prius has been around awhile, and I'm not aware of any major problems with them either. I was trying to convey the "idea" that hybrid technology is still "new" enough people aren't entirely comfortable with it, and that there are some serious concerns about how "green" its manufacture is in the first place. Before its odometer ticks off one mile, it starts life with a huge carbon footprint. Even the electric it consumes to 'save' burning fossil fuel, is produced by a power plant burning fuel. LOL. It assuages the driver's guilt about filling a tank, but somebody else is still expending British thermal units.

Puts me in mind of the on demand hot water heaters, outed as "green" and energy efficient. Yes, it might save the home owner some money and make him/her feel positively righteous, but if everyone had them, the electric companies would buckle under the increase power demands, because it would mean that they'd need to power up to higher peak demands, since all the units in the country would be firing at the typical useage times. It would INCREASE the need to generate power to handle peaks and that power would he wasted during off-peak.
There is a lot of ways to interpret green, and when it becomes a word you find in advertising, be suspect. The first basic rule of green is simply use less of it.

Before its odometer ticks off one mile, it starts life with a huge carbon footprint. Even the electric it consumes to 'save' burning fossil fuel, is produced by a power plant burning fuel.

I would like for you to expound these two statements, but we would at this point have to go over to the HT forum.

My mom has a large SUV (Chevy Suburban to be exact) and while it might not be nessesary 100% of the time, it does come in handy for quite a few things.

Until last year, she had never in her life worked more than 2 miles from where she lived, so that's one thing that helped make it not too unreasonable. (She now works less than a block from me, so we carpool in my car... a Chevy Cavalier).

But, we are a family (my parents, me, Keith, my 2 aunts, my uncle, and 3 cousins) who like to go places together. It's nice to be able to fit almost everyone in 1 vehicle.

And, it's also come in handy for me, when moving furniture in the rain. :-)