Con's
-very tight cabin leg room in front, both sides
-very poor visibility from all windows
-back seat is claustrophbic for most folks its useless
-road trips are loud and uncomfortable
-generally you need an H1 mechanic to do any service
-you will need alot of service, they break mechanically and electrically regularly
-you will need to carry half shafts and pitman arms offroad as the truck weights alot...
-truck is wide and long, making trail access sometimes difficult or at least environmentally unsensitive
-you will need to spend $15K on immediate upgrades to fix known problems or you will break down even more offroad
-parts and upgrades are very pricey and less and less is available now
those who disagree with all of this are just kidding themselves...!
These are great trucks, a place in my heart for mine always, like owning a ferrari for the most part. super cool and when its working its great, but youd be way better off with a porsche or a corvette..
:sombrero:
I will kid myself and disagree on a few of your cons:
-cramped front seats -- the passenger side is cramped side to side without the knee cutout aftermarket option. Driver's side is fine for me (6'1)
-poor visability...yes, to the rear (especially in a wagon)
-totally agree on the backseats being a mess. They aren't uncomfortable, but you can't see anything out of them! Most pull at least one rear seat and put in a fridge and/or storage boxes (center tunnel bench seat for smaller kids).
-road trips are loud, but no more uncomfortable than any other seriously capable 4x4 (going with larger tires on a hummer actually help the ride).
-true on the h1 mechanic for the big stuff. A good one can be hard to find!
-lots of service and breaking a lot -- yes, the service intervals are more than the average truck (especially compared to the typical suv) and if you do not adhere to them your truck will seek revenge. As for breaking down mechanically -- almost always driver error or computer related (the GM engine and tranny sometimes aren't on speaking terms and go into a limp mode). Sometimes h1's that sit a lot tend to have more issues.
-carrying spare parts -- of course, but I thought everyone carried some spare stuff? You will go through idlers and pitmans a lot if you wheel medium to hard trails (most on this forum don't do that kind of wheeling). Half-shafts are easy to break if you don't know how to wheel the truck (btm) or don't have lockers.
-too wide and long -- yes on wide! An h1 is a foot wider than the JK but it's only 184.5" long. That's .5" longer than an FJ Cruiser, 1.5" longer than the 4 dr JK, the same as my Passat, and 4" shorter than the 4Runner and 10" shorter than a Land Cruiser. Maybe you are referring to the long wheelbase? It's easy to high center if you aren't careful
-spending $15k right off the bat fixing what known problems? Maybe you are referring to the first year of ownership rule of thumb that it will be the most expensive year due to the previous owner's negligence? Other than that...if it's a pre '96 truck you'll want to the upgrade to hd balljoints/idler and pitman. If it's a turbo diesel, I'd recommend the $200 pmd (injection pump mounted driver) relocation kit and a spare pmd ($400). You also might be referring to the bad batch of GM engines in the td trucks from 96 to 2000 (#8 cylinder cracks...bummer). Most were done under warranty, some unlucky bastards (like myself) got screwed!
-upgrades/accessories can be expensive, especially from the dealer -- but there are plenty available through several companies online an at decent prices. And shipping on all Parts from AM-General is free (even engines!) and the parts will be around as long as humvees are driving around in the armed forces.
the thing to remember about an h1 is that it started life as perfectly functioning humvee...hand built by AM-General, who then crammed front and rear air conditioning, leather seats, a dashboard/more gauges, a stereo, trim and sound insulation and then stuck a turbo on the engine. It's closer to a tractor than to a truck and it makes me happy when I drive it.
rb
