Underway, the Hummer 2 feels more nimble than it should given its considerable heft. The relatively quick steering is helped out by one of the smallest turning circles in the segment at 43.5 feet. The tires are the Hummer 2's first form of suspension, and they help provide a plush ride on road, but with a lot of control and stability off road. Its handling isn't what we'd call precise, however.
Brakes on a serious SUV require more than enough power to stop from 70 mph when fully loaded and pulling a trailer. Brakes on a serious SUV also demand the extra good pedal feel and system feel that make challenging off-road conditions easier on the nerves. Even when soaking wet, these brakes performed flawlessly, with lots of pedal feedback. ABS comes standard and allows the driver to maintain steering control in an emergency braking situation.
The Hummer 2 offers amazing capability off road. The H2 will drive straight up a 16-inch vertical wall from a standstill. It'll drive over a 16-inch diameter log. It can wade through 20 inches of water. It'll easily drive up a wet 60-degree hill, at a 40-degree angle if necessary. We've never driven a big production SUV that was this good off-road.
It uses a specialized Borg-Warner transfer case with two-stage traction control. With this system, you get pushbutton range shifting for high and low ranges, with or without rear differential locking, and a drive system that allows any one wheel with traction to propel the truck by using ABS circuitry to stop and start the rotation of the tires. The TC2 special-conditions strategy allows all four tires to spin freely at high rpm, needed on some loose or slick surfaces.
Huge LT315/70R17 BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires were easy to steer on highway and off. As big as they are, with that much contact patch on the road, the tires were surprisingly quiet at highway cruising speeds. There's an optional onboard compressor and hose fittings (that comes with the air suspension) to enable deflating and reinflating tires as road and surface conditions dictate. Next Page