The new 5.3L V-8-powered H3 Alpha is big news and thanks to the team at Hummer we now have one as a project.Holman and I took delivery of the Victory Red machine at Cerritos Hummer in Cerritos, California, Friday, November 9.  I promptly pointed it east toward our Illinois Midwest Bureau, where it will soon undergo a thorough Four Wheeler transformation.

The 2,010-mile drive home was a real eye opener. At 70 mph a darn-straight best tank of 19.9 mpg blew me away.  A righteous average tank mpg of 17.4 was the norm.  Road manners: impeccable.  Ride quality: straight up.  Power: at my beckon call.  The allure of the dirt road hit me in Utah and Colorado, as you can see from the photos.  I needed air conditioning in California but snow flurries were falling near Vail Pass in Colorado so there was a wide range of weather.  The H3 Alpha was docked at our Midwest Bureau by Sunday afternoon.  First thing Monday morning it got a soapy hand wash to remove the road grit.  Tuesday morning I took it to Bergstrom Hummer in Madison, Wisconsin, for its first oil change.  Naturally, I wanted to get the factory oil out of the brand-new engine.

Our H3 Alpha is equipped with the Adventurer Package, which includes the 4:1 T-case and 33-inch tires.  Our friends at Hummer know we're not big on frou-frou, so our H3 Alpha came to us mostly de-chromed (de-blinged as we like to call it).  The only chrome on the vehicle is the door handles and the mirror caps and we're going to fix that.  Right outta the box the H3 Alpha is an outstanding building platform and it's super capable.  Our plan is to take it to the next level.  In a world where many Hummer products undergo a nauseating pimpification that strangles their inherent offroadability, our plan is to go the totally opposite route.  We're going to enhance the H3s function without sacrificing reliability and we're going to give it a rugged look that's unlike any other H3.  Stay tuned.

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Here Holman sits in the Cerritos Hummer showroom and signs the paperwork transferring ownership of the H3 Alpha to Four Wheeler Magazine.

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Here's our first glimpse of our new H3 Alpha project.  Check out the body-colored grille and lack of bling.

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Power was never a problem- even in the high altitudes of Colorado.  The suspension soaked up the rough road like it wasn't there.

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Our H3 Alpha waits for us at Bergstrom Hummer in Madison, Wisconsin, after its first oil change.  We had our long-term H2 SUT serviced here and we were so pleased with the results we've now made them our default Hummer service provider for the H3.   Service Manager Aaron Oas is a Hummer Happening regular and our service writer Chris drives an H3.