We recently caught wind of some of the plans Hummer has in store for its bread and butter H3. In addition to the H3T pickup joining the line-up, the next major freshening will drop the the 3.7L SOHC I-5 as the base engine and will include the awesome 3.6L DI DOHC V-6, backed by the General's corporate 6-speed automatic transmission. What will be gained is incredible engine refinement, as the 3.6L is arguably the best V-6 to ever come out of General Motors, what remains to be seen however is if the 3.6L will be as tractable at low RPM as the I-5 is. We also hope Hummer finds it in themselves to keep a manual transmission on the option list to maintain one of the lowest crawl ratios in the business, as well as have something for those shift for yourself kind of guys.
Our friends over at www.hummerguy.net also report that Bluetooth will finally be an option on the '09 models. Also added will be a heated steering wheel option and a new rear vision camera system. Additionally the H2 will be available with second row buckets.
--Sean P. Holman
Tech Editor - Four Wheeler Magazine