THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

So, there has been a white soft-top Hummer H1 parked alongside my daily commute for the last three months... which revived some old and unreasonable temptations.

I always liked the H1/Humvee because I think they are great pieces of machinery, they look more than the part and there are few vehicles that shout "I'll drive this because I like it and I don't care what you think" louder than an H1, at least in Europe.

Unfortunately, even the few used ones available are nowhere near affordable, totally unpractical in European-sized streets and parking spaces, and they are the wheeled symbol of disdain for environmental matters and of desert-boot-wearing US foreign policy (not wishing to discuss the latter and its merits here, just stating common local perception). So to make it short, I won't enquire if the H1 on my way to work is for sale, but I have always been wondering how good they really are off-road, because I have read probably every single statement from "crap" to "unstoppable". While I know they are big and heavy, the mechanical specs seem to check all the right boxes to me, and H1s are after all the "real thing" compared to their lesser H2 and H3 brethren.

Unfortunately I have never been able to witness, let alone experience what they can really do... What is your take on it?

check here for some shots of action. Yeah they are big. Rode in one and sitting in the seat I could not reach the man next to me in the front.

Wanted one for years till I saw the UniMog 404.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... er+h1&sm=1

Jan
HMMWV are capable vehicle in the right environment, namely desert, or open terrain. It seems all the US tactical vehicles since the ‘70s have been large and mainly adept to desert.
As far as owning a HMMWV, they are even expensive here for various reasons. They are modern and current “in-service” equipment which account for most their desirability.
I, on more than a few times, have “toyed” with getting one , but after sitting in one, all the negatives (to me) come back. The 6.2 diesel was ok in a Blazer or light pickup but is already labored in the Hummer empty ( I had a 6.2 when they came out in ’82 in a light pickup, great mileage for the ‘80s in a 4x4 truck, terrible in a Humvee). And have pretty much all the same common complaints as a Pinz, as in far as noisy, comfort and being drafty.
You have better visibility out of a Pinz than a Hummer , unless you’re short, then only acceptable. They’re over 2m wide ( mostly because the engine/trans is in the passenger compartment) and because of the design, do not carry all that much within the “basic” streamline versions ( any Pinz could carry more).

The pluses for them, they are adaptable to any body change you want from the same truck ( similar to a Land Rover and more than is easily done with a Pinz).
The rarity in Europe is another plus. Where you can drive it and fit is another matter.
Have you ever looked at a MBU Mog? The mid point smaller than the SBU 1300s and such?

As far as off-road abilities go, they can do some unique things because of how stable they are. You can get around some obstacles or narrow trail sections by actually driving one side up and over what blocks it... things almost all other 4x4's would be blocked by. It can tilt to 50 degrees+ without issue.

Other than that, the best approach angle of all and the good water forwarding capability, they aren't that great: Limited suspension travel, weak axle shafts, poor breakover angle given the portal axles/wheelbase and compared to other 4x4's, so high-centering is fairly easy to do, horrible semi-auto locking diffs, power as mentioned on the older 6.2 versions and the interior layout really limits cargo/seating.

my buddy was part of the motor pool in Germany while in the US Army. He told me that maintaining 75% of the Hummers as op ready was their goal and often had a hard time maintaining that percentage in the fleet. He couldn't specify any single problem that kept them down. "There was always something to fix". One could probably credit some of that to abuse by troops but it still doesn't shed favorable light on their performance.

I when wheeling with a guy who had a Military model and he struggled through the same mud puddle that I drove through without issue. In fact, the picture of the blue truck splashing through the mud puddle that shows up in the top left window of the forum was the same day.

I agree with all of the above. Just want to add that they were designed for the desert. In steep hills and in the mud they are way underpowered. A buddy of mine sold his HMMWV for that reason alone. Now he has an M35A2 4x4, which fares much better in the mud he likes to drive in, and is cheaper, although bigger. You can also outfit it with bigger tires. It looks and sounds awesome.

Friends had an H1, when I drove it I was less than impressed. They sold it "cheap" as they rarely used it, too much of a pain to drive and park. It was replaced with a 4 door Jeep Rubicon to go with the 2 door Rubicon they already had.

A few years back was 4wding in my FC101 with two 4x4 Pinzgauers and a H1. It was interesting to compare the capabilities of the three vehicles on the same terrain at the same time. General comments are the Pinz great clearance an climbing ability but because of the high C of G very unstable and a couple of times nearly lost it and came close to tipping regularly. The 101 with a lower C of G was far more stable but lacks clearance under the diffs but high clearance elsewhere - has a much more powerful engine. The H1 was the real surprise in that its width made it very stable, even across hill, the engine was very torquey and with its auto box could walk through most areas with ease. Surprisingly it did have poor wheel articulation and while it had good clearance under the diffs, clearance was not so good under the sills and the vehicle slid on its rock sliders quite a bit where the Pinz and 101 didn't have that issue.

Overall, I was surprised how well the H1 performed outside a desert environment - its width didn't seem to be a major issue and provided a level of stability that the two forward controls (in particular the Pinz) didn't have.
H1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgkyhXcH2LY

Pinz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilgsMrgevuM

101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85_KxOLF5Js

I know the joke bumper sticker is: "Hummer Recovery Vehicle", but a few years ago, when the Hawaii Zip line tours used a fleet of 712 Pinzgauers and a couple of modified Hummers (similar to this one)

to carry tourists across the wet fields to the zip lines in the hills, our H1 got stuck in the mud and was pulled out by a 712. The drivers made it seem like it was an not uncommon occurrence, though they said they liked driving the Hummer better than the Pinz....auto transmission.

I bought my 712 after I saw that.

Thanks for all the feedback!
So I gather the stability from a wide, relatively low vehicle is a big plus (and it shows in the videos, the drivers seem to gun it without thinking twice), but the size is not practical at all, not just on pavement but especially in hilly/mountain country, or whenever the weight becomes a hindrance.
Dave, about the Unimog SBU 1300, it looks like what the British would call "the dog's bollocks" , but it's a whole different class of vehicle.
Should I need (or more likely, just want) to drive one, I'd need another driver's license (In France and Switzerland, the "general" license that everybody has for personnal vehicles only allows the holder to drive vehicles with a GVW of less than 3.5t, i.e. a measly 7'700lb...). The H1 already is close to this mark, and the trick is to register them with a reduced payload capacity to allow Joe Public and his "regular" driver's license to buy one...
Happy New Year!!!

I didn't say the SBU 1300, but rather it's smaller brother the MBU.
U90 and U140 are a lot smaller and not as well known. At least in the US
Most commonly used as municipal trucks, and smaller than the HMMWV

David Dunn wrote:I didn't say the SBU 1300, but rather it's smaller brother the MBU.

I stand corrected... I googled it and got the difference (although there seem to be a lot of different references for the Unimog lineup over the years...) Thanks a lot.
Probably still considered a truck (requiring a different license) around here, but good info to keep in a corner of my mind.

The U90 and U140 also are the 408 and 418.

A lot different than the SBUs and narrower (approx. 1950mm vs 2300mm on a 1300L) a HMMWV is 2180mm




It also must take some "looking the other way" on the HMMWV, as their GVW is from 1o,ooo lbs and up

totaljoint wrote:I know the joke bumper sticker is: "Hummer Recovery Vehicle", but a few years ago, when the Hawaii Zip line tours used a fleet of 712 Pinzgauers and a couple of modified Hummers (similar to this one)

to carry tourists across the wet fields to the zip lines in the hills, our H1 got stuck in the mud and was pulled out by a 712. The drivers made it seem like it was an not uncommon occurrence, though they said they liked driving the Hummer better than the Pinz....auto transmission.

I bought my 712 after I saw that.

Where's the "like" button for this?