Hummer

Designwise, SUVs are morphing into crossovers

To tell the difference between a truck-based SUV and a car-based crossover today, you need to check the technical specifications. Design is no longer a way to differentiate.

Not only are bull bars gone, but the "tough enough to go anywhere" look of SUVs is disappearing in favor of a more comfy, crossoverlike appearance.

The morphing is a consequence of the anti-SUV fervor that started almost a decade ago in the United States and has spread worldwide. To survive, SUVs had to look more like crossovers.

The redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee is a stylish vehicle, more refined outside … Read more

General Motors recalls 1.5 million vehicles

General Motors today announced its recalling 1.5 million 2007-2009 model cars, trucks, and crossovers to disable a heated washer fluid system module that could pose a fire risk. Because the feature will be disabled, GM will make a voluntary payment of $100 to the owner or lessee of each vehicle.

There are no known injuries or crashes related to the condition, according to a GM news release.

"While our analysis shows the number of incidents is very small compared with the number of vehicles on the road, we want our customers to have complete peace of mind," … Read more

Gadgettes 181: The Full of Win Episode (podcast)

Can you pass up an entire episode devoted to things that absolutely rule more than the world, me AND you combined? I didn't think so.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 181

Breaking News: Full of LOSS! iPhone finder found http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/iphone-finder/

The Knight XV is a Hummer on steroids http://dvice.com/archives/2010/04/nothing-can-tou.php

21-foot robotic baby http://io9.com/5526040/21+foot+tall-robot-baby-to-defend-peoples-republic/gallery/

Biomechanical Terminator mic stand makes even karaoke look cool http://nerdapproved.com/misc-gadgets/biomechanical-terminator-mic-stand-makes-even-karaoke-look-cool/… Read more

Car Tech Live 164: Driving Nissan's bad boy: The 2010 GT-R (podcast)

The U.S. bears down on a Lexus SUV while Toyota mulls over a sort of "guilty" plea...The end of Hummer finally has come, Aptera says it Jetson-like car is going to be real, and we set out in the almost unbelievable 2010 GT-R.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 164 SHOW NOTES

• Driving the Nissan GT-R

• Mini E Race electric car rips up Nurburgring!

• Audi S4 is a CNET Editors' Choice

• MyFord Touch to offer new Eco-Route--drive on less gas

• Aptera EV closer to reality--by 2011?… Read more

It's official: Hummer's a goner

In February 2008, dealer David Ferraez in Green Brook, N.J., was days away from breaking ground on a new Hummer dealership. Ferraez was already selling Hummers at a Buick-Pontiac-GMC store.

Then, he says, he got a call from a General Motors executive, who said: "Don't do anything. We think Hummer's going to take a different direction."

That turned out to be an understatement. In fact, there were a couple of different directions, ending last week in an official pronouncement of death.

A plan to seller Hummer to a Chinese company died in February. GM entertained … Read more

Hummer H1 and H2 on BBC's 'Top Gear'

Hummer has been fairly newsworthy lately as General Motors has announced its plans to discontinue the SUV line and sell it off to a Chinese machinery manufacturer, and lately I've been dedicating a few blogs to the Hummer as GM plans to pull the plug on the Hummer brand. And as you may know I've become quite the fan of the popular BBC TV program "Top Gear." So I thought we'd have a little more fun with the blog with today's video featuring sharp-tongued host Jeremy Clarkson taking a spin in not one but … Read more

Getting creative with Hummer SUVs

I'm sure by now most of you readers know that the Hummer brand was taken off of General Motors' hands by a heavy industrial machinery company in China, and that means that Hummer will no longer be produced by GM here in the United States. I suspect that a majority of readers here probably think that Hummer shouldn't let its ass hit the door on the way out, but there are a select few of us who appreciate the famous box on wheels for not just its easily recognizable style, but also for its ability to be styled … Read more

An early burial for Hummer

I was reading an Associated Press article recently about all the soon-to-be-defunct product lines produced by General Motors: Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. But another brand that's been on the way out for a while now was making headlines again, as GM looks all set in its selling off the Hummer brand to China-based Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corporation. While it's not official yet, unless something goes awry it looks to be a done deal and GM will have washed their hands of the tanking SUV line.

With General Motors metaphorically taking its Hummer brand out to the … Read more

This Week: Worst new gas guzzlers

Not too long ago I delivered a few blog posts featuring some big-ol' gas guzzling SUVs like the Hummer and the Dartz Kombat. Well, I was sitting here stumped on what to write a blog about and I thought to myself that I hadn't done a full-fledged theme week with this video blog in a while, and from there I brainstormed what to do: this week's video blog posts are going to take a look at some of the worst new and ongoing offenders in gas mileage. And I figured since I was giving Hummer some air time … Read more

Dartz Kombat T-98 vs. Hummer H-1

Earlier this week, I posted a video featuring an SUV, the T-98 Kombat, as made by Russian manufacturer Dartz (whose $1.5M Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition extravagantly decked out in whale penis leather--how high-brow is that--even got lip service recently on "The Colbert Report"). Anyhoo, this particular blog (located here for your convenience) garnered the snide comment of "It looks like a Hummer...big deal." Well, funny that you should say that, sir, as today's video features the Dartz Kombat one-on-one against the Hummer H1. Let's get ready to rumble!

The Dartz … Read more