2009 HUMMER H3T in Chicago

You'll never hear auto writers complain that a Lotus Elise can't ford a two-foot-deep creek or climb a 60-percent grade, so why persist in deriding the lackluster on-pavement performance of off-road-focused SUVs and trucks? Probably because, image aside, most of these rough riders never meet anything more challenging than a heavy rainstorm or a gravel driveway. That includes General Motors' megamacho Hummers. Nonetheless, just as Lotus always conducts its press launches at racetracks, Hummer chose the rocky trails of Moab, Utah, for the first drive of its new four-door pickup, the H3T.

The T, as the gang from Hummer refers to the truck, is basically an H3 SUV with a 22-inch longer wheelbase and a five-foot pickup bed behind the rear seats. The result is a pretty big truck; it's only eleven inches shorter than a Chevrolet Avalanche. Engine choices for the H3T are the same as for the H3 SUV, so, sadly, the pickup's extra 150 pounds make the H3T even slower. A lethargic and long-geared four-speed automatic neuters both the 242-hp five-cylinder and the 300-hp V-8. You can get a five-speed manual with the smaller engine, although, in the SUV at least, very few buyers choose it.

But Hummer product director Ross Hendrix filled us in on a little secret. The much-unloved in-line five-cylinder will (finally) be going away. A direct-injection 3.6-liter V-6 from the new Chevrolet Traverse crossover will take its place.... Read full article