HUMMER H3 Awarded “Best Car of 2007”

Piers Ward from Top Gear is giving the HUMMER H3 top honors by naming it the “Best Car of 2007.” However, Ward’s sole reason for naming the H3, is that “if you’ve got a blog to write, nothing else gives you as much to say as this car does. Or gives other people as much to say.” Go figure, I agree!

The HUMMER brand has become very polarizing: love it or hate it. This makes for great crossfire on blogs and discussion boards, or anyplace where you can post your opinions with relative anonymity. Ward’s Top Gear article may try to fall in the middle of loving and hating the HUMMER H3, but the latter is more likely.

In Ward’s article, the cons outweigh the pros, and the pros are a little condescending – like saying HUMMERs fill a necessary gap in the marketplace, but then saying that gap is “farmers and others of the like who regularly get a bit muddy don’t have much choice for wheels these days.” Ward admits that farmers are not HUMMER’s primary target, and the majority of HUMMER purchases are from non-farmers. He then calls non-farming HUMMER owners irresponsible, and suggests a more ‘socially aware’ option for on-road use. At least there are a few journalists, like Lawrence Ulrich from MSN.com, that are using a more reasonable and balanced approach when characterizing the HUMMER brand:

“Speaking of sport utes, we’ve all seen people go apoplectic at the sight of a Hummer, ascribing all sorts of nasty personality traits to the guy behind the wheel. You might say you’re only mad because he’s guzzling gas, but I’m not so sure. Plenty of SUVs, or sports cars for that matter, drink as much fuel, but get a free pass. It’s the Hummer’s commando styling and in-your-face attitude that gets a person’s dander up.”

Well said, Lawrence.

The award for “Best Car of 2007” is notable – we don’t even mind the ‘blog friendly’ criteria! But next time, let’s see the award a little less backhanded.