Whadaya think of those H3's?

[AKMark]

I have a coworker with one. He wheels it every couple of weeks. For a stock vehicle he doesn't do too bad. We compared it side by side with my best friends 05 LJ Rubicon (6-sp, 4.0L). The H3 (5-sp, 3.5l) won. Better gas mileage, acceleration wasn't as good, but it had more ground clearance, more room, more comfortable seats, rode nicer, shifted smoother, crawled just about as slow, had lockers, 33's, and cost less out the door than the LJ did. (H-3's are $28,500 here before rebates.)

Yes it has IFS, but that's a hurdle that doesn't have to stop you if you drive it right. The owner of this H3 doesn't have much offroad experience but after five trips out with both the LJ and the H3, the H3 has a small dent in one of it's cross members, while the LJ has a dented in oil pan, severely dented T-case skid, dented fuel tank skid, and a bent rear tow hook. I should also mention the LJ driver has been rock crawling here for about seven years. He keeps going down trails and daring the H3 driver to follow. The H3 does every time and at this point we've heard less scraping as it goes down the trail.

I admit the H3 isn't all that bad, when compared to an 4.0L Jeep, it's pretty even.

I also am one who won't go and buy a new vehicle just to take it down the trails, but the LJ owners 97 TJ was dying fast and he fell in love with the longer wheelbase, so he jumped. The H3 owner was returning from an overseas assignment and got a heck of a deal from AAFES.

Don't tease it till you personally put it head to head with another stocker. I'm curious how it'll do compared to the new 07 Wrangler.