Video: The 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Is an Unexpected Favorite

If you are considering a Rivian R1S or any of the silly $100,000 Mercedes-EQ SUVs, you also should be considering this. So let's go through a couple of reasons why the Hummer EV SUV is quickly becoming one of our favorite $100,000 luxury EVs. (upbeat music) So you're not gonna look at the Hummer and go, "Luxury car, yes!" But it has many qualities of a luxury vehicle besides its six-figure price. And I specifically wanna call out how amazing this car rides. It is soft and comfortable. It's like a Lexus more than a Hummer. And I'm talking about Lexus of 20 plus years ago, not today's Lexus, where it's just totally isolated from the road. Now a lot of that has to do with tires. This has the optional off-road package that has these massive tires. I've spent hundreds of miles on the highway in this SUV as well as the truck. And I'm just totally surprised by how little road imperfections get into the cabin. And that's completely opposite of what it looks like. This looks like a monster truck and it's in complete juxtaposition with something like the Rivian R1S. Now the Rivian R1S looks sleek and classy, but rides like a truck and some people like that. This looks like a truck, but rides like a sleek, classy vehicle. And the downside to this particular package is those tires as well because it has that humming noise on the highway like a Jeep Wrangler with big off-road mud tires, just the constant humming. And that's exacerbated by, there's no engine, you know, there's nothing else making noise, so you're always hearing that humming noise. But it still remains totally comfortable. I am just so enamored with how this vehicle drives because of how pleasant it is just to spend lots of miles behind the wheel, even in rough and tough city roads like we are here, in Chicago. There's no shortage of power and acceleration with this thing either. 830 horsepower is enough to move this almost 9,000-pound SUV to 60 miles an hour in our tested 3.7 seconds and quarter mile in 11.9 seconds. And let me tell you, it's an experience. When you hit the accelerator, the whole front end lifts up. You're looking at the sky, the back end squats and everyone in the car is going, "Whoa!" It is an insane experience. And that's as fast as a V8-powered Mustang Camaro or Challenger. And lemme just take a second. Rest in peace, Camaro. Rest in peace, V8 Challenger. The Hummer EV SUV looks bulky but it's deceptive on its size. It's not a monster-truck-sized vehicle. When you're looking at the profile like this, it's a little bit longer than a Rivian R1S, it's about as long as a Hyundai Palisade, but where its crazy dimensions come through is how wide it is. So take a look at just how wide the Hummer is. Now this is where it gets a little dicey to drive in the city because at more than 80 inches wide, it's as wide as a heavy duty pickup truck or a Ford Bronco Raptor. And you also, from that, get these clearance lights on top because trucks when they are this wide are required to have these clearance lights. This is one of the widest vehicles on sale today, and that actually doesn't hurt it that much because it has amazing maneuverability. And that's thanks to its extremely aggressive rear steer. You can make a complete U-turn in the width of your normal suburban or city street. And when you're driving through a parking lot into a parking space, you can fit in spaces that you wouldn't think you could turn into because the rear steer is so aggressive. And that is just key to making this nearly 9,000-pound SUV every-day-drivable and make you feel comfortable while driving it. Now if you're looking at the Hummer and thinking it's not that efficient, well you're right, it's not efficient, but the battery is massive so it makes up for its inefficiency. We've been getting about 1.8 miles per kilowatt-hour, which equates to a little over 300 miles of total range. And that's just a little bit higher than its rated range of 298 miles. And to put that in perspective, we have a long-term test car, a 2024 Kia EV9, and I got better efficiency with that EV9 while towing 2000 pounds. So the weight of the Hummer is really against it here because that EV9 with the trailer was still much less than this single Hummer all by itself. But the good thing about its inefficiencies in energy consumption is how fast it charges. This can accept up to 350 kilowatts of power. Now that's a real 350 kilowatts, and that can make it charge very quickly, which you need with this massive battery. One thing off-road vehicles don't always make easy is getting in and out of the vehicle. I think about the Lexus GX 550 that we recently tested. The door didn't open real wide and it was hard to get in. Not the case with the Hummer. Super easy to get in and out of, because for one, this door opens up really wide, and also there's an air suspension that will lower the vehicle to an entry height, so you can put that setting on and when you put the vehicle in park, it will automatically lower and it lowers pretty quickly, which is nice. And then getting in, you have this great sidestep that makes easy entry, and a grab handle on the door here, which my kids use to get in and out. Super easy for them to get in and out on their own. So then let's take a step inside where, you know it's not as roomy as like a Tahoe or a Yukon, but it's also not as long as one either. So you're not gonna get a huge, expansive space. It feels similar to a Rivian R1S. What you are getting though is just an insane width, just like the outside of the vehicle, that translates to the inside of the vehicle where you could easily fit three car seats across or three full size adults across because of just how much room you have. It's a very, very usable backseat. So the cargo area, a very important part of an SUV's SUV-ness. And behind the backseat there's not a whole lot of space, and a lot of that has to do with how high the cargo floor is because the way that we measure cargo space is we will measure from the cargo floor to the top of the seat back and there's not as much height there as in a Rivian R1S. And also you would think with how wide the Hummer is, that would equate to more room in the back and that's also not the case. The other annoying thing about the cargo area is this signature swing gate, because on our particular car, it's not really working that well. It doesn't open by itself and it's not closing by itself either. This massive, heavy tire on the back definitely makes opening and closing the swing gate a big problem. Now if you do find yourself out of room behind the backseat, the good news is you have a massive front trunk that can be used just like a regular car trunk because it is so big. Maybe I'm biased, but I've been driving a car for the past 15 years with T-tops. So the Hummer's removable roof and T-tops greatly appeal to me. And there was this warm sense of comfort and familiarity as I removed each of the four removable tops off. And the center bar is removable, so you're getting a really Jeep Wrangler-like experience here, except the doors don't come off. But it's much less annoying to take the roof off than a Jeep Wrangler because you can store the panels in the car to take them with you, and there's a nifty little ratchet extension and bit for taking the removable roof off that comes with the car. So you're getting a lot of that Jeep Wrangler experience with a lot less of the annoyance. So while this $118,000 SUV's price is firmly in luxury territory, let's talk about some of the things it doesn't do so well. This interior more feels like that of a 50 to $70,000 vehicle. And also visibility is really bad. The windshield is narrow and you've got the spare tire blocking rear visibility. It's pretty garbage. But if you equate luxury to individuality, then the Hummer offers a wholly unique experience. And some of that is just how it looks. Now, if you want people to gawk at you as you are driving down the road, look and turn and kids give thumbs up, well the Hummer EV is exactly that vehicle. And for its other qualities of being nice to drive and fun to drive, then this is definitely a luxury EV you should be considering. (upbeat music)