MAHONING VALLEY To most Hummer owners, off-road is a dirty word

A local dealership is building a rugged test track to give buyers a taste of off-road use.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
At age 73, Ann Jolley has no intention of taking her Hummer H2 over 3-foot boulders or through 2 feet of water.
The large sport-utility vehicle is designed for such extreme conditions, but Jolley is content to keep hers on the street.
"I wouldn't want to scratch it up," said Jolley, who owns Jolley Industrial Supply in Sharon, Pa., with her husband, Richard.
Bill Holden, a 64-year-old Hummer owner from East Liverpool, said his H2 doesn't have a scrape or a ding, even though he's plowed it through mud-filled ditches and bounced over fallen trees. The special paint that's used must be the reason, he figures.
"I enjoy it. It's the go-anywhere, do-anything vehicle that rides like a luxury car," said Holden, who owns PROAIR, a vacuum cleaner distributor in Columbiana. He's been on off-road trips sponsored by Hummer and likes to take his H2 out on property that he owns.
Size and luxury
Bill Pallo, a salesman at Greenwood Hummer in Austintown, said most Hummer buyers are more like Jolley than Holden.
While Pallo knows all the frame and suspension details that allow for extreme off-roading, most shoppers just like the combination of size -- the H2 weighs 3 tons -- and luxury.
The H2 has plenty of electronic gadgets, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and a Bose sound system, and it can be ordered with heated, leather seats and a sunroof. It seats five, although options include an additional, fold-down seat for the cargo area.
Pallo thinks only four of the 90 H2s he has sold in the past 15 months are being used as off-road vehicles.
He tries, though, to persuade buyers to put the H2 to the test. On his desk is a bolt that's 1 inch in diameter and used to attach an H2 shock absorber. A shock absorber bolt in a car is no more than a quarter-inch wide.
Pallo also has a photo album that shows pictures of him and others driving mud-covered H2s up steep inclines, down into ditches and over logs.
Off-road experience
For people seriously considering the vehicle, he takes them off road so they can see for themselves.
Soon, that will be much easier because the dealership will have its own off-road course.
The series of boulders, logs and ditches will be located next to a new dealership that's being planned for Mahoning Avenue. Hummer sales are being handled now at Greenwood Chevrolet, which is adjacent to the site for the new building.
General Motors, which sells the Hummer, last year awarded Greenwood a dealership territory that runs from Cleveland's eastern suburbs to Erie, Pa., and as far south as West Virginia.
The H2 is a smaller version of the $100,000 H1, which is a street-ready version of the military humvee.
Curiosity
Jolley was looking for a new vehicle last year when her daughter called and told her to turn on the TV. It was an H2 ad. She went to the dealership and was impressed.
"The thing I liked about it is that no one else had one," she said.
Next thing she knew, her husband bought the H2 as a birthday present for her.
Driving around town has led to a lot of questions from people at the store or gas station.
"Some men stopped and asked, 'What's under the hood?' I said, 'I hope a motor.' That's all I know," she said.
Albert Trolio, 51, said people stop him all the time with comments and questions about his H2.
"Kids give you a thumbs-up when they see you," said Trolio, owner of Trolio's Auto Specialist in Boardman.
He also was looking for something different last spring after he sold his 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible. He was considering the Chevrolet SSR, a new two-seater, but it hadn't come out yet, so he opted for the boxy SUV instead.
He gives a good review of the H2. He likes the ride and the luxurious interior, with his only complaint being the gas mileage. He gets nine miles per gallon around town and 12 on the highway.
Like Jolley, he has no intention of using the off-road capabilities of the H2.
"It costs too much money to get beat up and scratched up," he said.
Pallo said, however, that nothing bad is going to happen to the H2 off road.
"I use mine for what it's designed to be used for," he said.
He has taken his on hunting trips in the woods of West Virginia and, just for fun, takes it through the woods near state Route 11 and Interstate 680.
Test drives
GM encourages Hummer owners to go off-road by holding Hummer Happenings, and dealers are required to participate in four a year.
Greenwood has joined with other Ohio dealers on off-road trips to Salt Fork State Park and the Hummer test track near South Bend, Ind. The dealership also has taken owners on trips that didn't include off-roading, such as visiting Mill Creek Park and a winery on Lake Erie.
The dealership pays for all expenses, except lodging.
Each dealership receives 16 H2s a month, although sometimes Greenwood buys more from dealers who have extra, Pallo said. The dealership also has sold a few H1s.
Customers sometimes come from other states after using the Internet to find the H2 they want at Greenwood, he said. Others have come from Florida and other states because dealers there were charging $6,000 or more over the sticker price, he said.
GM hopes to bring more people into the Hummer fold with the H3, a smaller and more affordable version that is due out in May 2005. It is expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000. Hummer also is adding the H2 SUT pickup truck next spring and is considering another type of vehicle, which could be called the H4.
shilling@vindy.com