What the hell??!? (blah, blah of a wannabe alien)
Car Stuff
After-Market Car Audio Shortcomings
Sep 5th
My perfect system would be this:
- Double DIN touch-screen controller
- Video out (to drive monitors in rear headrests)
- Navigation system that can be controlled from the touch-screen
Can’t someone combine all the good stuff into one system? 
H2 Hummer Gas Mileage
Sep 5th
With my new truck, I was expecting to get about 8 miles per gallon. I drove it around over 100 miles today, and the on-board computer showed me getting 12.5 miles per gallon overall. Definitely not great mileage, but better than I was expecting.
One nice thing about it is my Toyota Tacoma has a 17 gallon tank and got 16 miles per gallon (272 miles between gas station visits). The H2 has a 32 gallon tank, so 12.5 miles per gallon works out to exactly 400 miles per tank. So the slightly higher fuel costs is offset by saving my time of going to the gas station.
2005 H2 SUT
Sep 4th
Well, I finally decided to get one (a 2005 SUT), so I picked it up from the dealer today. Got a pretty good deal on it, and it was exactly what I wanted (I would never have bought it if it wasn’t). This is what I ended up getting:
2005 Hummer 2 SUT (Stealth Gray Metallic)
– Luxury Package (“Ebony” [why not just call it black?] leather interior, heated seats [rear too], chrome roof rack, mirrors, handles, side steps and wheels, 6 disc CD changer, XM radio, floor mats, leather console and chrome interior trim)
– Self leveling air suspension system
– On board air compressor (with hose)
– First aid kit
– Chrome wrap-around brush guard (I needed this for lights)
– Off road lights (on brush guard)
– Locking hard tonneau cover
– Snowboard rack (up to 4 boards)
Alpine Touch Screen Compatible Navigation
Aug 23rd
I poked around a little bit, and found out Alpine has a touch-screen compatible navigation system after all (NVE-N099P), which is the one piece missing from the setup I want. The only problem is that it’s only available in Europe and comes with road maps of Europe. I can’t find any dimension specs for it, but from the picture, it looks like it has a much lower profile than the old units, which would be really nice.
While this does me no good, maybe it’s a sign that they will be bringing it to the US market soon.
Hybrid Hummer 2
Aug 20th
Sick of all my Hummer related entries in the blog yet? It’s just been on my mind lately I guess…
Anyway, I read an interview with one of the guys at GM, and he mentioned that they are working on a Hybrid H2. But it isn’t expected until the 2007 or 2008 model year.
While that would be cool, but I don’t really want to wait that long. I’ll be the first to admit that a Hummer 2 is a gas hog (it gets 10-13 miles per gallon), but compared to what I currently drive (Toyota Tacoma Limited), it’s not all that much worse (it gets 15-16 miles per gallon).
2005 Hummer 2 Factory Stereo Options
Aug 19th
Did a little research on the stereo options for the Hummer 2 today. New for 2005 is the option for a touch-screen navigation system. Sounds cool, but check this out…
- If you get the navigation system, you can’t have the CD changer.
- The DVD that holds the maps goes in the normal CD/DVD slot on the main stereo.
- That means that if you want to actually *use* the navigation system, there is no option to listen to a CD. Now that just seems idiotic to me.
Hummer SUT
Aug 19th
While I don’t absolutely *need* a new car, the 2005 H2 SUT is making me put some serious consideration into it. So now I’m trying to justify what would end up being about $65,000 (when it’s all said and done) in my mind. So this is what I came up with… Starting this month, any affiliate money I earn that is more than $5,000 per month (not as a whole, but from a single source) will go towards the Hummer 2. As an example, if I get $6,000 from Company A, $8,000 from Company B and $6,500 from Company C (only affiliate income counts of course), I would put $5,500 that month towards the car.
Since affiliate income is essentially free money, it makes it easier to justify in my mind.
