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Towing and handling
On the other hand, the H2 SUT is super for towing. The Hummer pulled our fully loaded 12-foot two-place enclosed snowmobile trailer to northern Wisconsin from Milwaukee effortlessly. The H2 pulls 6,500 pounds and there's plenty of grunt from its 6.0-liter Vortec V-8 to get to highway speeds in relatively short order.

Naturally the truck starts rather slowly when pulling a trailer, but there's ample acceleration to highway speeds and the H2 cruises well at 65-70 mph with a load behind it. The heavy-duty four-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly and never hesitates. Plus there's an electronic trailer-tow button to press that helps keep engine revs up when pulling, giving it maximum power.

You pay for that in poor gas mileage. I managed just 9.6 miles per gallon while towing the trailer, and most were highway miles. When I took the trailer off, mileage increased to 11.5. Woo-hoo!

Ride, as in GM's sport-utes like the Yukon and Tahoe, is smooth and comfortable. Here, these vehicles excel.

Handling is good too. H2 is fairly easy to park despite its 81.2 inches in width. It turns well and is easy to control.
While the 6,400-pound ute is solid on the freeway, you'll still feel a little tug from side winds when towing a trailer, nothing serious, but you've got to remain alert.

H2 comes with four-wheel drive, so crunching through snow or muck is no problem and can be fun, when there's no trailer attached. This one also comes with traction control to help give it more grip from a stop and there are four-wheel disc brakes to stop it quickly.

This ultra-boxy beast requires a major step up. I was glad to see the chrome assist step below the H2's door.

Upgrades
In addition to that chrome step, the test H2 added a bunch of other chrome items, including a brush guard ($850), a package with hood latches, handles and fuel door ($550), and tail lamp protection ($350). In addition to the chrome add-ons, the test vehicle had 17-inch wheels, a roof rack, door handles and mirror trim, all part of a $3,740 package. The package also added XM satellite radio, 6-disc CD changer and other interior upgrades.

All that gave the truck a spiffier look, but pushed this already pricey $51,995 vehicle up to $58,875, including a monster $850 delivery charge. Yet when it comes to ego, certainly all that may be worth it.

Inside
The H2 is square and edgy like the exterior with comfortable black leather seats and all the amenities you'd expect in a big ute. There are the usual power and heated seats, windows and mirrors, plus automatic lights and cruise control. Radio and trip computer controls are on the steering wheel hub and there are two 12-volt power outlets for folks needing to fire up the laptop or cell phone charger.

Guys seemed to like the sharp-featured interior with its big round brushed metal trimmed gauges. The four round protruding air ducts work well, but drew comments about looking an awful lot like a certain portion of the female anatomy. Some also commented that the dash seemed too plastic-like, with moderate quality fit and finish, considering the truck's cost.

Plus those big outside mirrors could be even larger if you plan to tow trailers much. Bigger would be better here.

There's also only a tilt steering wheel, when a telescoping one could help us shorter drivers be more comfortable. And I'm not a big fan of the straight-up windshield. It's hard to keep clean, especially in winter.

The radio, climate-control system and OnStar all work well though. And for sun worshipers, there's a giant power sunroof overhead.

Final word? Hey, if you've got this kind of dough you can buy whatever you want. If towing your snowmobile trailer is a major priority the H2 SUT will do fine, but the regular H2 with its covered cargo area is much more useful in the long run.