Huber says his Hummer H2 is "smooth, even at high speeds on open dirt roads.”

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE Tres (pronounced Tray) Huber loves his black 2003 Hummer H2.

And the fact that it may be the anti-poster child for the environmental movement is water off his back.

“I don’t give it much thought, because I bought the vehicle for the reason the vehicle was made,” he said in a recent interview.

Huber was living in northern Nevada when he bought his H2 brand new six years ago and, he said, he used it extensively for off-road activities like white-water rafting and hiking.

At the same time, he conceded that Hummers “are not for everyone,” and as someone who was born and raised in Walnut Creek in the East Bay Area of San Francisco, “overall, I want a good environment.”

“Would I like it if it ran on an alternative fuel source?” he said. “Yes!”

But he said the bad rap the Hummer has gotten has much to do with the bloated 1990s lifestyle of conspicuous consumption.

“A lot of it was a sign of the times,” he said of the free-spending era. “That was not my motivation.”

Rather, he said, buying it was a function of my (outdoors) lifestyle.

“In my younger years, I always had Jeeps and pickups,” he said, adding the Hummer H2 was big enough to carry all his gear, including his 16-foot raft.

The Hummer is the brand name of the commercial version of AM General’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Hum-Vee) which first saw action with the U.S. armed forces in 1989 with the invasion of Panama.

The original Hummer H1 (now discontinued) was closer to the squat, utilitarian Hum-Vee than the two later generations, the taller, more SUV-like H2 and smaller H3.

AM General sold the Hummer brand name to General Motors in 1998. Following its bankruptcy earlier this month, GM said it was selling the Hummer division to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., based in Chengdu, in western China. The deal is expected to close later this year.

Huber’s full name is Harold Huber III and he said he was nicknamed “Tres” the Spanish word for “three” by his grandparents.

“My grandparents lived in L.A. and they were big fans of Mexico,” he said. “They were retired folks and spent a lot of time there, so I was called Tres for III.”

Huber, 40, who works for a construction staffing company, moved with wife, Kelly, and daughters, Jane, 6, and Elsa, 2, to East Greenwich two years ago.

He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and worked in construction for a number of years before getting into the staffing business.

He said driving in Rhode Island is a little different than in the West.

“Northern Nevada is not a big urban area,” he said. “You don’t have to deal with parking and those kinds of things.

But he said he was not frustrated driving in small New England urban spaces.

“I know I will be limited just like owners of two-wheel drive cars know they will be limited in a snowstorm,” he said.

Huber said his Hummer, which has 92,000 miles on it, had a limited number of option packages, but he only added aftermarket rims

One package was for additional suspension, but he felt the standard package was fine, noting that he was wary of adding height due to the potential for tipping the vehicle, let alone putting extra strain on the joints.

Certainly, mileage is not great. He said he gets 10-to-12 miles per gallon on the highway and in the city.

“The mileage does not vary much on the open road and in town,” he said, ascribing the lack of variation to the way it rides. The fuel tank holds 32 gallons.

The eight cylinder engine generates 325 horsepower, but given the 6,000 pounds that the vehicle weighs, Huber said it was a little underpowered.

He said one aspect of the vehicle that consistently surprises people is that it is well-appointed — “It’s like a big living room” — and comfortable.

“People are surprised when they get in and find it comfortable,” he said.

“It’s not like a Jeep Wrangler,” he added. “It’s smooth, even at high speeds on open dirt roads.”

Was he concerned about General Motors’ pending sale of the Hummer division to Sichuan Tengzhong, which is expected to close later this year?

“It does concern me,” he said, noting that he had an excellent relationship with his dealership in Nevada.

“Everyone (at the dealership) was into the outdoors and off-road driving,” he said. “Every family had an SUV.”

He said he gets “great service at the (Hurd Auto Mall in Johnston) here, but what level of service am I going to get with offshore ownership?”

Chris Hurd, president of the Auto Mall, said that he had been surprised that some of his Hummer customers, whom he said were extremely loyal to their brand, had expressed concern about Hummer’s future.

“They are among the most loyal (of my customers),” he said, adding that there will be no change in service.

“The service will still be from us, that won’t change,” he said. “They are our customers, not Hummer’s customers, that’s the way I feel.”

Certainly there is no questioning Huber’s loyalty to his Hummer.

“It went against my philosophy to buy a first-year model,” he said. “I prefer to let others work out the kinks, but I’ve had no mechanical issues. I’m one of those guys who loves his vehicle.”

For more information, go to:

www.hummer.com.

pelsworth@projo.com