By Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The popular Hummer H2 is available in seven colors. Hummer.com

Humming.

It's a great way to get to a basketball practice. Or a crime scene. Or just about any place you want to go - the more places, the better.

That's the word from buyers and sellers of Hummers, the sport-utility vehicles modeled after the military Humvee (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle).

"It's got the best (leather) seats of any vehicle I ever owned," says Edgewood's Bob Griffin, who bought one in burgundy just before Christmas. "I really like driving it."

"Nothing turns as many heads as a Hummer," said restaurateur Jeff Ruby. "It just makes people happy when you drive it.

"It's an eye-catcher. It's fan-friendly."

"It's not just another SUV; it's a lifestyle," says Greg Meyer, sales manager for Hummer of Cincinnati. "These are just people that enjoy life."

Hummers, which start at $49,900, if you have to ask, popped back into the news with the case of LeBron James, the nation's top high school basketball player.

James, of Akron, had received a Hummer as a gift from his mother, and the Ohio High School Athletic Association wanted to know how and why. Finally, the organization is satisfied that none of its rules were broken in the sale of the vehicle.

Characters on CSI: Miami, the most popular new dramatic series on television, according to the People's Choice Awards, ask different questions. But they drive tan Hummers to visit suspects and crime scenes.

Hummer of Cincinnati, in Montgomery, the only Hummer dealership in the region, says it sold 135 of the most popular H2 models in the final three months of last year. Meyer says the bigger, burlier H1, which goes for $125,000 this model year, sells at a rate of one a month.

While the H2 will perform off-road, most buyers don't elect to take it through 6 feet of mud, Meyer says.

"It's like the boater who takes his boat all over," he said. "Or the man riding his Harley Davidson (motorcycle) in the middle of Nevada ... This is our customer.

"They're not making a statement," he said. "It's not so much `We've made it, and we're going to show it.' It's not like Mercedes."

Griffin said his Hummer is nicely refined with all the details and features of his Cadillac Escalade.

"My wife (Carol) drove it for the first time yesterday," he said. "She handled it fine."

"Real men don't drive H2s," teases Ruby, who has owned a larger-model black diesel Hummer for more than two years. "H2s are for soccer moms ... Mine's the Real McCoy."

Ruby's vehicle is equipped with 32 exterior lights, it has stereo speakers on the roof and chrome horns that "make it sound like an 18-wheeler."

H2 models are available in seven colors. Estimated mileage: "Eleven or 12 miles to the gallon around town," Meyer says.

E-mail mpulfer@enquirer.com