We can't stop talking about Crab Walk

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The 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup defies reason and sense in many ways. It’s a pickup that weighs over 9,000 pounds but does the 0-60 mph sprint in about 3.0 seconds. That sounds like something to be afraid of, but it’s also something you want to experience. It’s a feat of engineering to move something so heavy so fast, but that’s what the EV revolution brought us.

GMC gets the Hummer moving as fast as it does with three electric motors — one in the front and two in the back — that combine to make a whopping 1,000 horsepower and 1,200 pound-feet of torque. All this power is unleashed in Watts To Freedom (WTF) mode. Your seat begins to rumble; The air suspension lowers you to the ground, and an electrifying soundtrack plays through the speakers to match your gas applications. Launching this super truck is always an event, but with its extra-high ride height and off-road capability, so is launching it down your favorite trail. That is, provided the path is wide enough to fit inside the gigantic Hummer. Those knobby all-terrain tires prevent the Hummer from being anywhere remotely entertaining as you explore the truck’s handling…but who cares.

Our particular tester is an Edition 1 model, which means it comes with every option you can think of. As such, its price is $110,295. For the amount of power and capability on display here, that number sounds surprisingly right. It also matches the Hummer’s status as a supertruck, giving you everything you could ever want in a take-anywhere package.

Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore — The Hummer EV is the biggest Rockstar vehicle I’ve tested in quite some time. Literally. It’s huge and gets a lot of deserved attention. The Hummer styling is spot on, especially the grille, lights and flared fenders. It looks the part. For $110,000 it should have some substance, too, and this Edition 1 delivers Super Cruise, Watts to Freedom and CrabWalk, not to mention GMC’s MultiPro tailgate and removable Sky Panel roof.

It feels fast, as you’d expect from something with 1,000 horsepower, and it’s shockingly agile. I CrabWalked down my street to show off, navigating things around on the diagonal and amusing the neighbors. The normal all-wheel steering alone, which works in a similar way to various other cars, allows the Hummer to be steered easily and confidently. I got about 60 miles of range in 20 minutes on a ChargePoint, so not as fast as it could be, but it was useful. Overall, I’ve enjoyed my time in the Hummer EV, and it feels like a true Halo vehicle for GMC.

Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski — Watts to Freedom is absolutely insane. I strapped myself into the GMC Hummer EV, used a few buttons and switches to put the obnoxious electric truck into proper head-toss mode, hit the stop pedal, and then Go. I haven’t felt stomach waste like this in any other vehicle I can recall. It could be a ride of its own at Cedar Point Amusement Park.

The rest of the truck is, well, insane too. But I mean that as a compliment. It’s big, heavy, powerful and probably almost unstoppable when the going gets tough. I’ve also tossed the suspension to its wobbliest peak, and there’s ground clearance galore under the flat EV platform. Crab Walk mode is a gimmick, true, but it’s also useful. Using sticks I found on the ground, I built a tight course and, thanks to the tricky all-wheel steering, was able to traverse the makeshift course with a level of skill I didn’t expect.

If it weren’t so damn expensive (and sold out for the next few years), I’d be crawling one right up my driveway.

News Editor Joel Stocksdale: There’s no question that Crab Walk is attracting attention. It’s strange to see a vehicle of any kind moving like this, and it’s even scarier from the inside. It’s also impressively easy to activate, as you simply have to hold the button down for a few moments and it will activate. That being said, I feel like the times when it’s useful are rare. And the all-wheel steering it enables isn’t the most revolutionary. Heck, GM offered seriously aggressive rear-wheel steering with the Quadrasteer pickups almost 20 years ago. I think it’s very cool and a great party trick, but I don’t think it will revolutionize the industry and has limited practical application.

Road Test Editor Zac Palmer — A lot of ink has been spilled about the Hummer EV being a no-good, bad-for-the-environment electric car, but I tend to side with… so what? The lobster is not here to save the world. Instead, it serves as a technologically advanced super truck. Just as a supercar maker pushes the limits of performance with new engine or suspension technology, GMC is pushing the limits of what can be done when you throw a bunch of money at something to produce the wildest off-road vehicle you can. It’s packed with epic features like WTF mode, CrabWalk, and digital screens driven by the video game engine. Driving it around makes you feel like you’re driving a cartoon on wheels. There’s just nothing sensible about that, and that’s okay!

I don’t really mind that it’s horribly inefficient for an electric vehicle. Those who can afford the six-figure asking price can afford to keep their huge battery pack charged. The same argument can be made for or against vehicles like a Bentley Flying Spur or Lamborghini Huracan. No, nobody needs this level of performance… but you want it. For its price, there shouldn’t be any compromises, and when it comes to electric vehicles, the Hummer hits that target as well as anything else out there.

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