You never forget the first time you hear granite biting into sheetmetal--the hairs on your neck stand up. No doubt that's what our trail boss heard as we traversed our first nasty off-road obstacle.

The last time we found ourselves behind the wheel of an H3, it was powered by the only engine available at the time, a 3.5L I5. Since then, the I-5 has grown to 3.7L and received a boost in power, but ...