My wife and I have decided to buy a new car and we don’t want a minivan. So we think we want to get a Honda Element. We love the way it drives and the amount of space it has in it. Any dopers have an opinion on this unusual looking vehicle?
I have one. I love it. It has oodles of head room (I’m tall), gets decent mileage, and is very handy for hauling things around, especially if one of those things is a muddy dog. Incredibly versitile, easy to park, well designed. If you do a lot of freeway driving, you only need to change the oil every 10,000 miles (a “service engine soon” light comes on to remind you, and you can turn it off yourself!) It doesn’t even seem ugly to me anymore.
One of the only complaints I have about it is the amount of road noise, especially at highway speeds. It’s not very well sound-proofed. Other than that, I’ve been very happy with it.
Opinion?
Uuummm??
I think it’s the ugliest car made to date?
Not true! Thanks, Toyota Scion!
I’ve heard it said an Element looks like a bread truck. I’ve also heard it looks like the box a Volvo would come in. Nevertheless, I think they’re cute. It’s been clear since day one this is a minority opinion.
I got into a brief discussion with a Honda technician about them last time my car was being serviced. He’s driven everything Honda makes for some years now and had pretty strong opinions about every model (not all positive–he hates the Pilot, for example). He thought the Element was excellent.
From a looks standpoint, I think the Element is great.
I’d get one if I was rich and had money to burn.
Damn! Almost a sequential thread title thing or whatever you call it. Anyways, there was this thread:
“What do you think about the Honda Element?”
and just two down was:
"Damn that’s an ugly car. "
My mom just got an Element—first new car in about 20 years—and she loves it.
I’ve driven once or twice, too. Very nice. A bit of a blind spot in the left front, between the door window and windshield, but you learn to look around it.
My buddy George got one and he loves it! (it was cheap, it’s easy to get along with, handy, cleans up easily plus it has those cool suicide doors), it’s grown on me since the first time I saw it (laughing at someone’s new car is not nice). I always refer to it as “the Excrement” and I think it bugs him, oh well life goes on. Honda designed and originally marketed the Excrement to appeal to the “college crowd”, it was supposed to be this generation’s “Woody” but Georges salesman said that all of the sales he had made were to men in thier 40’s with small children.
Unclviny
I have one. I really like it. My wife and I wanted something that we could use to haul a good amount of stuff, allow four adults to sit in comfort, and not be too big. I like the fact that I can still parallel park the Element when I drive into the city, and it gets reasonably good mileage.
The other bonus is that the car is easy to clean. Cleaning up the salt in the interior was a lot easier in this car as is cleaning up spilled coffee and other things of that nature.
I call it the Elephant. Replace the “m” with a “ph”. It’s big, grey, slow and when the doors are open it even has ears. Stick a little hat on top with a mouse & a feather and call it Dumbo.
I really like the way it looks too. I haven’t gotten to drive one yet but, since I currently drive a T-bird, the 4banger makes me a little leery.
Can it manage on a highway? Do they make aftermarket parts for them to add power?
I’d love a supercharger and coffee-can exaust on one of those…
It’s not too slow on the highway. I’ve driven mine all the way to Maine and it was alright. It’s not the fastest car I’ve ever driven, but it is OK for real world driving.
I like the fast that it is easy to find in a parking lot. I can spot it easily which is not always possible with other cars.
Something I forgot to mention earlier, the interior is cavernous. A friend of mine bought a large leather loveseat. We took the seats out of the Element, and the loveseat slid in. I was able close the lift gate and transport it to his place. When my wife and I drove to Maine, we took a stroller and a large suitcase for her sister. We were able to fit in all of our stuff and a large cooler for soda and snacks without having to worry about fitting everything carefully.
I was at Pacific Raceways yesterday turning a bunch of laps trying to qualify for my novice racing license. There was a guy there lapping in an Element, and while it certainly wasn’t one of the faster cars there, he was moving along a lot more quickly than I would have ever thought. You knew when he was coming too, as you could hear all four tires howling long before you saw him pop around the corner in a frightening lean.
It will probably never end up on the “10 Most Stolen Cars” list with those looks, but to each his or her own.
I’m sure it’s a fine, quality vehicle. Ugly as sin, though.
The pea-green color that seems to be the most common is particularly nauseating. If it’s your thing to drive an ugly box, more power to you. No accounting for taste.
I think for the price you could get several classic panel vans like this.
My uncle’s got one. It’s a fine vehicle, nice and practical. It gets about ten miles per gallon more than any other comparably sized SUV, and it’s really easy to clean.
It handles better than you’d think, and the 150-cubic-inch four-banger is enough to give it useful acceleration beyond 90 miles per hour. I’m not sure how well it’ll do beyond 100.
Next to roadkill, they are the ugliest things on the road today.
They kind of remind me of a French Legionnaire’s hat.
Microbug and I walked past one yesterday, and she turned to me and asked, “How the heck can that thing be reasonably popular, and yet the Aztek failed miserably?”
We’re both of the opinion that the Aztek was a better-looking vehicle.