Honda Element Owners Questions

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?
I'm a big Honda fan and have bought two CR-Vs in the past. My wife has the
2004 CR-V and I would be driving the Element. To be honest, I don't like the
styling of the Element's exterior and seating for only 4 instead of 5. But,
at least they added 1 or 2 different colors for 2005. My interest is that
it's inexpensive, provides a roomy interior for me and the kids. I won't be
driving it except for around town (Dallas, Texas) and it get OK gas mileage.
From my experience with Honda's I believe it will be a solid, long lasting
and trouble free car. Honda's have exceptional resale value, though I'm not
sure this will apply to the Element only due to the body styling.
What have you Element owners experienced with yours? What kind of gas
mileage are you getting? How was the handling? How do you like the ride in
city traffic? How is the road noise? If you had an Element and sold it, what
was the reason and did it have a good resale value? Lastly, did you feel you
were driving in a well protected car against a collision?

Thanks in advance!

BV

BluesView wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
> taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?
> I'm a big Honda fan and have bought two CR-Vs in the past. My wife has the
> 2004 CR-V and I would be driving the Element. To be honest, I don't like the
> styling of the Element's exterior and seating for only 4 instead of 5. But,
> at least they added 1 or 2 different colors for 2005. My interest is that
> it's inexpensive, provides a roomy interior for me and the kids. I won't be
> driving it except for around town (Dallas, Texas) and it get OK gas mileage.
> From my experience with Honda's I believe it will be a solid, long lasting
> and trouble free car. Honda's have exceptional resale value, though I'm not
> sure this will apply to the Element only due to the body styling.
> What have you Element owners experienced with yours? What kind of gas
> mileage are you getting? How was the handling? How do you like the ride in
> city traffic? How is the road noise? If you had an Element and sold it, what
> was the reason and did it have a good resale value? Lastly, did you feel you
> were driving in a well protected car against a collision?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> BV
-----------------

Swarms of experienced Element owners live over at hondasuv.com.

'Curly'

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 20:09:57 -0700, "motsco_ _" <"motsco_
> wrote:

>BluesView wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
>> taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?
>> I'm a big Honda fan and have bought two CR-Vs in the past. My wife has the
>> 2004 CR-V and I would be driving the Element. To be honest, I don't like the
>> styling of the Element's exterior and seating for only 4 instead of 5. But,
>> at least they added 1 or 2 different colors for 2005. My interest is that
>> it's inexpensive, provides a roomy interior for me and the kids. I won't be
>> driving it except for around town (Dallas, Texas) and it get OK gas mileage.
>> From my experience with Honda's I believe it will be a solid, long lasting
>> and trouble free car. Honda's have exceptional resale value, though I'm not
>> sure this will apply to the Element only due to the body styling.
>> What have you Element owners experienced with yours? What kind of gas
>> mileage are you getting? How was the handling? How do you like the ride in
>> city traffic? How is the road noise? If you had an Element and sold it, what
>> was the reason and did it have a good resale value? Lastly, did you feel you
>> were driving in a well protected car against a collision?
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
>> BV
>-----------------
>
>Swarms of experienced Element owners live over at hondasuv.com.

But the home of the Element owner is www.elementownersclub.com
`

Getting people in and out of the back will grow tiresome, quickly.

Hugh Graham
"BluesView" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
> taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?
> I'm a big Honda fan and have bought two CR-Vs in the past. My wife has the
> 2004 CR-V and I would be driving the Element. To be honest, I don't like
> the
> styling of the Element's exterior and seating for only 4 instead of 5.
> But,
> at least they added 1 or 2 different colors for 2005. My interest is that
> it's inexpensive, provides a roomy interior for me and the kids. I won't
> be
> driving it except for around town (Dallas, Texas) and it get OK gas
> mileage.
> From my experience with Honda's I believe it will be a solid, long lasting
> and trouble free car. Honda's have exceptional resale value, though I'm
> not
> sure this will apply to the Element only due to the body styling.
> What have you Element owners experienced with yours? What kind of gas
> mileage are you getting? How was the handling? How do you like the ride in
> city traffic? How is the road noise? If you had an Element and sold it,
> what
> was the reason and did it have a good resale value? Lastly, did you feel
> you
> were driving in a well protected car against a collision?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> BV
>
>

Haven't heard of any safety problems, but suicide doors and the gas tank
hanging under the car have me a little concerned.

Takes a while to get use to the road noise and things sliding around ...
because, at least in 2003, carpet was NOT an option.

Much bigger interior than the CRV, but pay load in 2003 anyway - only 675lbs

Mine - 2003 auto 4WD, 22-24mpg

- Steve



"BluesView" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
> taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?
> I'm a big Honda fan and have bought two CR-Vs in the past. My wife has the
> 2004 CR-V and I would be driving the Element. To be honest, I don't like
the
> styling of the Element's exterior and seating for only 4 instead of 5.
But,
> at least they added 1 or 2 different colors for 2005. My interest is that
> it's inexpensive, provides a roomy interior for me and the kids. I won't
be
> driving it except for around town (Dallas, Texas) and it get OK gas
mileage.
> From my experience with Honda's I believe it will be a solid, long lasting
> and trouble free car. Honda's have exceptional resale value, though I'm
not
> sure this will apply to the Element only due to the body styling.
> What have you Element owners experienced with yours? What kind of gas
> mileage are you getting? How was the handling? How do you like the ride in
> city traffic? How is the road noise? If you had an Element and sold it,
what
> was the reason and did it have a good resale value? Lastly, did you feel
you
> were driving in a well protected car against a collision?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> BV
>
>

gsadgr5324 wrote:
> On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 20:09:57 -0700, "motsco_ _" <"motsco_
> > wrote:
>
>
>>BluesView wrote:
>>
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) <SNIP>
>>>Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>>BV
>>
>>-----------------
>>
>>Swarms of experienced Element owners live over at hondasuv.com.
> -------------------------
>
> But the home of the Element owner is www.elementownersclub.com
> `
----------------------------

Good tip, gsadgr5324. Some nice pictures there too. The forums look good
too: http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/

'Curly'

"motsco_ _" <"motsco_ > wrote in message
...
> gsadgr5324 wrote:
> > On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 20:09:57 -0700, "motsco_ _" <"motsco_
> > > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>BluesView wrote:
> >>
> >>>Hello,
> >>>
> >>> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) <SNIP>
> >>>Thanks in advance!
> >>>
> >>>BV
> >>
> >>-----------------
> >>
> >>Swarms of experienced Element owners live over at hondasuv.com.
> > -------------------------
> >
> > But the home of the Element owner is www.elementownersclub.com
> > `
> ----------------------------
>
> Good tip, gsadgr5324. Some nice pictures there too. The forums look good
> too: http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/
>
> 'Curly'
>

Yes! Thank you gsadgr5324. I'm finding some great info in these forums.
Thanks for the help.

BV

In article >, "BluesView" > wrote:
>Hello,
>
> I'm thinking of buying an Element (LX 2wd) for around town driving and
>taking the kids to school. What are the pros and cons you've experienced?

Cons: very poor around-town mileage (I've had as low as 16). The rare times
I'm on the open road, I've gotten as high as 26, but that's about 1% of my
driving. Everything slides all over, even with the trick of the WalMart
carpet installed. Can spin the tires if you start too fast from a stop.

Pros: carries my bicycle well - its prime function in life. Peppy, fun to
drive. Good visibility from rear passenger's perspective. Fold up rear seats
(facilitate bicycle storage), but you don't want to fold up the right rear
seat because you lose vision out the right side and have to rely totally on
the right mirror. Strange looks grow on one.

Art

Art
Temporary usercode - to be deleted when spam starts. Use MyBrainHurts at this ISP to reach me

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 00:13:43 -0600, "Hugh Graham" >
wrote:

>Getting people in and out of the back will grow tiresome, quickly.

I don't think think there is much different.