We needed a vehicle and soon.  We would be moving cross-country from NYC to LA in just a couple of weeks.  We had enjoyed 8 years without a car in Manhattan.  One warm spring evening I sat with my wife and boys enjoying a cone in our favorite East Village ice cream shop.  After weeks of research, I had been watching an Ebay online auction for this vehicle and made a last minute bid.  When I got the confirmation, I leaned in close to my wife and said, “Honey, I think I just bought us a car.”  She just smiled and said, “Cool”.  The only problem was that it was in Ohio, outside Columbus, and we were in Manhattan.  “No problem”, she said, “We’ll just do a one way car rental on our cross country journey.”

This highly versatile vehicle has been the perfect addition to our gear kit.

Some of the positives:

• Rugged, washable interior – key with kids and dogs.
• Stadium-like seating in the back seat so kids can enjoy the view ahead
• A lot of window providing views for everyone.
• Sunroof, which we had been initially really excited to have, but really has been used very infrequently and needed to buy additional sunshades to protect the boys from the intense SoCal sun.
• Bucket seats in the back that recline down to a completely flat position.  Although never had an occasion to do so, you could recline all the seats down and make a full size bed for sleeping.
• Decent gas mileage for its class, though in these days of hybrids it doesn’t look great
• All wheel drive
• Handles like a car
• Shorter than most vehicles, which, when combined with car-like handling, makes for a tight turn radius.  Also allows for parking in compact spaces.
• Composite quarter panels make typical nicks and scratches moot.
• Back seats fold up to give you the flexibility to haul big loads.
• Plenty of headroom, allowing my 5′2″wife to move around effortlessly and tend to everyone’s needs in the backseat.
• Suicide doors, great for tailgating, car camping, loading.
• Aux stereo input for mp3 player and two power outlets, front and back.

Some of the negatives:

• Sometimes suicide doors can be difficult – in tight parking lots for example.
• If you’re looking for power you probably want another car. The Element is basically a car chassis with a bigger shell.  On the flip side, this contributes to it’s good handling.
• Gas mileage could be worse, but it could be better too.
• No soundproof pane between front and back seats

The Skinny:

• USE – The Element delivers as advertised in all aspects
• AFFORDABILITY – Not a luxury car by any means, so pricing is very reasonable.  It’s a Honda, so it runs and runs well.  Gas mileage isn’t the greatest, but if you’re comparing it with SUVs in its class and you’ll often come out with the upper hand.
• SIZE – Spacious interior without an overly obnoxious exterior.  In fact, the exterior to interior size ration is very advantageous in our opinion.  Great short length and beats many smaller cars in turn ration and ease of parking.
• SIMPLE STYLING – Thought it was odd looking the first time I saw one, now other cars we were considering (Subaru Forrester) seem impractical and cramped.  Many of the conveniences of the mini van without having to be a mini van driver
• SANITY – This was a 100% lifestyle purchase and a good one.  The Element has really helped facilitate some of our lifestyle choices, and made financial sense.  In a realm where ego and consumerism can play such ingrained roles in our choices, we made a disciplined, utilitarian choice, and wound up with a vehicle we happen with which we happen to be quite fond.

If we had it to do again we’d buy the Element.  Great on road trips, especially the outdoorsy version that may get the interior dirty.  It’s a Honda, so we expect to be able to drive it for a long time.  It’s not plush, but it’s comfortable.  We’ve even been able to make it work with three car seats across the back.  The biggest thing Honda could do to improve it would be to offer a hybrid version.  In fact, we would not only make this purchase again, we’d buy the same model year too.  Honda subsequently tried to market the Element to a more urban market, losing a few of the, ahem, elements that make it so user friendly for us – like the composite quarter panels.

Big Sur Approaching Sunset