If you've taken a test drive already, what did you think? We still don't have any at our dealership here in Central Illinois, so fill me in!

I stopped by a local Honda dealer over the weekend. Overall I am still *very* impressed but here are my "cons"

* No manual tranny on the EX.

* No sunroof on the 2WD model

* Seat bungee is for the driver seat only. Drives find it much easier to store things behind the front passenger seat.

* No body color to match the plastic body panels. Some folks don't like the looks of the offset plastic color. Black will have to do for now.

* Althought I did not drive one YET I am sure more horsepower couldn't hurt. :-)

* Still waiting for side impact airbags.


I just wish Honda had the Element available a year ago when I bought my Tacoma. I am going to see how well the Element does in safety tests and probably drive one in a few months.

I also think it's gay how they didn't bother to offer the 5 speed manual with the 4WD EX. Apparently, some people on the net are claiming it will debut later on during the year. Dealerships in Canada have not taken delivery of this car yet until later this month. Man, are we slow up here...

The 4wd dx automatic was nice, it had nothing on it like a/c or a radio and both are needed here in Houston. I drove it during rush hour and got on the freeway and was surprised at how peppy it actually was. Seems a little quicker than my civic. Its really large and open on the inside. Someone mentioned the 4wd 5spd, i'm looking for the 2wd 5spd and they are suppose to be out now. Was told they wouldnt have 5spds until May, but which is strange because the 4wd 5spd is suppose to come out in June i think. Car and Driver tested a 2wd Ex 5spd and got 0-60 in 8.7 which is quicker than my civic. Guess I'll have to wait. A good site for some info is collegehillshonda.com.

i really liked the feel of the drive.. i dont know too much about how performance springs from engine jargon...but i loved the smoothness and the options the one i drove came with.

My wife and I test drove a green one yesterday and loved it. We would've driven home last night in it, but the dealer wasn't giving us what we wanted on our trade-in (a 2002 Toyota Camry). We live about 50 miles outside of Houston, so I called a few dealers there and one of them said they would meet with us this weekend and said they believe they can meet our price.

We used to own a Nissan X-Terra, but with my wife driving to and from her job in Houston each day, it was killing us on gas. My wife was very skeptical about th Element being smaller than the X-Terra, but she went nuts about it after driving it. Our daughters are 6 and 4 months - my oldest thinks it is just the coolest thing ever, while my wife and I think it will be easy to load in our 4 month-old in and out in her car seat.

I'll let y'all know how this weekend goes...

The side airbags are to be in like June.. the Manual EX in I believe May perhaps June. Of course add a month to that.. when they were to debut in December and they are still slim pickin's at best!

I had a chance to meet and greet an EX 4WD.. sweet. The drive is very much the same as theCRV from 2002 was.. which is swift, clean and comfortable.

The interior surprised me.. it does not look large when you see it from the outside but it is so comfortable and feels so spacious on the inside! The spacing behind the back seats are the only things lacking. But eh I can live with it. I was surprised how comfy the seats actually were! The head room was wild.. very high vehicle.. I have a tendacy to beat my head as I get in and out of cars, so this was a nice change!

I read issues about the back seat bungee... there has to be a way around that.. i agree reaching stuff behind the drivers side would be & is rough.

Happy drivin'!

I got to test drive one. I liked the steering. The expression "turn on a
dime" applies here. I wanted acceleration, too. I drove onto the
interstate and had no trouble merging with traffic. That was a concern,
I hate a pokey car when a semi is bearing down on you!

I think the Explorer will be doing quite a bit of sitting in the garage when
the Element gets here.

Word is that 4WD models with manual transmissions will be available in June - - about the same time that side airbags become available :D

my wife and i drove one last week. really cool... love the wipe-out interior, headroom, boxy-look. all good, but i don't think i can live with the fuel economy. even worse than the so-so cr-v. i was kind of hoping honda - of all companies - would be able to pull something off with a few more mpgs. maybe i'll have to consider a toyota matrix?

Still the CRV & Element have the best yet on mpg than other SUVs, and I have driven the whole lot of them... along with mpg they also kick the others but on comfort too.

The matrix (which is a mini-station wagon, hardly an SUV contender) had a wimpy ride, even as tiny as it was. Cute otherwise, but the inside made me feel claustrophobic.

I would love to have 40 mpg too, but I do love the comfort, feel & versatility that the Element offers just can not get that in an econo-can vehicle.

... a quick visit to www.fueleconomy.gov (search by class = SUV) reveals that the Toyota RAV4 2WD, Saturn Vue FWD, Ford Escape 2WD, and Mazda Tribute all meet or beat the CR-V 2WD in fuel economy. There are some AWD/4WDs that beat the CR-V 4WD, too. And the Element does worse than CR-V. Still, I'd agree that the Element is more versatile/interesting than all of these combined. A few years ago, this kind of fuel economy wouldn't have bothered me, but it's gotten to where it's harder to accept it. Not when I could be getting 10-20 mpgs more and still taking along 4 friends (5 total in the car). A 38 mpg car saves 1,400-plus gallons of gasoline over a 10 year period over a 28 mpg car assuming 15,000 miles per year. If my wife and I both opt for 10 mpg better on each of our cars, we save 2,800-plus gallons combined. Move it up to 48 (Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid), and we save 4,400-plus gallons combined. That's a lot of gasoline/oil. :shock:

Yeah, frankly, I'd rather have an Element than a tiny sedan, but I'm not sure I can rationalize it any more, when most of the time, it's just me in the car. :(

Yeah I know what you mean, and thankfully any driving i have is not far (very small state of delaware) and then i also plan on using it for camping too, so it completely meets my needs.

I would not bother comparing the Element with anything other than the Rav4 or the CRV.. since the Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape (same vehicle) and saturn vue are complete garbage, they have horrible reviews, horrible reliability, horrible crash tests, well heck they are horrible. So they are not even close to consideration.

I did check the Rav4, cute but eh, just missing something, yeah versatility, smiles.. and the crv, you know i really hate that fabric patter, petty aren't it, smiles.. yeah i am kinda inlove with the element could you tell?

I wish you luck on your gas ecomony hunt, take care

Bruiser

How did you found for loading and unloading your 6 months old from the E? I have a 2 1/2 and a infant, My wife is very concern about it, other than that, she loves it!

Finished our first week with the E. (EX auto)

Like the ride (I had a 99 Honda Accord EX V-6) and its not as noisy as I was led to believe. Not a lot different from Accord. Its fun to drive.

Like the interior (mine is SMM) and the seating is comfortable...I like firm seats and these are firm.

Handling and especially the turning radius make me smile....a great urban infighter...parking is easy. A lot of volume in a compact package.

Gas....First Tank ...19 MPG ..all city...would like improvement.

Guests liked the roominess of the rear seat, but the rear is over the axle and bumpy at times....since we rarely have passengers, this is no biggeee for us.

Folded the seats up and loaded the cooler and Lab and tootled down to the coast to let him swim (a reason I bought the E)...great time and the wet dog didn't hurt a thing.

This is a good car for me......but I hope the gas milage improves...this tank will have some highway miles so we'll see.

The first was an SOP EX 4WD with lots of accessories installed, had 380 miles on it. It handled great, quiet ride, plenty of power for me. Really loved it, though the seats folded up took up more room than I thought they would and seriously block visibility. Also, there isn't much cargo room behind the back seats if they're down.

Later, at another dealership, I drove a silver version of the same Element without a lot of the goodies the other one had. It was still a great ride, but felt a lot more spartan to both my wife and me. There must be a strong psychological effect in play since the models were identical. Maybe the first one had more of the dash trim stuff.

So anyway I'm shopping for a Green 4WD EX and I hate this website because every time I come here I want buy the next Element I see! :x

Seriously, this board is a great resource, thanks for being here!

[quote:45335ef3c6="JDM Element"]I also think it's gay how they didn't bother to offer the 5 speed manual with the 4WD EX. Apparently, some people on the net are claiming it will debut later on during the year. Dealerships in Canada have not taken delivery of this car yet until later this month. Man, are we slow up here...[/quote:45335ef3c6]

Gay how, specifically?

How did you found for loading and unloading your 6 months old from the E?

Also, 'uncleseven' may have the honor of coining the world's shortest acronym: "E"

In honor of Halloween, the ultimate EOC thread resurrection—thread No. 1! T-Mac hadn't yet driven an Element ... he wasn't even T-Mac yet.

http://www.skidmore.edu/~pdwyer/e/eoc/zombie_thread.gif

By the way, what kind of oil is best, and how often should I change it?

Very cool! I started reading this thread and it took me several minutes to notice the date! Makes more sense when you do. :roll:

For a second I thought i clicked the link, went through a time warp and wound up on another planet. Great archival work!!!!!!