I'm not yet an Element owner (my CRV lease ends in May) but I hope to be by then. I've been reading a lot of the articles and everything sounds great.

My question is this...I have a CRV right now, and I like my car a lot, but I feel really wimpy when I drive next to a REAL SUV, and sometimes even smaller SUV's (like the Jeep Liberty). How does it stand next to SUVs? I've even seen cars that are almost as tall as my CRV.

I know it has that extra 8", so I'm guessing it stand quite nicely, and I have yet to check an Element out at my dealership. I've only seen it on the road driving by, so it look beefy next to an SUV or is it still wimpy?

Also, off topic, but I have an iPod mp3 player...has anyone tried to use one yet? How does it sound? How's the sound system in general?

Thanks for the help.
Adam

SUV owners look at me with a look that says, "oh no, I spent too much money and I want the Element" The similar big brother, the Hummer, has many followers, people who like the looks but not the price nor gas milage. This is a cool car, ecconomical and fun.

i personaly wouldnt worry about what people think .buy what you like they arent making the payments, you are.i used to drive an old postal jeep as my car and i loved it.

Yeah, and I bet our payments on the EL will be a lot lower than theirs.

The first thing I think when I pass every SUV is, "holy crap, how much do you spend on gas." The Element: wimpy - no, different - yes. My E, either elicits awe and excitement from people, or, in some cases, haughty glances from people who will jump on the bandwagon once the E becomes really popular. Either way, I would rather have someone say, "what in the world is that," (either in a positive or negative way) than just drive by and think - oh, it's just another SUV.

As far as the iPod, My 20 gig iPod, loves its new home in the E. You should have absolutely no problems connecting to the input. Just be sure to get superior quality cables and the car power adapter from Apple. The sound quality so far has been excellent, but that is going to vary depending on the quality of your mp3 rips.

Yes the Ipod works great as does my Pocket PC. Like Elementowner said make you get a good cable. The cable should have the 1/8 inch standard earphone plug to connect to the AUX jack. As soon as you plug it in the stereo system will play only thing coming from the AUX. It is very nice.