Hello all I'm new here I just wanted to say hi. I just bought a 5 speed manual Nighthawk Black Pearl 2WD EX. I was sold the moment I took it for a test drive! I promptly traded in my gas guzzling Dodge Dakota V8. The day after I bought it we had some snow, I was excited to find out that I had no problems at all driving in 4 inches of snow and ice on the road without 4WD. I am also pleased with the power of this little 4 cylinder. I wish I had more power to pass on the highway though. I'm an avid Mountain biker and racer. The Element is what I was searching for. I now have to figure out a good way to transport my Mountain Bike. I have built a custom bike mount for the inside with Yakima fork mounts, it works well but my bike takes up almost all of the space inside. I now am thinking about rear mount rack that attaches to a receiver hitch. I don't really want to mount the bike on a roof rack because of the height and decrease in gas mileage and Yakima doesn't offer a roof mount kit for the Element yet.
Overall I am very please with my Element. I have a few things that I'm concerned with. First of all I have noticed interior scratching due to the seat belt rubbing. I also think the spare tire cover is flimsy. I don't like the fact that I have to take off the head rests to fold up the rear seats. Well if I open the rear tail gate I can leave the headrests on but when I close it the headrests push into the hatch. I store the headrests in the rear side storage for now when the seats are folded up. These are petty things though I really like my Element! I'm getting 23 mpg in town and I'm still under 500 miles! I cant tell you how many time people stop me and bombard me with questions and want to take a look inside. I really enjoy all the looks good and bad. =) I recommend the Element to anyone seeking a very well priced and equipped unique utilitarian SUV.

Thanks for the nice site dedicated to my awesome Element!

Doug
2WD Nighthawk Black Pearl EX

Doug,

Glad you found us and glad you like the site.

Did you say 23 mpg in the city?!! Wow. I hadn't heard numbers like that from anyone yet. That's quite good, especially this early in the life of the Element.

Keep us posted on how things are going!

Doug,

Welcome and if you want to check out some of the other threads, you will see some talk about what to do about the scratches and spare tire cover.

Well 22.7 MPG but close enough, and that's even spending an hour teaching my wife how to drive a standard =). Lets just pray she doesn't burn up the clutch. =) I'm not letting her loose alone with it till I feel she's completely accustomed to driving a stick. Hehe I'm kind of sneaky to have gotten a standard, knowing that she cant drive one. I just love the rally style shifting. Well she has an accord to drive. =)

Doug

Hi,

Welcome aboard! I'm a avid mountain biker myself. I thought about doing a custom job to place my bikes inside my Element as well. Can you help me out and expand on your setup that you have? What Yakima fork mounts do you have? Are they universal? I wanted to layout the interior with CAD and make it really snug and secure. Well, let me know about your setup.

thanks
JR

nubluelement@bikerider.com

welcome doug..I just cant wait to get mine..

NuBluElement Im using the Yakima locking blockhead found here http://www.yakima.com/products/dynamic/8001117_2.html
I have it mounted to a piece of wood. I will post some pics of it soon. It works well. Im thinking about cutting a custom section of wood to replace the spare tire cover with the Yakima blockhead mounted to it and also have the yakima wheel mount to hold my front wheel on my bike, I could also make some sort of custom storage bin for my bike shoes, helmet etc.
I would use a nice piece of wood like oak or something and stain it. Hmmm I bet it would look pretty cool. Then I could just swap out the original cover when I did need to haul the bike. Ill keep you updated with this project.

Doug

dstrand: Welcome & Congrats!

Awesome mpg you are getting woo hoo! I am glad you are enjoying it so much.

You said youhave to remove the headrests when you flip the seats to the sides, i have not and i have space behind the seats still yet.. that is odd.. though there is a couple inch difference in space from the 4WD & the 2WD that might be it. Interesting.

ENJOY!

Thanks for the info dstrand.
I'm will be very intrested to see your custom job.