I do not own an Element yet but will within the next year. My main concern is the number of seats ( 4 ) which is less than what I can seat in my Beetle ( 5 ) . The other day going down the Turnpike saw an Element and I could have sworn that I saw 6 head rests.. tried to chase the car down to ask the owner how he did that but lost him in traffic.

Is there a way to get additional seating to accomodate for > 4 ?

Thanks a bunch for the responses

I can fit 5 sitting in the seats-depending on the size

However, another person (or two?) could possibly fit in the cargo area. If you removed the seats, you could probably seat more on the floor.

Others on the boards will advise against this because of carrying capacity, power, engine something or other, yadda, yadda, yadda. Don't be discouraged, it can be done, maybe not all the time, but sometimes, you just need to carry that extra person.

I'd discourage it on safety grounds alone. What happens if you get rear-ended at speed?

-brendan

I don't know how somebody could do this well. If the extra two people weren't smack against the back window, they'd be hunched on their knees behind the front seats.

But the real reason you can't do it is because the Element has a total load capacity of 650 lbs. Do the math and this is is two 200-pounders and two 125-pounders. More than that and you overload the engine, and you haven't even added in cargo weight. I don't know why the capactiy is so low (Consumer Reports calls it "puny" in Nov 2003 road test issue), but it is. But with four people, or two adults/two kids, you should be OK.

My sincere suggestion would be to not try to modify the E to be what it's not. If you really need the extra space, spring a little bit and get an Odyssey or a Pilot. Everything has compromises. Hope that helps. Cheers~