alright so i bought an element and am quite eager to get my money out of it asap. anyone have weekend trip sugestions from phoenix? has anyone fully tested the off road capabilities of the four wheel drive editions?
Are you asking if anyone has gotten their Element stuck, or damaged by running it over rocks? I'll wait until my Element has little resale value before fully testing its capabilities.
In the mean time, you can browse the off-the-beaten-track section for some accounts of off-the-highway driving. I suspect that in Arizona, ground clearance will be more of a limiting factor than traction and the need for awd.
alright so i bought an element and am quite eager to get my money out of it asap. anyone have weekend trip sugestions from phoenix? has anyone fully tested the off road capabilities of the four wheel drive editions?
J. Tree has a range of dirt roads to take advantage of, camping, there's some biking, and a whole pack of E owners to goad you into buying more stuff for your E. It's a healthy drive from Phoenix, but no worse than the LA-Vegas haul that about a million people make each weekend.
I'm taking my son there in 2 weeks with the scouts and hope to have my E by then. We haven't decided if we want to go back 2 weeks later for the E get-together, but we're leaning toward it.
The group there should be able to get you pointed toward a road that will let you test your E without breaking it.
alright so the wife and i are in for the group trip,
but i am also impatient.
so it is off to flagstaff saturday night and sunday.
camping, hiking, and mostly just driving aimlessly about the coconino forest on lesser maintained roads.
the ground clearance is like 6 inches, so be careful when driving it off road, I was at the lake on day, and got stuck on a piece of concrete, The black bar on the gastank is lower than the 6 inch clearance. In mud it is a hog, Not a true 4x4...
The Element can handle most county-maintained fire roads in the desert (pic 1), but once the road starts looking like pics 2 and 3, you've reached the limit of the E's off-road capability.
2 and 3 were conquered by my 2wd Element, but traction wasn't the issue; ground clearance was. As the previous post mentioned, ground clearance is 8" maximum, and likely less around the fuel tank. Even though the tank has a metal bar for protection, I think the container is made of plastic. It's a risky setup for desert driving.
The fact that the gas tank is plastic shouldn't be a worry. Often when a metal tank gets damaged, it's the seams that leak. The plastic tank doesn't have those seams.
However if you were to drag the tank, or the emissions canister behind it on the ground (say while following in someone's ruts), you could dislodge some part, and cause damage to the rear drivetrain. At least that is what some CRV owners have reported. I haven't read of any such problems in an Element.
When dealing with the rougher roads in the previous post, driver skill is very important. Skill and practice. You need to get a feel for how the Element's suspension reacts, and a feel for what kinds of manuvers maximize clearance. I would, for example, focus on keeping the tires on the high points. And when in doubt driving very slowly so if something does hit, I can back off and try a different line. Also, don't be afraid to turn back - that's easy to do in an Element, even on a narrow mountain shelf road.
i took my element on some pretty sketchy looking trails last weekend but it did great. you were right, traction is not a problem with the element and i didnt try to push the limits of the clearance. overall i was quite impressed with my vehicle. anybody know if the auto 4WD works just as well in reverse?
Yes, the dual pump mechanism works in both directions. That is, the pumps can circulate the oil in either direction. As long as the front one (connected to the drive shaft and transmission) spins faster than the rear one (connected to the differential) oil pressure builds up and activates a clutch pack.
In fact, one of the easiest ways of experiencing this activation, is to nudge the front wheels onto some slick stuff (a snow bank, mud beside the road), and try to back up.
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