Regret? No.
Have I fallen out of love with the Element? Yes, and depending upon how my finances shake out, I'll be driving a Ford Fiesta next year when they're released in North America.
My thoughts-The Element is a brilliant little car that's incredibly useful. The clutch in mine is not so brilliant, and truth be told, the quirky clutch that I still get jerky shifts with after 55,000 miles has been enough to make driving my Element a less-than exciting experience. Besides that, although I get really good mileage out of my E compared to many owners, I'm really interested in something that does better than 27 mpg. When I bought the E, I was doing a lot of mountain-biking and stuff, so it was great, but now that I do much more road-riding (present leg injury notwithstanding), I figure a small car with a good roof rack should suffice for my needs.
Basically, the E was the perfect car for me and my lifestyle when I bought it, but the Universe has changed in the last three years. And, I hate the clutch, and hating something so integral to the driving experience has left me cold toward the E.
And, now that Ford's got some really sexy and well-built cars on the road now and coming down the pipeline, well, it wouldn't hurt to be able to drive a Ford to work at Ford World Headquarters every day rather than a Honda. Having driven all the new Ford products, as well as the forthcoming Fiesta, I have to say that I'm really impressed by them.