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My wife and I test drove a silver EX, 2WD, 5-speed this morning.
I drove an automatic a few months ago and was impressed, but we are really interested in the 5-speed since we're used to manuals and prefer them.
The placement of the shifter knob is excellent. Both my wife and I thought it was great and had no problem. The short throws are great. In first gear we really had to be careful because it took off fairly quickly, unlike the old Audi we currently drive. In higher gears it was much more smooth. Eventually we got the hang of it.
In busy city driving I mostly had it in 2nd or 3rd gear. I could easily round green-light corners in 3rd and it was very automatic-like. On any rolling stops I just went down to 2nd instead of 1st and had no bucking.
Acceleration was very good and better than the automatic, or at least that was my perception. I got up to 75 very quickly on the highway.
We weren't buying today. The vehicle we drove was silver and when we buy we'll get a black one.
It's not a matter of what we'll be buying, but when...and where. We're definitely getting an Element in the next couple of months.
Here's the price quote on the model we drove. It's less than MSRP, but not nearly as good as some of the deals I've read.
2003 Honda Element, EX model, 2WD, 5-speed. Option pricing included keyless entry and a roof rack: $19,405.00. Dealer prep (?): $285.00 = $19,690.00. Dealer was offering a 2% discount ($393.80).
Final total: $19,296.20
I asked about financing. $0 down and 60 months @ 5.9%, the payment would be between $404-409 a month.
Then I chose a second option: $9500 down and the rest financed for 36 months. Payment would be between $347-352 a month, but the best they could seem to do with over half down and 36 months was also 5.9% which we felt was unimpressive in these times.
At least we have a starting point and it's not at MSRP or above.
I drove an automatic a few months ago and was impressed, but we are really interested in the 5-speed since we're used to manuals and prefer them.
The placement of the shifter knob is excellent. Both my wife and I thought it was great and had no problem. The short throws are great. In first gear we really had to be careful because it took off fairly quickly, unlike the old Audi we currently drive. In higher gears it was much more smooth. Eventually we got the hang of it.
In busy city driving I mostly had it in 2nd or 3rd gear. I could easily round green-light corners in 3rd and it was very automatic-like. On any rolling stops I just went down to 2nd instead of 1st and had no bucking.
Acceleration was very good and better than the automatic, or at least that was my perception. I got up to 75 very quickly on the highway.
We weren't buying today. The vehicle we drove was silver and when we buy we'll get a black one.
It's not a matter of what we'll be buying, but when...and where. We're definitely getting an Element in the next couple of months.
Here's the price quote on the model we drove. It's less than MSRP, but not nearly as good as some of the deals I've read.
2003 Honda Element, EX model, 2WD, 5-speed. Option pricing included keyless entry and a roof rack: $19,405.00. Dealer prep (?): $285.00 = $19,690.00. Dealer was offering a 2% discount ($393.80).
Final total: $19,296.20
I asked about financing. $0 down and 60 months @ 5.9%, the payment would be between $404-409 a month.
Then I chose a second option: $9500 down and the rest financed for 36 months. Payment would be between $347-352 a month, but the best they could seem to do with over half down and 36 months was also 5.9% which we felt was unimpressive in these times.
At least we have a starting point and it's not at MSRP or above.
