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80 Posts
Got my Element yesterday and got a chance to drive it in the rain today through New Jersey farmland (Hunterdon County). I was delighted.
Since I had a limited chance to handle it much during the demo with the salesman convinced that I (in my late 60s) was going to get him lost, this was the first real driving I have gotten to do.
I was a little nervous about how this would go, as the car I traded was a '96 Mercedes e320 (with 100k miles) that had been a delight to drive. Replacing it would have been close to $50k, and it was really pressed to do the carrying I needed of bulky objects (paintings, sculpture and large bonsai).
I had a brief shot on the interstate, and was reasonably pleased with the ambient noise (the Benz was so quiet that I lost touch with how fast I was driving!) On the country roads, the e handled like a dream, movingnicely in the corners, and making less fuss on the hills than I had expected.
When I got to the bonsai nursery, I was greeted with "What's that? Looks like a Hummer." I bought a juniper the size of an easy chair and it fitted right in behind the rear seats without a fuss. The nurseryman was blown away by the headroom the e had.
When I was shopping, I had looked at CRVs and RAV4s. I had also considered minivans, bur, since I live in a townhouse, I had no place to store the third seat. When I saw the Element, the light went on. I had thought that it was simply a "dudemobile", but saw that it had more utility than almost any other car.
If I win the Megabuck lottery, I may not replace it!
Bart
