Hi, am new to the forum ... yesterday test drove and bought a new 2009 4WD EX PMM ... will post pix soon ... car is being detailed now and will pick it up on Tuesday.
Deciding factor for me to get this car was simple ... ability to fit my road bike into the back with one back seat up (hanging to side) and not have to take my front wheel off. I'm a fanatic cyclist and it'll be great to be able to take my bike to wherever I go for recreation (Tahoe, Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Point Reyes are faves!), and have it all safe in the car and yet have more room for more stuff, like camping stuff.
Before I even got serious about the car, I tested it on the bike thing by opening back, putting up one seat and then my bike rolled right it. I shut the back and was able to drive around with bike relatively secure standing up. I might investigate a way to bungee it to the side so it doesn't move around, though, so if any ideas, let me know.
I had looked at all manner of vehicles and was going to buy the Toyota Tacoma so I could put my bike in, but you still needed to take off the front wheel for it to fit securely in a short bed and to secure it to the vehicle (my parking space wouldn't accommodate a long bed truck) and the Tacoma pricing is significantly higher than Element so I was hesitating on it, plus no 2009 trucks left anywhere in this state it seems! Oh well, it was really expensive and even worse on gas anyway!
The Element is a lot less luxurious than my old car but it is a lot more functional, it's new and it gets better gas mileage, so ... let's see how it goes. Nice to have this forum to check everything out and get help if I need.
--kandicem
Deciding factor for me to get this car was simple ... ability to fit my road bike into the back with one back seat up (hanging to side) and not have to take my front wheel off. I'm a fanatic cyclist and it'll be great to be able to take my bike to wherever I go for recreation (Tahoe, Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Point Reyes are faves!), and have it all safe in the car and yet have more room for more stuff, like camping stuff.
Before I even got serious about the car, I tested it on the bike thing by opening back, putting up one seat and then my bike rolled right it. I shut the back and was able to drive around with bike relatively secure standing up. I might investigate a way to bungee it to the side so it doesn't move around, though, so if any ideas, let me know.
I had looked at all manner of vehicles and was going to buy the Toyota Tacoma so I could put my bike in, but you still needed to take off the front wheel for it to fit securely in a short bed and to secure it to the vehicle (my parking space wouldn't accommodate a long bed truck) and the Tacoma pricing is significantly higher than Element so I was hesitating on it, plus no 2009 trucks left anywhere in this state it seems! Oh well, it was really expensive and even worse on gas anyway!
The Element is a lot less luxurious than my old car but it is a lot more functional, it's new and it gets better gas mileage, so ... let's see how it goes. Nice to have this forum to check everything out and get help if I need.
--kandicem
