As someone who has (wrongly) been described as a 'preacher' here, I have plenty of moans and grumbles about my E, but I wouldn't change it for any other vehcile I could reasonably afford.
The first complaint is the dire and disgraceful quality of dealerships. How Honda sell anything with the predominance of poorly informed, below-par, obstructive, ill-trained and often arrogant dealers is either a miracle or a testament to the quality of their vehicles.
Some Elements have had serious problems with cracking windshields, or at least windshield quality, some with very easily damaged exterior composite panels, many with leaky rear door windows, a lot with squeaks, rattles and other sundry noises from almost all parts of the car, though the dash/windshield pillar area and tailgate are the most common. Many have reported interior trim and covers that fall off, most that interior plastic panels are very soft and easily gouged, and there are wide variations in reports of fuel consumption from 12-26mpg. Reports from 2WD owners are that the better performance tends to cause a bit of torgue steer accelerating hard from standstill and some 4WD owners report that despite the 4WD system, the car slides, skids or fails to go entirely in the direction its pointed in on wet roads. There have been complaints about the driver's seat rocking slightly, noises from the brake assembly at the front when first stopping going forward after reversing, and reports of poor reception on the radio and even skipping when playing CDs. Other than that, most complaints seem to be that it uses the lowest grade of fuel when a higher grade MIGHT give better performance, that it's engine isn't powerful enough to allow great acceleration, that the suspension is a bit hard, particularly in the rear so the ride is a bit harsh, that Honda don't encourage owners to have sufficient oil changes, and the usual things about the door design causing problems in tight spaces, instruments being hard to read and having insufficient ground clearance for anything but gentle off-road use. It does seat only 4, and the way the rear seats fold up to improve load space causes rearward vision through the side window(s) at the rear to be compromised somewhat.
I have found some of the above things in my own case, but not others. I get 21+ city and 26+ highway so gas mileage is OK for me, and my 4WD EX is very stable, behaved well in heavy snow and shows no sign of directional instability on wet roads, even in VERY heavy rain. The $WD system has been around quite a while in the CR-V and owneers of those seem retty happy with it, as am I. My E does suffer from a rattling dash at the left side, both rear windows still leak (slightly), and even after 6500 miles the exhaust still sometimes smells like bad eggs for a second or two. My stereo works fine - radio reception is as good as my last vehicle, and no CD has skipped at all. The engine develops plenty of power for the size and weight of the vehicle and gives pretty good (not electrifying) performance, and it's comfortable for long trips. Even though mine falls into the 'cracking windshield' range of VINs, I've had stones and debris bounce off my windshield a few times now with no damage despite very alarming noises, and my exterior composite panels have no scratches and seem quite resistant to scratching when I've tried. Interior panels DO scratch very easily though, and oddly, they seem to discolor very patchilly too, particularly if they get wet. My front passenger seat suffers this too, but not the driver seat or those in the rear. I suspect the dealer added some form of treatment that was either not apporopriate or not uniformly applied. They say not. I've had no interior trim fall off, but it is clear that Honda trimmed some items to fit the required selling price and that does suggest a few items are compromised in quality terms.
Many of the potential shortcomings of the vehicle are things that will become rather apparent in a test drive. The problem is ....
