I did it; I am the proud owner of a 2004 Honda Element. Yeah, it does look a lot like a Hummer waiting to grow up, but it rides nicer. I haven’t driven a Hummer, but I can’t imagine that it rides better. Being 6′7″, I really like all the head and leg room in the vehicle; it is probably tops in what I need in any vehicle I drive. The Element has more head room than any of these vehicles (which I test drove): Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorrento, Kia Sportege, Geo Tracker, Chevy Trailblazer, Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, Dodge Durango, Jeep Liberty, Toyota RAV4, Toyota 4Runner, Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Exterra. I don’t know all of the fuel economy numbers on all of these listed here, but it probably ranks at or near the top in fuel economy among all of these vehicles.
The color is called Fiji Blue Pearl (whatever that means) and I think is the nicest of the colors available. The Element comes in Fiji Blue Pearl, Galapagos Green Metallic, Nighthawk Black Pearl, Shoreline Mist Metallic, Sunset Orange Metallic and Satin Silver Metallic. (My nickname for the Sunset Orange Metallic is “Correctional Facility Orange” - it doesn’t miss that by much!)
It is more of a SUV with an emphasis on the Utility. The floor is not carpeted but covered with a rubber/plastic mat that is easy to clean. The seats are a special cloth that can be wet/dry vacuumed. The back seats (where there is also plenty of head and leg room) are called “stadium seating” since there is a lot of room and you sit up and now down. The seats can be folded to the side to make it into a kind of cube van or they can be removed completely. Heck, who needs a campground: the seats can be folded down completely into two narrow twin beds. It even has on-demand four wheel drive; it kicks in when the front tires spin out.
Not to say it doesn’t have some luxury items: 7 speaker CD stereo with a subwoofer, automatic transmission, air conditioning, power steering, 4 wheel ABS disc brakes, sun roof, AUX input to the stereo (for an MP3 player or a cassette player), extra lumbar support seating, and cruise control.
Here are some pix:
