Review: Either the worst car I ever loved or the best car I ever hated. It was just that kind of vehicle, when it good it was very good – it could hold an unbelievable amount of stuff and was good in the winter. Also, decent gas mileage for a 4-wheel drive. On the other hand, the hard plastic floor was a disaster, hard to keep clean and very slick when wet. I found out the hard way to never wear leather soled shoes in the Element when the floor is wet, just about broke my ankle. Also, the seats stained easily and the interior plastic could be scratched just be looking at it. And the bumpers might as well be paper.
Driving the element on a windy day was a real adventure. Our drive back from Minneapolis on a windy day was pretty much the last straw. We were getting blown all over the interstate, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it scared us at the time. On the other hand, our daughter loved the raised seats in the back, what Honda calls theatre style seating, and the sunroof in the back was handy. Also, when my daughter spilled a glass of pop on the floor, no problem, no sticky carpet, we just wiped the floor off.
Thing I liked most was it was like one of the Transformer toys I had when I was a kid. There were just so many different ways it could be configured.
Great car for a college kid, long as he/she doesn’t do a lot of interstate driving.
Reviewer: OptimusPrime
Miles per gallon: 22
Summary: A love/hate relationship
Rating: 3.5
Reliability: Excellent