11/6/2023 0 Comments Honda element 2005![]() There is a rear sunroof in the far back portion of the cargo area, but it's operated manually. If you're agile you can reach back from the driver's seat and just manage to pop open the left-side passenger window, but this isn't a chore for the inflexible. In fact, regulating air flow, if you're not one to run the A/C on milder days, is a little annoying. Still, this isn't an ideal vehicle for carrying passengers because the second-row passengers only get pop-out windows for ventilation, and these are positioned somewhat forward of where they sit, so getting fresh air can be a bit of a struggle. An NBA guard could comfortably drive an Element without any special modifications. Speaking of which, both front and rear legroom is exceptional in this vehicle, and headroom is extraordinary. It would also be a good thing to do for the backseat passengers as well. Moving them outboard, to the doors, would help. For instance, the cupholders are a bit too basic to handle multiple cup sizes and their placement is awkwardly low and back, behind the driver between the two front seats. Some of what is missing here is a bit more utility for the basics. It shows a certain whimsy to have all that around you as a driver, and although it's hardly as Pop Art hip as the dash of a Mini Cooper, the Element's got its own gig and it works well. Yep, sure, the readouts and knobs, the dashboard and switches, it all comes in silver or gray, but the shapes themselves are oversized and round, with every vent hole and gauge and HVAC knob an echo of that shape on a larger or smaller scale. That makes the Element more fun to drive than you'd expect just by looking at it from its boxy exterior.Ī key to that sense of fun-beyond driving dynamics, which we'll cover below-is the playful dashboard and controls. ![]() It's an oddly comforting place to be, with a good view out the flattish windscreen and a solid sense that the vehicle is rotating around you in a turn. One of the coolest things about this vehicle is how you sit upright at the wheel, sort of like the UPS man in his brown bread van. But what of the payoff?įrom The Driver's Seat | Should You Buy This Car? | Specs There's a lot of promise with the Element. And that "promise" is at the root of that word. Note, too, that the root of this equation is compromise. The back seats are removable, and in case you want to keep those seats in the car they can be clamped to the side walls of the interior to make plenty of room for moving most objects (note that we said "most"). In perspective, 135 cubic feet is more than double the amount of cargo room you'll find in either Subaru's 2005 Legacy Wagon or the new Mazda6 Sport Wagon, both if which sell in the same price ballpark as the Element.Īdd to this equation a plastic load floor, with heavy-duty plastic walls and fabric that's treated to be stain resistant, and you have a cockpit that's nearly as tough as the bed of a pickup-but that can also accommodate four passengers. That's nearly as much room as you'll find in most minivans-and way more space than you can get in any wagon for the money. How? First, it has up to 135 cubic feet of cargo volume with the rear seats removed. And there are also a few improved pickup options around now.Īnd that's the thing about the Element-its clever packaging is meant to bridge the best of what you can get from a pickup with the best qualities of a wagon. Perhaps this is due to the failings we'll detail, or perhaps this has a lot to do with increased competition.Īfter all, there are more small wagons selling for roughly $20,000 (the Element EXS we drove retails for $20,550) this year than there were last year. We'll get to those in a moment, but we think we may be on to something Element sales are down about 5,000 units versus this time last year. We recently redrove the Element for a week during far less turbulent weather and found a few more shortcomings than we discovered on our first week of driving this vehicle. If you're waiting for a "but," wait no longer. We also found the cavernous cabin to be quite useful-and the plastic interior to be completely impervious to the molehills of snow that came inside the car on the soles of our boots. Lots of snow.Ĭalls "real-time 4WD," basically allowed this mostly front-wheel-drive vehicle to become an all-wheel-drive one whenever necessary, which meant even ten inches of snow in just a few hours on Christmas night didn't keep us from getting to Mom's for turkey dinner. ![]() When we first test-drove the Honda Element, we had the great good fortune to get to drive it in snow. ![]() Not a replacement for a pickup-or a wagon. ![]()
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