I have owned my Element since new, so it's going on 4 years now. I feel I have enough experience with this vehicle to post a comprehensive opinion about it.

My Element is FWD, 5-speed manual, no sunroof. Bought new, used 90% for city driving. I haul crates of heavy music equipment in the back, and for cargo hauling it has been excellent. It has similar functionality to a van, with WAY more style. Plus, it's much more nimble and manouverable than a van and gets decent mileage too.

FIRST, THE GOOD: The seating position is high like a SUV, so visibility forward is excellent. Interior controls are well-placed, The seat upholstery and floor plastics are extremely durable. Steering is light, but responsive. Acceleration is decent for such a boxy vehicle -- primarily due to the unusually low gearing in the manual transmission. Stereo is excellent, with handy MP3-input. Very quirky and fun vehicle!

NOW, THE BAD: The rear passenger doors are a PAIN to open in a parking lot -- very awkward for people to get in and out of if you don't have much room to open the doors fully. Rear visibility is severely limited due to the large pillars by the rear quarter-panel. Ride quality is politely described as harsh & bone-jarring. This vehicle has a very stiff suspension. In 5th-gear, the engine whines above 3000 RPM to stay at highway speed due to the strangely low gear ratios in the transmission -- significant engine noise and reduced fuel economy as a result. Wind noise is annoying at highway speeds, as in ROARING. Road noise is almost deafening, depending on road surface quality -- it seems there's minimal soundproofing in the Element. Handling is twitchy at highway speeds. Original Honda-supplied tires (Wrangler HP's) were absolutely abysmal, terrible tires on anything except dry pavement in Summer -- shame on you Goodyear & Honda!

Ultimately, I'll be selling it this Fall -- the Element was fun, but it wasn't 100% the vehicle I thought it would be.
Amount Paid (US$): 22000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: FWD 2.4L 5-spd manual