4 ms·

Why is this car beloved? It's so terribly ugly, and it doesn't have any redeeming features you'd expect from a 4x4 (space, cargo room, clearance)

by abxytg 5y ago

aabajian 5y ago
It has enormous cargo space for its size. It has more interior space than an FJ Cruiser, despite being 80% of the size. The stock rear seats of an Element fold flat across the windows: https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/585272_81_61976_raLZLaYnP.jpg https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/585272_81_61976_raLZL... Also, there was factory-optioned camper model called the Honda Element ECamper. Like the FJ, the Element has suicide doors allowing you to load things like wheelchairs and surfboards. I think a big reason it has the false misconception of being washable is that there is no carpeting (except on the SC) models. It was also rated as the #1 dog-owner vehicle, which means it tends to get muddy. Honda even had a dog-utility ramp for it: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/honda~pet~ramp~kit~08l36-scv-100d.html https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/honda~pet~ramp~kit~08l...
- frankus 5y ago
  I bought one new in 2003 and this is spot on. I sold it in 2018 and still miss it (but wanted to tow more than 1500 lbs). The styling is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but if it's ugly at least it's cute ugly rather than the "I'm going to murder anyone who gets in my way"-ugly that seems to be trendy right now. One of the things I miss the most was the lack of a giant center console/tunnel between the front seats, and the dash-mounted shifter. You could easily drive with e.g. a backpack/messenger bag/etc. between the seats, and the whole interior felt much less cramped (a huge contrast to my current Escape/Kuga). The rear seats had a great view over the heads of the front-seat passengers and tons of leg room and headroom. Also the steep windshield and restrained amount of visual clutter on top of the dash was pretty great, especially in contrast to what's available nowadays, where you usually have a bunch of pointless shapes and textures constantly superimposed on your view of the world thanks to the reflection in the windshield.
  - abxytg 5y ago
    Appreciate this response, thanks!
  - FridayoLeary 5y ago
    Agreed with everything you said. It's a pity everything today has centre consoles splitting the car in 2. I like the idea of a 3 seat bench in the front but i think practicality is getting lost in the name of safety regs and excessive over styling, brand distinction and design detailing. The good news is electric cars can do away with tunnels and petrol tanks.
  - a2tech 5y ago
    I had a new one in 2005 and I LOVED that thing. I sold it and bought a hybrid Camry in 2009 because of gas prices and while the Camry has been great I miss the Element all the time. It was such a practical vehicle, and it had actual personality. It was so easy to clean, the soft plastic panels on the edges meant parking dents were really rare, it was surprisingly small and easy to park (especially parallel park, it was short and narrow), being able to easily take the seats out meant you had a huge amount of room in the back, no center console cluttering up the space between the driver and passenger, just super nice all around.
jrsj 5y ago
They’re cheap, extremely reliable, relatively fuel efficient, and very practical for their size.
twoodfin 5y ago
Absurd utility. Literally a Transformer of a car: The rear seats could be folded up, flattened & lined up with the fully reclining front seats into a (uneven) bed, or removed entirely. Suicide rear doors, no fixed B pillar & a low floor made loading and unloading a breeze. Same with the tailgate. Hell, they even positioned the sun roof so you could stand in the rear compartment to change clothes. I had an original sunset orange 2003 model and miss it often.
devoutsalsa 5y ago
It also wasn’t a 4x4. It did have an AWD option, like any Suburu, but it’s not meant for off-roading.
- agrippanux 5y ago
  There was a 4wd option, I had one.
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Because it's like 90% of the utility of an Astro van but it's not technically a van and it's from a manufacturer that certain demographics hold in high regard. It's a van for the people who are too proud to own a van. Edit: I sound like MCM and I don't like it.
- bombcar 5y ago
  This is likely it; 50% or more of SUVs are designed for people who refuse to be caught dead or alive in a minivan.
  - a2tech 5y ago
    Which is ridiculous--if people would actually test drive a minivan or use it for a few weeks they'd end up loving them. The side doors, back hatch and fold flat seats mean a mini van is a heck of a setup. My wife makes fun of me but if we fly into someplace and rent a car I'll almost always get a minivan.
    - bombcar 5y ago
      The minivan is almost the perfect vehicle by many measures - and for those who have too much shame, they can drive a Kia Carnival which has lines that make it look like an SUV.
- jiscariot 5y ago
  Element was available from 2003-2011--are you talking about "certain demographics" who wanted the reliable automobiles that Honda made during that time? So weird. That is in addition to offering AWD, stick shift, stow-able rear seating, better MPG, vinyl interior instead of carpet, removable moon-roof, none of which the Astro had.
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Honda is great at delivering cars that do exactly what people actually need or want. The Element had huge interior space and was thoughtfully designed to be ultra-utilitarian. Most consumers don't actually need a gigantic 4x4 with huge ground clearance to drive to their camp site once a year, so they didn't include those things. Honestly, the number of people who need high clearance 4x4 off-road vehicles ever is extremely small. Most people don't realize that something like the very capable Subaru Outback can actually conquer most casual offroad trails these days. The Honda Ridgeline is another great example. It was the perfect truck for the way most people actually use a truck: mostly commuting, occasional light hauling and towing. It gets great gas mileage, has enough towing capacity to pull a side-by-side or even a car on a light trailer, and it's very thoughtfully designed. But it doesn't have the big truck look, so most people skip it. Early base models were even FWD, which is perfectly fine and reasonable for the average truck owner in warm climates, but consumers balked because nobody had ever seen a FWD truck before. (They dropped the FWD model eventually).
- abxytg 5y ago
  As someone who lives a lifted truck lifestyle and gets there in an subie hatchback I concur
- thwayunion 5y ago
  > Most consumers don't actually need a gigantic 4x4 with huge ground clearance ... the very capable Subaru Outback can actually conquer most casual offroad trails these days. This is funny, because after I read "unnecessary ground clearance" the outback is exactly the car that came to mind! Most of the cars in that class (RAV4, Rogue, etc.) have lower clearance. (I totaled a sedan on a logging road due to insufficient clearance and replaced that car with a Forester, which has the same clearance as the Outback. I generally concur that the Forester/Outback/Crosstrek strike a good balance for most off-roading needs, but the extra clearance is unnecessary for probably 99% of purchasers. Particularly the Outback which seems to be a super popular family car.)
agrippanux 5y ago
It has a ton of space, you could remove the rear seats or fold them against the side. Mine had fantastic reliability and the 4 wheel drive worked very well in the snow.
elxr 5y ago
To add to what's already been said, it also came in manual.

Why is this car beloved? It's so terribly ugly, and it doesn't have any redeeming features you'd expect from a 4x4 (space, cargo room, clearance)

by abxytg 5y ago

Why is this car beloved? It's so terribly ugly, and it doesn't have any redeeming features you'd expect from a 4x4 (space, cargo room, clearance)

aabajian 5y ago

It has enormous cargo space for its size. It has more interior space than an FJ Cruiser, despite being 80% of the size. The stock rear seats of an Element fold flat across the windows: https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/585272_81_61976_raLZLaYnP.jpg https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/585272_81_61976_raLZL... Also, there was factory-optioned camper model called the Honda Element ECamper. Like the FJ, the Element has suicide doors allowing you to load things like wheelchairs and surfboards. I think a big reason it has the false misconception of being washable is that there is no carpeting (except on the SC) models. It was also rated as the #1 dog-owner vehicle, which means it tends to get muddy. Honda even had a dog-utility ramp for it: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/honda~pet~ramp~kit~08l36-scv-100d.html https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/honda~pet~ramp~kit~08l...

frankus 5y ago
I bought one new in 2003 and this is spot on. I sold it in 2018 and still miss it (but wanted to tow more than 1500 lbs). The styling is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but if it's ugly at least it's cute ugly rather than the "I'm going to murder anyone who gets in my way"-ugly that seems to be trendy right now. One of the things I miss the most was the lack of a giant center console/tunnel between the front seats, and the dash-mounted shifter. You could easily drive with e.g. a backpack/messenger bag/etc. between the seats, and the whole interior felt much less cramped (a huge contrast to my current Escape/Kuga). The rear seats had a great view over the heads of the front-seat passengers and tons of leg room and headroom. Also the steep windshield and restrained amount of visual clutter on top of the dash was pretty great, especially in contrast to what's available nowadays, where you usually have a bunch of pointless shapes and textures constantly superimposed on your view of the world thanks to the reflection in the windshield.
- abxytg 5y ago
  Appreciate this response, thanks!
- FridayoLeary 5y ago
  Agreed with everything you said. It's a pity everything today has centre consoles splitting the car in 2. I like the idea of a 3 seat bench in the front but i think practicality is getting lost in the name of safety regs and excessive over styling, brand distinction and design detailing. The good news is electric cars can do away with tunnels and petrol tanks.
- a2tech 5y ago
  I had a new one in 2005 and I LOVED that thing. I sold it and bought a hybrid Camry in 2009 because of gas prices and while the Camry has been great I miss the Element all the time. It was such a practical vehicle, and it had actual personality. It was so easy to clean, the soft plastic panels on the edges meant parking dents were really rare, it was surprisingly small and easy to park (especially parallel park, it was short and narrow), being able to easily take the seats out meant you had a huge amount of room in the back, no center console cluttering up the space between the driver and passenger, just super nice all around.

jrsj 5y ago

They’re cheap, extremely reliable, relatively fuel efficient, and very practical for their size.

twoodfin 5y ago

Absurd utility. Literally a Transformer of a car: The rear seats could be folded up, flattened & lined up with the fully reclining front seats into a (uneven) bed, or removed entirely. Suicide rear doors, no fixed B pillar & a low floor made loading and unloading a breeze. Same with the tailgate. Hell, they even positioned the sun roof so you could stand in the rear compartment to change clothes. I had an original sunset orange 2003 model and miss it often.

devoutsalsa 5y ago

It also wasn’t a 4x4. It did have an AWD option, like any Suburu, but it’s not meant for off-roading.

agrippanux 5y ago
There was a 4wd option, I had one.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

Because it's like 90% of the utility of an Astro van but it's not technically a van and it's from a manufacturer that certain demographics hold in high regard. It's a van for the people who are too proud to own a van. Edit: I sound like MCM and I don't like it.

bombcar 5y ago
This is likely it; 50% or more of SUVs are designed for people who refuse to be caught dead or alive in a minivan.
- a2tech 5y ago
  Which is ridiculous--if people would actually test drive a minivan or use it for a few weeks they'd end up loving them. The side doors, back hatch and fold flat seats mean a mini van is a heck of a setup. My wife makes fun of me but if we fly into someplace and rent a car I'll almost always get a minivan.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    The minivan is almost the perfect vehicle by many measures - and for those who have too much shame, they can drive a Kia Carnival which has lines that make it look like an SUV.
jiscariot 5y ago
Element was available from 2003-2011--are you talking about "certain demographics" who wanted the reliable automobiles that Honda made during that time? So weird. That is in addition to offering AWD, stick shift, stow-able rear seating, better MPG, vinyl interior instead of carpet, removable moon-roof, none of which the Astro had.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

Honda is great at delivering cars that do exactly what people actually need or want. The Element had huge interior space and was thoughtfully designed to be ultra-utilitarian. Most consumers don't actually need a gigantic 4x4 with huge ground clearance to drive to their camp site once a year, so they didn't include those things. Honestly, the number of people who need high clearance 4x4 off-road vehicles ever is extremely small. Most people don't realize that something like the very capable Subaru Outback can actually conquer most casual offroad trails these days. The Honda Ridgeline is another great example. It was the perfect truck for the way most people actually use a truck: mostly commuting, occasional light hauling and towing. It gets great gas mileage, has enough towing capacity to pull a side-by-side or even a car on a light trailer, and it's very thoughtfully designed. But it doesn't have the big truck look, so most people skip it. Early base models were even FWD, which is perfectly fine and reasonable for the average truck owner in warm climates, but consumers balked because nobody had ever seen a FWD truck before. (They dropped the FWD model eventually).

abxytg 5y ago
As someone who lives a lifted truck lifestyle and gets there in an subie hatchback I concur
thwayunion 5y ago
> Most consumers don't actually need a gigantic 4x4 with huge ground clearance ... the very capable Subaru Outback can actually conquer most casual offroad trails these days. This is funny, because after I read "unnecessary ground clearance" the outback is exactly the car that came to mind! Most of the cars in that class (RAV4, Rogue, etc.) have lower clearance. (I totaled a sedan on a logging road due to insufficient clearance and replaced that car with a Forester, which has the same clearance as the Outback. I generally concur that the Forester/Outback/Crosstrek strike a good balance for most off-roading needs, but the extra clearance is unnecessary for probably 99% of purchasers. Particularly the Outback which seems to be a super popular family car.)

agrippanux 5y ago

It has a ton of space, you could remove the rear seats or fold them against the side. Mine had fantastic reliability and the 4 wheel drive worked very well in the snow.

elxr 5y ago

To add to what's already been said, it also came in manual.