This is the second Honda vehicle I have ever owned and I could not ask for a more reliable and fun-to-drive car. I'd been wanting an Element for years, and finally buying one more than lived up to my expectations. The best experience I had was in relation to its 4-wheel drive. I've never driven a car that handles so well in bad weather.

This car has 243 000 miles. It is extremely reliable. There is a timing chain so you never have to worry about changing the timing belt. Room space is better than any other cars I have seen for the passengers in the back seats. All my passengers always comment on that! Once the seats are folded, trunk space if enormous. The rear side doors open outward from the front, which allowed me to load large canvas that would not have gone through the trunk. The floors are very easy to wash.

In 2005, we purchased a Honda Element so it could be modified to accommodate a wheelchair user. A company in Michigan had developed an accessible solution with the Element that works very well. The base car cost about $20k and the modifications added a whopping $17k on to the total cost. The Element is like a big box (we call it our "toaster") and it has suicide doors (the back doors open backwards). The two doors opening wide gives room for a ramp that the wheelchair user can ride up to get inside the car. Also, the floor is lowered so the wheelchair rider looks out the windshield, rather than sitting up high, unable to see out. We have found the Element to be incredibly reliable. It's got about 130,000 miles on it and has had 2 things go wrong with it. The cable from the gear shifter to the transmission snapped and the cruise control broke. The gear shift problem was probably due to the design of the accessibility modifications, as they ran the shift through an opening that had some friction which wore it down. Most people wouldn't care about the cruise control, but I use it all the time, so I shelled out almost $500 to have it fixed. Reliability is great. The thing does drive like a truck and has fairly unpeppy acceleration. But, our toaster gave my wife easy access to the world, and that's something money can't buy.