I have owned Hondas for 20 years now. Extremely practical vehicle with pretty decent fuel economy. I really started out loving this vehicle but for now is now only "OK" in my opinion because of a few major flaws. With 10K on the odometer I have a pretty good feeling for the car/truck. Unfortunately the quality of design and construction does not meet standards Honda has set in the past. The seats have always been a big weakness. Lower back support in the Element is pretty bad, but not as bad as the design of the seat itself. Mechanism has become loose already and has play you can feel every time you start and stop. Dealer has no fix, and has heard the same complaint from others. Even went so far as to say it was within factory specs (Ya right, they have a spec chart for seat mechanism slop!!). I am actually considering replacing the seat with a "real" aftermarket seat which will negate the side airbags I purchased and cargo accessibility from the original. Another weakness is the plastic durability used for interior and exterior. You can look at it sideways and it will scratch. They should say "scratch attracting panels" in the advertising instead of "scratch resistant" panels. The first week I owned this car, I had scratches on the front dash from people just getting in and out of the vehicle. (No Kidding!). I have yet to see how much it will cost to replace some of the interior panels as I really don't want to have to look at a scratched up interior every day. Can you imagine having to actually replace interior panel parts after 10K miles!? Holy Cow!
If you can live with these faults I guess it might be OK. I have yet to decide.
Amount Paid (US$): 18,600
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: EX 2WD