hi I'm Kelsey Mays for cars.com and we're here with the 2008 Honda element
the element is probably one of the most versatile small SUVs out there if you
want to see all of its cargo features check out our weekend athlete video with
cars.com editor bill Jackson today I'm going to take you through how it drives
as well as the interior and some of the seating features now even though the
elements been around for a few years it's probably still honda's most unusual
looking car and this comes from a company that's usually known for pretty
sedate pretty conservative styling now the element comes in three trim levels
and two of them offer waterproof fabric for the front seats if you can see here
I pour some water on it and it pretty much just beads away like that pretty
easy to wipe up and also says that the waterproof fabric repel stains like
coffee and soda and well this is a loaner car so we're probably not going
to try that out now the driver's seat has a height adjustment but it uses this
rotating knob otherwise the front seats are pretty supportive and they have
plenty of cushioning one thing there isn't as a center console but kinda
gives you these nice arm rest for each front seat and it's nice because they
don't leave you hanging
one thing you'll notice about the interior is the storage options there's
a shelf above the glove compartment and kind of continues over next to the
steering wheel and it's got five separate storage areas you can really
throw anything in here there's also an area above the rearview mirror has a net
here and you can throw something in there as well
oftentimes utility comes at the expense of cabin appeal that's definitely the
case here overall fit and finish is pretty good that the materials are hard
and not very inviting
there's also a couple other old school honda features the steering wheel audio
controls let you go to the next track on your CD but you can't go back to the
previous one
one other thing you'll notice is how long the dashboard is the windshield is
pretty far away and it's pretty up right beside windows are pretty tall so
overall visibility is fine
that's not the case if you put the seats up they fold up on each side you're
gonna want to make sure you put the driver's seat up to the side instead of
the passenger seat if you only have to use one of the
if you put the passenger side seat up really blocks a blind spot now to get to
the backseat you have to open these rear-hinged access doors it's actually
much easier to get back here than it is in other SUVs with this feature like the
toyota FJ cruiser once you're in there's plenty of legroom and plenty of headroom
we'd like to see a little bit more support in the seat cushions there a
little bit short here as you can see the element uses the same four-cylinder
engine you'll find a lot of other honda cars the accelerator is pretty sensitive
so it's fine around town if you're getting on the on ramp there might be a
little bit of buzzing there won't be quite as much power as you might need a
real hard acceleration real gas mileage is in the low twenties that's not quite
as high as some competitors but ultimately the element is all about
utility that's the name of the game here and that's what sets this car part
that's why we can athlete loves it and that's why we even like it too
for additional information on this car or any other go to cars.com and our blog
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