TwoTallSocks

My wife and I picked up our new car yesterday, a 2004 Honda Element 2WD EX. It’s our first ever brand new car, so we’re pretty excited about it. We traded in the other two, as both had high mileage and were requiring a lot of repairs. Especially my wife’s Jeep, which had major transmission problems. So we figured we may as well get something new and nice that will be very dependable and last a long time.

We wanted a Honda because they last forever and are reliable. And we wanted an SUV so we can haul stuff around for the house, as well as have an easy way to take the dogs everywhere. The Element fit that description the best, as the CR-V isn’t as versatile, and the Pilot is too expensive for us, and too nice to haul stuff in anyway.

The Element has rubber floors and water resistant seats, making it really easy to clean up. I don’t know why more cars don’t have rubber floors… What’s the point of carpet? You always have your shoes on in the car anyway unless you’re on a long trip, so why not have something easier to clean than carpet.

We got the black one like you see in the picture, except it’s the EX model so we have alloy wheels instead of the ones pictured here. I’ll post some pictures of it when I have a chance to take some.

The interior is nice as well. It’s got power everything, keyless entry, cup holders all over the place, cruise, a/c, etc. It has a built-in CD player with a 7-speaker sound system. (a speaker in each door, two tweeters on the dash, and a subwoofer between the front seats, on the console). The sound is pretty good for a factory sound system. I had the volume up all the way the night we got it (the warranty covers blown speakers) and it only had a little bit of distortion. One of my favorite features is the Auxiliary Input on the dash. I can plug in my iPod directly to the audio system, and sit it in a little cubby hole in the dash. Then I just press the Auxiliary button on the CD player and it starts playing the iPod through the speakers. I had this feature in my Integra as well, thanks to an aftermarket CD player, but this is the first car I’ve seen that comes with it standard.

The rear doors open backwards, so they have no center pole between the front and rear doors, which really gives you a ton of room to get in and out of the car with. The only problem is you can’t open the back door without first opening the front. You also can’t close the front without closing the back. But that’s really not that big of a deal, considering the advantages of having all of that space.

The rear seats are removable, or you can fold them up on the sides of the car, kind of hanging them from the ceiling. This blocks out your blindspot almost completely though, and still takes up a big of room. You can also fold down all of the back seats so they are perfectly flat, making a nice bed area for long trips. You can also fold down the two front seats, making the entire interior of the car a bed. It would be great for camping, especially with the extra tent thing you can get to put on the back of the car.

It was raining yesterday so I slammed on the brakes on our street to test out the anti-lock brakes and get a good feel for the car. I could feel the ABS working, and the car didn’t slide at all. Cornering is good as well, I never felt like I was even close to flipping it over.

Overall we’re extremely pleased with it. A lot of people seem to think it’s ugly, but I like it, and even if I didn’t the functionality of it would more than make up for its boxiness. The black makes it look a lot more normal as well. The contrast of the silver (or other color) and the grey plastic panels make it look like it was pieced together from a junk yard.

Of course we’ve only had it for 2 days, but knowing Honda, I don’t expect any problems out of it for a long time.

Update
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the Honda Owner’s Link web site. You can go to their site and enter the VIN number on your car, and it will tell you all about the specifications of it. It also gives you maintenance tips, a maintenance schedule, a way to contact your dealer, pay your bill online, etc. You can even log every bit of maintenance you do on the site. Every time you get an oil change or tire rotation you enter it on the site, and it keeps a running maintenance history of the vehicle for you. It also emails you with reminders to get oil changes, tire rotations, and more. I think it’s a great idea, and it will definitely help me to remember to do all of the maintenance that needs to be done. The site itself is really well done as well. It’s in tables, but it’s very easy to use and very helpful. Way to go, Honda!