We’ve been searching for an Element replacement for several years. Honda nailed it for our use and nobody else has replicated it.
Our next vehicle, on order, is a Sienna minivan. It has tons of room, drives well, has hybrid drive train with decent mileage and AWD for winters. Will remove the second and third row seats and build a platform for dog crates and bikes.
The Sienna lacks clearance for anything other than gravel roads, but that’s OK. We’d really like something “cooler” but the minivan is tough to beat for interior space and driveability. The dealer told my wife that more and more people are buying them and taking all the seats out and doing small conversions for camping, hauling gear, dog showing, bike racing and such. The dealers desperately want Toyota to make it so the next generation has a 100% flat floor.
FWIW… I wanted to go with a RAV4 or CRV size vehicle but can’t quite make it work. The extra length of the mini-van and the squared off interior is what made the difference.
Just typing… suspect a lot of us have the same needs and frustrations looking for the right vehicle.
AJ is spot on regarding model years and values and asking prices. Finding a good Element at a decent price has been hard for years. If you do stumble across one just grab it.
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The Element really drives like crap. Its noisy, underpowered and under-braked and the seats aren’t that comfortable either. But it is like a VW microbus, if you have one you don’t care because of the things it does do well
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Seasucker. Have two friends that swear by these. One of them just got an Audi R8. Next spring we’re gonna see how well that rack really sticks…