Bought an Element

[Vic Cardenas]

My wife has been wanting a Honda Element for the past year or so. We sold her '97 CR-V in September of last year right around the same time I bought the RL. So she has been driving my "$1000 Car" (as I call it), the canturbury green 93 L sedan that I bought last year. So, the time has come to sell the "$1000 car". It will probably be my last KA7 I own so I'm a bit sad.

Onto pictures of the new ride... It's an '03 EX model with AWD. We got it for $4300 and it has 161,000 miles on it.

[rwheadon]

I like the element. I woulda gotten a MT though

I think it would be tough going back to a 4 banger... but I guess it's probably stronger than the CRV was.

rich

[ActionJackson]

Nice pick-up, Vic !

[Vic Cardenas]

Originally Posted by rwheadon

I like the element. I woulda gotten a MT though

I think it would be tough going back to a 4 banger... but I guess it's probably stronger than the CRV was.

rich

Of course, I would have preferred it but my wife has never driven a manual before. Although, she did mention she wanted to get a manual this time so she can learn to drive stick and I considered it but there was only one MT for sale in my area and it was listed at $8000. I found this one and knew it was a bargain because in my area most Elements are listed at around $7000-8000 for the early '03-'05 models. I've been looking for one for a year and this is the first one I've seen in this price range so I hopped on it.

My wife did have trouble when she went from the Legend coupe (her first car) to the CR-V. The power differential was staggering and she always hated the CR-V's lack of power. Admittedly, the Element makes adequate power for a vehicle of it's size. A big difference from the early first gen CR-V's with the gutless B20. The K24 is great engine. I even made a comment to my wife the other day that I think her Element is faster than my RL. She laughed but I think it might be true!
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[Vic Cardenas]

Originally Posted by ActionJackson

Nice pick-up, Vic !

Thank you! I like it. I'm glad my wife finally has a "hauler" car. We have a pitbull so it has been hard to take him around with the baby too in the legend. Now we can easily "haul" our dog and the baby at the same time and maybe even go on a road trip with the both of them together.

[Chrispy]

Nice pick up Vic! Im working for a Honda dealer now, cant say Ive ever seen one with any major problems. Anytime Ive ever seen them, they have been in for routine maintenance. Seems like strong runners and you can def haul plenty with them considering their size.

[Vic Cardenas]

Yeah, it seems like they don't have too many problems but some of their suspension stuff seems to wear out quickly. I just had to replace the rear sway bar end links and will have to replace the stabilizer bushings too tomorrow. Luckily, those parts are dirt cheap. In fact, pretty much all the parts on this car are dirt cheap.

It also has the airbag light on and is part of the big airbag recall that is going on right now. I registered the car with my local honda dealer and they said they would send me a letter in the mail confirming that I could come back in to schedule service. :-/ That's why I went in there in the first place was to schedule service!!! Not sure if the airbag light being on is related to the recall, but I doubt it. The PO seemed to think the airbag light was related to the recall... I guess I'll figure that out when it gets the recall service and the techs notice the light on?

[Chrispy]

Originally Posted by Vic Cardenas

Yeah, it seems like they don't have too many problems but some of their suspension stuff seems to wear out quickly. I just had to replace the rear sway bar end links and will have to replace the stabilizer bushings too tomorrow. Luckily, those parts are dirt cheap. In fact, pretty much all the parts on this car are dirt cheap.

It also has the airbag light on and is part of the big airbag recall that is going on right now. I registered the car with my local honda dealer and they said they would send me a letter in the mail confirming that I could come back in to schedule service. :-/ That's why I went in there in the first place was to schedule service!!! Not sure if the airbag light being on is related to the recall, but I doubt it. The PO seemed to think the airbag light was related to the recall... I guess I'll figure that out when it gets the recall service and the techs notice the light on?

In some cases it is. I know we are up to our eyeballs and back for the airbag and air bag inflator recalls. We have to schedule almost everyone with how large the campaign is, simply because Honda USA is running on low stocks of airbags and inflators currently, so we have to order them, some are back ordered by 6 weeks. They have the early campaign notices sent, but they recently expanded the campaign, so once they get in the stuff to cover those, notices will be going out in a hurry. The airbag deliveries move kind of slow. They cant airmail them, they are considered explosive devices so they have to move by ground or ship if coming from Japan.

[Dreams94coupe]

Looks nice but if priced below market value and the airbag light is on would ring off bells for me. I hope it's not one those where they removed the bag from it.

[4HondaOwner]

I'm just saying when we move back to Minnesota, one of the Legends will be sold and I'm going to buy a Root Beer colored 2008 Honda Element SC.

Nice pickup.