Quote Originally Posted by Kathi
I remember why I didn't consider the Element. Consumer Report said that "outward visibility is compromised by the large roof pillars". I didn't want anything blocking my visibility.
I saw that too, and I mentioned it to my husband. Thing is, we're used to driving the small truck with the cab shell, which also compromises outward visibility, a lot! So, in the truck we rely more on the side-view mirrors than we would with a regular passenger car. Same with the Element. It's not the same as a passenger car, so you need to rely more on the side-view mirrors. CR rightly cautioned potential buyers about it in the event they were more used to the visibilty that passenger cars provide, and might not be comfortable with relying more on the mirrors. I suppose a lot of SUVs don't have this issue, since they're built more like passenger cars than is the Element. But bottom line, that was no biggie for us.

Quote Originally Posted by pkq
jobob, I have hauled my bike to Louisiana, Texas, and other Southern states and to Oregon, Montana, and Canada just strapped down. Everything did just fine.
Oh, I have no doubts, but you know men, they can't leave well enough alone

What color did you get? What color interior?
The gray with dark gray trim. We would have also gone for the green, but the gray was available, and we like that a bit more anyhow. We think it looks classy, in a cute sort of way ...

I've had many tell me the Element is ugly. Never heard spiffy.
Well, Lee and I think it's adorable. But we have kind of offbeat tastes. Lee's always ooh-ing and ahh-ing old Volkswagen minibusses, and if it weren't for the upkeep, we would probably have one of those. He considers the Element sort of a modern-day version of the minibus.

I can see how the Element would put some people off ... but then again, I think some of the SUVs out there are uuuugly as sin, so there you have it

If you consider the Element, I would recommend the stick. You have better control over the power band. I found the automatic to be just a little too mushy for my tastes.
Did you get the 2-wheel or the 4WD version? We got the 2 WD version, since we don't go offroad or seek out snow, and it saved us a couple of thou.