Wanted Honda Element AWD
- Thread starter Zak
- Start date
Sisters in their element!
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Ok, so Elements are unicorns. Has anyone thought about a Ridgeline instead ?
RCF
Life of the Party
I have owned a Ridgeline since 2007. For its intended purpose I bought it for was great : transporting the family, dog in the bed, bikes on top, lots of storage. I luv the locking hidden bed storage. Great for periodic trips to the lumberyard. Everyday driver and trying to park it - not so much fun. Load capacity in bed - marginal. Sleeping in it - only if one is severely height challenged. Insurance costs and repair - expensive due to not that many around. Other than that - hmmmm.
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My daughter and SIL moved back to the States, with two small kids they needed something for the family and for grandpa and grandma to all ride in. They bought a gently used one of these: https://www.carfax.com/vehicle/5TDDK3DC6FS106623
I've given thought to the Element but more recently to the AWD Sienna. I like the sliding doors.
I've given thought to the Element but more recently to the AWD Sienna. I like the sliding doors.
My good friend has a Sienna and camps in it. He loves it.
Thanks Divad! Dibs on the 2008. I went and looked at it today, but when they went to drive it around front they realized that someone had snuck onto their lot and stolen the catalytic converter!
I'll test drive it after they get that fixed.
BDD
Steelhead
After fishing with Freestone in her Element a few years ago, I was won over on them. I looked for 6-8 months before buying one. There were two in the Portland area and I drove down to see and drive them both. I wound up buying the one with the lower miles; about 15,000 at the time. Two years later, I have 50,000 on it. I have no idea how I put that many miles on it in that time when mostly working from home and things shut down for a good portion. While I still like mine for the same reasons I bought it (AWD, Honda reliability, seat configuration, roomy interior with the seats out, rubber-type flooring) I still find it a little noisy (Freestone warned me about that) especially with studs in winter, the gas tank is small (and the last little bit really seems to drain fast) but overall, it has done what I wanted it to and have been happy with it, even though it kinda does look like a box with four wheels. All that said, I still like trucks for fishing.
Attachments
For me, absolutely not. I think it would be a horrible vehicle for my needs. I almost never take more than one person anywhere and even then, it is rare I have a passenger at all. So, 4 doors and a tiny cargo area would be useless for me.
I also want to be able to sleep comfortably in my rig and when it is cold, cook in it. I can’t do that with a Ridgeline.
I also want to be able to get into my bed without going outside - and get back in the driver’s seat in a hurry if I need to make a quick escape. Can’t do that from the bed of the Ridgeline.
I want to be able to haul a 10’ fully rigged rod inside my rig. Can’t do that with a Ridgeline.
I want to be able to sit up straight while on my bed and still have room to store stuff under the bed. Can’t do that with a Ridgeline even with a canopy.
I probably could go on but I will stop there. I guess I’d rather have a soccer mom van than a Ridgeline, LOL!
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I've had a Ridgeline since 2015 and pretty much agree with Freestone's assessment. As a matter of fact, I'm presently looking for an Element primarily because of the lack of comfortable sleeping options in the Ridgeline. So far, the only decent lower mileage AWD models are all in Eastern Canada - it is slim pickings in the West! I'm going to have to develop some patience I guess and take my time like BDD did.
The VTEC motors in the Ridgelines are bulletproof - I've got 200k miles on mine and my mechanic has 300k miles on his. It was a great truck while I was renovating and doing more highway commuting. It works fine for walk and wade fishing and when I'm by myself I can just squeeze my fully rigged 9ft rod inside. But it is really overkill for the type of fishing I'm doing at 65 and it is too limiting without having a sleeping option.
If you want to carry a bunch of stuff and/or sleep comfortably in the back, want AWD, want to be able to drive/park in urban environments without attracting too much attention, don't want a brodozer, and don't need a manual transmission, there's really no finer stealth utility vehicle than an AWD Sienna.
I had a '97 MT Subaru Legacy L wagon for a decade, then a '96 All-Trac Previa LE/SC for ~6 years, and got an '09 Sienna Limited AWD last April. I briefly looked at an Element in between the Suby and the Perv but the cramped living room (even with potential MT) lost out to the radness of the supercharged Space Egg. Once you embrace minivanlife you'll never go back!
I had a '97 MT Subaru Legacy L wagon for a decade, then a '96 All-Trac Previa LE/SC for ~6 years, and got an '09 Sienna Limited AWD last April. I briefly looked at an Element in between the Suby and the Perv but the cramped living room (even with potential MT) lost out to the radness of the supercharged Space Egg. Once you embrace minivanlife you'll never go back!
The AWD Sienna has been on my list to check out for awhile now. When my my old explorer finally dies, I'll be checking them out.
I have no concerns about looking cool. An old gray haired guy in a minivan is right up my alley.
Space Egg....lol.
SF
BriGuy
Life of the Party
We have an 04 Sienna and It's been on some adventures over the years. Ours is a 2WD, though.
It's hard to beat the practicality and room. We've taken several long trips and always run overloaded. We never travel light. Kids, dog, camping gear, coolers, food, more food, beach toys, Yakima car-topper (the really big one), and much more crap. We've also run it at 80MPH through Montana and Wyoming. That was not fun being as overloaded as we were, but the van handled it without a hiccup. My bung hole is still a little puckered, though.
I think an AWD Sienna would be an awesome stealth camping vehicle for all the reasons mentioned in the posts above. My only worry would be the lack of ground clearance. It won't quite go where a Sprinter will.
Plus, it has that uncool "I've pretty much given up on life" vibe, which could let you travel under the radar.
If you absolutely need extra ground clearance you can always get a Traxda or Journeys Offroad lift kit for the Sienna. I contemplated going that route but figured I'd save the money since I'm generally not going on gnarly offroad trails. I never got stuck in my Legacy or Previa, and so far so good with the Sienna.
There is nothing stealth, nor is there anything cheap, about a 4wd Sprinter.
