New 2012 Honda Element

2012 Honda Element review can you read this post. The first-generation Honda Element blazed the trail for any boxy brotherhood that grew to incorporate the Scion XB, Nissan Cube, Kia Soul, and, with a few stretching, the Ford Flex. Sales were a healthy 67,500 during Element’s inaugural 2003 model year but steadily tapered off to less than 15,000 annually.

Indeed, by model-year 2011, the first-generation Element appeared to have satisfied the bulk of shoppers drawn to a low-cost compact wagon, one which offered all-wheel drive, laudable cargo versatility, and the notable capability to expose the majority of its interior via side doors that open like the ones from a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer. And it might have alienated some who discovered the drawback built into those side doors: you possessed to spread out or close a door before you could open or shut is corresponding-side rear door. That’s was a hassle when you wish to use this as an everyday four-door wagon. It’s no accident that every Element rival has four conventional side doors.

Element was a crossover since it was based on the understructure from the Honda Civic compact car. It were built with a just-adequate166-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Honda had offered a manual transmission up to model-year 2010, leaving subsequent Elements saddled with a moderately responsive five-speed automatic. Element’s blocky shape cost it some highway fuel economy, while rivals had introduced powertrains with newer engineering and six-speed automatic transmissions that helped them to higher overall EPA ratings. With front-wheel drive, this year’s Element was with a rating of 20/25 mpg city/highway. With AWD, this year’s Element was with a rating of 19/24 mpg. Those ratings

In comparison, most front-wheel-drive rivals had fuel-economy ratings within the mid-20s or more in city driving and around 30 mpg within the highway. Plus some similarly priced and powered compact crossover SUVs beat the AWD Element; the AWD 2011 Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tuscon, for instance, rated 21/28 mpg.

Any future Element would probably again depend on underskin engineering produced for the Civic as well as for Honda’s popular CR-V compact crossover SUV. Both of them are being fully redesigned for model year 2012, and Honda may revive the Element by using this new platform.

If Honda sees a market for a second-generation Element that bears some spiritual connection to the initial version, search for the same basic, active-lifestyle approach, with front- and all-wheel drive along with a utility-oriented body. No V-6 would be in the cards, but a four-cylinder with increased horsepower would be welcome as long as it didn’t negatively impact gas mileage. Gas mileage could also may play a role in Honda considering a component having a gas-electric hybrid powertrain sometime during the second-generation. Element in the end attracted an alternate lifestyle, so alternative power appears to be a natural fit.