Rehabbing a Tiny Minivan in Disguise: 2005 Honda Element

Love a build on these, I was selling Honda's when these came out, I never figured out why they didn't sell better with everything they offered. 

You have to love a car that can carry its own tires and wheels home from getting mounted, right?

One upgrade I have really liked on mine is a set of VW trunk struts.. IIRC they are off a VW New Beetle.

I just grabbed an 05 with 29k one owner miles last week  

Wow! Looks great. Where'd you find that?

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I know people who would kill for that one

In reply to Tom Suddard :

I was half hearted looking for one to make into a camping rig. This popped up on FB marketplace in PA. I went to see it expecting it to not be as advertised. I was wrong.

Update time! Here's a riddle: What has four seats but can carry four more?

The Element, of course! I picked up a four-seat sectional couch with a chaise last night, and shockingly it fit inside with the door closed. 

Time for a comparison test! Line up, oh, a Prius and a Miata and a C8 Corvette beside the Element and see which one can transport a four-seat sectional couch with a chaise across town the fastest. Might want the CTS-V wagon in there too as it is already tuba-tested. 

Y'know, I have always known of these, but I am seeing more and more of them.  A slammed and rimmed one last week on my way home from work.  Two different ones today.

After weeks of staring at these in the corner of the garage, I finally put the new wheels and tires on! Goodbye sidewall, hello (hopefully) better handling. 

Did you ever give any further thought to how to keep the cat from being stolen?  One of my wife's employees just had the cat sawzalled off while sitting in her driveway. 

Thanks for the reminder to update this thread.
 

The Element has been a great car for about 2000 miles now, though I did take it to a track day to play chase car for a video shoot, and managed to tear the rear differential bushings out of it. I was real short on time, so I paid $1000 at my local shop to have new OEM bushings installed. On the bright side, the all-wheel-drive definitely works!

Regarding the catalytic converter: Nope, haven't done a thing. I have a welder and insurance, and I'm really short on time for extra projects these days. 

Another cool thing that happened: I sold the stock wheels and tires for $180, meaning I actually made money (maybe $3) swapping to 17s after it was all said and done. 
 

Oh, and here's a photo of the Element doing useful Element stuff:

My brother has a manual AWD one of these that he does not use anymore, maybe I should have him let me borrow it for a bit.

In reply to Aaron_King :

Have you priced an Element lately? High mile examples are commanding big dollar (relative to what you might think they would.) 

This isn't as much a covid market price increase as much as it seems to be driven by then fact that there are few genuine competitors to the capability of the Element. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Exactly. I snapped this photo a few weeks ago; not sure I could find anything else that's the size of a Kia Soul, but doesn't require that annoying hitch rack. 

Quick side note - How do you or the owner like the Clarity PHEV in the background?  I thought about one as a Volt replacement, but it seems Honda and Chevy made similar powertrains but they don't operate in the same way.  The Chevy is EV first then Hybrid whereas I think the Clarity will fire up the engine when it deems that is most efficient.

Karacticus said:

Did you ever give any further thought to how to keep the cat from being stolen?  One of my wife's employees just had the cat sawzalled off while sitting in her driveway. 

I installed one of these

https://aerogenicsusa.com/products/2003-11-honda-element-catalytical-converter-cover-cat-cover

Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) said:

Quick side note - How do you or the owner like the Clarity PHEV in the background?  I thought about one as a Volt replacement, but it seems Honda and Chevy made similar powertrains but they don't operate in the same way.  The Chevy is EV first then Hybrid whereas I think the Clarity will fire up the engine when it deems that is most efficient.

That's my wife's daily driver, and it's been awesome. She had a first-gen Volt before this, and the Honda is better at everything. 

That's not quite true on the drivetrain behavior: It's EV-only until the battery is depleted, but will start the engine briefly if you floor it. In real-world driving, it never fires up unless she drives more than 50 miles between charges. 

I noticed these have been getting bid up a lot on BaT and looked a bit closer - the last three have been sold to the same bidder, and he's spent $81,000 on three low-miles Elements over the past month. A fluke, or are these skyrocketing in value like the old microbuses?

Tom Suddard said:

In reply to John Welsh :

Exactly. I snapped this photo a few weeks ago; not sure I could find anything else that's the size of a Kia Soul, but doesn't require that annoying hitch rack. 

Is that one of those military surplus Pelican cases in the back? I know there's a specific name for them but I can't remember what they're called. 
 

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

Harding case?

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I'm a big fan of pelican cases, but that's actually an off-brand Yeti cooler copy; been around for years and works great. 

Automotive ADD strikes again: I just decided to put the Element on the chopping block.

Why? Because it hasn't moved in a week now that there's a Golf GTI parked next to it in the driveway. I'll regret selling the Element, but I just can't stomach watching it sit in my driveway while I play with the Volkswagen.

I'll have it detailed and put a real for-sale ad together next week, but if you're interested feel free to shoot me an email in the meantime (tom@this website).