the element is probably one of the most versatile small SUVs out there if you

want to see all of its cargo features check out our weekend athlete video with

cars.com editor bill Jackson today I'm going to take you through how it drives

as well as the interior and some of the seating features now even though the

elements been around for a few years it's probably still honda's most unusual

looking car and this comes from a company that's usually known for pretty

sedate pretty conservative styling now the element comes in three trim levels

and two of them offer waterproof fabric for the front seats if you can see here

I pour some water on it and it pretty much just beads away like that pretty

easy to wipe up and also says that the waterproof fabric repel stains like

coffee and soda and well this is a loaner car so we're probably not going

to try that out now the driver's seat has a height adjustment but it uses this

rotating knob otherwise the front seats are pretty supportive and they have

plenty of cushioning one thing there isn't as a center console but kinda

gives you these nice arm rest for each front seat and it's nice because they

don't leave you hanging

one thing you'll notice about the interior is the storage options there's

a shelf above the glove compartment and kind of continues over next to the

steering wheel and it's got five separate storage areas you can really

throw anything in here there's also an area above the rearview mirror has a net

here and you can throw something in there as well

oftentimes utility comes at the expense of cabin appeal that's definitely the

case here overall fit and finish is pretty good that the materials are hard

and not very inviting

there's also a couple other old school honda features the steering wheel audio

controls let you go to the next track on your CD but you can't go back to the

previous one

one other thing you'll notice is how long the dashboard is the windshield is

pretty far away and it's pretty up right beside windows are pretty tall so

overall visibility is fine

that's not the case if you put the seats up they fold up on each side you're

gonna want to make sure you put the driver's seat up to the side instead of

the passenger seat if you only have to use one of the

if you put the passenger side seat up really blocks a blind spot now to get to

the backseat you have to open these rear-hinged access doors it's actually

much easier to get back here than it is in other SUVs with this feature like the

toyota FJ cruiser once you're in there's plenty of legroom and plenty of headroom

we'd like to see a little bit more support in the seat cushions there a

little bit short here as you can see the element uses the same four-cylinder

engine you'll find a lot of other honda cars the accelerator is pretty sensitive

so it's fine around town if you're getting on the on ramp there might be a

little bit of buzzing there won't be quite as much power as you might need a

real hard acceleration real gas mileage is in the low twenties that's not quite

as high as some competitors but ultimately the element is all about

utility that's the name of the game here and that's what sets this car part

that's why we can athlete loves it and that's why we even like it too

for additional information on this car or any other go to cars.com and our blog

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