Quote:
Originally Posted by fatlazyless
Just yesterday I went a little crazy and went and bought that green 2005 Honda Element, 149k-miles, fwd, 5-speed manual in Chichester for $3999 which has a good sounding cd-disc player and a small square storage space just below the radio for storing cd-discs.
HEY ...... my idea of song storage is two black cd cloth storage holders for 1.94-each at Walmart that get attached to each sun visor ...... now, that's music management! .... 
This Element just got four new struts and a couple other small items from the seller, www.chaseautollc.com in Chichester, a super place to buy a below $5000 used car if you is one of us very poor, waterfront poor people who just needs a reliable used car. No doubt I will be getting to know www.forresthowesautorepair.com in Campton a lot better ...... plus Planet Honda from New Jersey is opening a new Honda store in Tilton in June. Planet will probably have some 55-year old mechanic from Jersey who's been working on Element's since they came out in 2002 ...... hellooooooo Planet Honda ...... I have a 2005 Element with a minor problem-o!
Time will tell ..... everything works including the cruise control, electric windows and the ride ..... plus I still got the 220k Scion as a back up car if and when the Element needs a repair. I just call up Allstate and switch the insurance back and forth ....... you gotta have real STRONG insurance! The 220k Scion has a trade-in value of about $100 but it still drives very good?????
Sorry Scion xB ...... I fell in love with this Honda Element! .....  |
Do yourself a favor and take this advice seriously. The rear diff fluid in that thing needs to be replaced every 20K and the fluid that goes in it is special stuff you need to get from Honda. It is also expensive. There is no cheapo knock off you can get at WalMart either. If you just drive it and ignore it expect that rear end to fail quickly and catastrophically.
I had a friend of mine that had one of those and did not know this. Being a cheap person he did not heed the instruction to do this. $4000 rear end replacement got his attention at 30K miles from new. This is well documented - and of all the common problems these cars have that is the one to be most aware of.
Good luck with it. If you do the maintenance it will last a long time as 8gv says.