Largest Bike Accessory: Honda Element?

[brendan]

So, who else uses their Honda Element primarily as a bike accessory?

e.g. a way to move your bike to out-of-town rides, for camping trips with integrated bike ride schedules and as your own personal SAG wagon?

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[americancyclo]

I’ve always thought the Element would have been the best bike/kid accessory for the ‘hose down’ interior.

[Raymo853]

I see all vehicles as pretty much this. When I lived in DC, the only reason I kept a car was because of my bike riding needs. That is annoying and ironic isn’t it.

[brendan]

The “hose-down interior” is, unfortunately, a legend. It can be sponged down, of course, but there are some electrical harnesses along the lower sides of inner walls that shouldn’t be saturated.

[Subby]

Love the Element – also a big fan of the Subaru Outback since it seems so easy to deal with roof racks.

I have an old Honda Pilot and the rear interior might…MIGHT…have some bike grease smears. Still love it.

[rcannon100]

Be careful of the Element. I would buy one in a heart beat – but the cargo capacity of the element is something like 675 lbs. There is a bit of chatter about this in forums. Something to look up. Overload the car and you overload the transmission.

[americancyclo]

@rcannon100 83881 wrote:

Be careful of the Element. I would buy one in a heart beat – but the cargo capacity of the element is something like 675 lbs. There is a bit of chatter about this in forums. Something to look up. Overload the car and you overload the transmission.

You’re telling me that a 2012 Honda Fit can carry 175 more lbs than an Element?

[rcannon100]

All I can figure is Honda refuses to give the Element a good engine because it does not want to cut into the Pilot market.

[mstone]

@americancyclo 83883 wrote:

You’re telling me that a 2012 Honda Fit can carry 175 more lbs than an Element?

The element is very much an example of image marketing–its reality is very different than the image it presents.

[JimF22003]

Mine is going pretty strong at 11 years. The locks are munged up so I can only enter the car on the passenger side. They want $450 to fix…

In case anyone wasn’t aware, the model has been discontinued though. Kind of a shame.

[Riley Casey]

My 15 year old Subaru Outback is in a similar way but I have resolved to see it thru til it stops working or earns antique tags – which ever comes first. :rolleyes: I do wish I could swap the locks and front seats between the driver and passenger sides.

@JimF22003 83911 wrote:

Mine is going pretty strong at 11 years. The locks are munged up so I can only enter the car on the passenger side. They want $450 to fix…

…

[consularrider]

I use a Chrysler PT Cruiser as my large bike accessory. The rear seat is two parts and both are removable. Removing the section on the driver’s side gives me room for one bike upright with the front wheel removed and seating for two on the other section. If I remove the passenger’s side section, there’s room for two bikes and seating for one. Of course this model was discontinued after the 2010 model and gets crappy gas milage.

[83b]

Our car is used so infrequently it’s completely irrational and uneconomical to keep it in the city. It’s six years old and has fewer than 15K miles on it. And most of those are highway runs to my parents in NC.

We last filled up in mid-December and still have over half a tank left.

I think a car share membership will be the way to go when this thing finally dies (if it ever does).

[dasgeh]

Speaking of cars carrying bikes, it has been theorized that our bakfiets will fit in a minivan. Thoughts? Any chance it would fit in with 4 seats?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dasgeh 84037 wrote:

Speaking of cars carrying bikes, it has been theorized that our bakfiets will fit in a minivan. Thoughts? Any chance it would fit in with 4 seats?

I think the minivan will fit in the bakfiets.

[Author]

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