Elementary My Dear: 2006 Honda Element EX
You might think that the Honda Element would be an unlikely car to show up on the pages of Daily Turismo, but you might not know as much about the Element as you should. First, the boxy people and gear hauler was available with a manual gearbox and they are simple to maintain. Think of it like an overstuffed Volvo wagon and it makes more sense. Find this 2006 Honda Element offered for $9,700 in Sunnyvale, CA via craigslist. Tip from Matt V.
From the seller:
2006 honda element ex
VIN: 5J6YH17786L015450
condition: excellent
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: fwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 88700
paint color: blue
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: wagon
For sale!
2006 Honda Element EX Manual Transmission, Clean Title. It only has 88,700 miles. Excellent condition. Kept in the garage most of the time. It comes with bike rack and car cover as you see on the pictures.
See a better way to drive something boxy but good? tips@dailyturismo.com
Easy to remove seats and you can hose out the interior!
Perfect for that under the radar birthday party pony ride business!
Seriously these are great examples of packaging the maximum utility in reasonable space.
No, you can NOT hose these out. It is a popular story, but it simply is not true. Hose it out and you end up with all kinds of electrical issues. You will also be asked by the dealer or mechanic if you did hose it out.
I have almost bought one of these twice. The first time was when they first came out and I told the salesman it was hose friendly. He corrected me and we walked to the shop where there was an example of hose damage. The wires under the rubber mat got wet and shorted out and melted to the floor mat. Others have caused airbag issues.
Do not hose out your (or not your) Honda Elements!!!
Sad that the hose out stories I’ve been told are not true.
Had a 69 Chevy convertible that would fill with water so I drilled some holes in the floor. Problem solved. If I left the windows open on my VW dasher and it filled with water the seatbelt interlock would keep it from starting. This actually caused me to fail a dance class in college. “You were an hour late to class because
you left the windows on your car open and it filled with water and wouldn’t start is the stupidest excuse I ever heard†was the gist of it. Forgetting which foot was my left was a contributing factor.
Anyway , sad that the Honda hose-ability is a myth, happy that the daily turisimo commenters are constructive in their corrections.
Are there any cars made since 1974 that are hoseable ?
Supposedly vinyl interior Jeep Wranglers can be hosed out without an issue. Say what you want about Jeep, but they know their buyers.
“Forgetting which foot was my left was a contributing factor.” – LOL
My Wrangler has plugs that can be pulled to drain it. I’ve never been so bold as to drive into that much water..so far.
I have a bare-stock 2014 F250 that is hosed out (good to do when you raise hogs). You need to be a little careful to not get water up under the front dash as there are some ECUs that live there.
I had a professor give me an F on a presentation about hot wiring a car. He said I was full of shit. He changed his tune the next week when I hotwired his car and moved it across campus. I was happy that the professor drove a shitty old car that was very easy to hotwire.
If my 15yo son were a car, yes. Because he needs to shower more than he thinks. Never underestimate the power of hormones/puberty… OOF…
Chicken mites! I’m late to the party, so no one will probably ready this…
I used to go to this semi-serious lecture/beer drinking series and one of the talks was by this woman who raised chickens, until the day a chicken got in the house, and all her furniture, carpets, clothes, car upholstery and carpets, and her hair and skin became infested with chicken mites.
She had to destroy all her belongings that included any sort of textile, rope, or other permeable organic matter, and moved to an aluminum trailer in the desert, with hard floors, hard furniture, and a sleeping pad wrapped in plastic.
Car? Honda Element. I cannot for the life of me remember if she said she hosed it.
Curious. Did she also need to wear a tinfoil hat after that chicken experience? 🤔
-Stan (yeah…*that* Stan…)
Fun and useful fact
Chicken mites, bedbugs, fleas etc. can be killed by ten minutes or so at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes a car parked in the sun on a summer’s day the perfect thing for bug extermination. At least in California.
Had a few boxes of rare books that were infested that I treated that way.
I’ve heard these things have a cult following and prices are going up (even more than other used cars). A stick shift one is a serious rarity.
A guy I worked with a couple of years back swears by them. He was on his 3rd one at the time. He and his girlfriend (now wife) had dogs they took around outdoor hiking.
/also car related, his father-in-law is the Dennis Gage, the old car guy with the giant curly mustache
Hose or no hoes, this car looks very clean and likely to provide years of relatively fun and convenient use. I’d hit this if looking for something practical and large. Honda manuals are usually excellent and this one comes out of the dash.
Hoes out is a completely different thing I think. I’m thinking like a yugo with 20 clowns in it but a stretch limo with, well, you know.
I read about the excellent Honda V6 makes for these these things, I think not for the manual and not sure if the Auto has the CTV transmission? Not my thing although I do like the layout and size of this car. The only car I would hose out is the old army Jeep from the 40’s and 50’s.
Introducing the E-Falia: Pop the Top on Your Element.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MwZbdJ0L4sQ
Is there a flip here? The car on the main page is listed at $9,700. That is $3 – 5000 less than most of the below 100,000 mile Elements on AutoTrader.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/cars-over-3000/honda/element/golden-co-80401?dma=&maxMileage=100000&searchRadius=0&priceRange=&location=&endYear=2012&startYear=2004&isNewSearch=false&marketExtension=include&showAccelerateBanner=false&sortBy=derivedpriceDESC&numRecords=25