Hey there, I am looking in to buying a Honda Element. Are they a reliable vehicle? Any reason I shouldn’t buy one? Thanks
What year are you looking at? They can be. Just make sure to keep up with maintenance, and have a mechanic inspect it before you buy it.
They are good vehicles and a lot of people really like them. I've seen them up over the 200k mile range. Maintenance is key though so be sure you have a mechanic inspect it BEFORE you buy.
They were solid vehicles overall. I have a friend who took theirs to a little over 340,000 miles. The Element was offered for just one generation from 2003-2011. You can go to Wikipedia to see the model year changes over the year:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Element
You can also look at some of the issues over the years:
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Honda/Element/
FYI, the 5-speed manual transmission was available 2003-2009. The 4-speed automatic transmission was 2003-2006 but went to 5-speed from 2007-2011. If you know how to drive manual, I’d go for that for ultimate reliability.
Were the automatics weak in the Element?
The automatic transmission is always weaker than manual and it costs more to fix down the road.