Element

Initial impression of the Element: It's big, roomy, and very configurable. The rear seats fold up along the sides or completely come out of the car. The rear suicide doors open wide enough that two can get in at the same time, though the suicide doors don't open if the front doors aren't open--same sort of door wriggling games you get with extended-cab pickups and coupes. Gas mileage was awful--16mpg over the length of the entire test track, as compared to 47 for the Prius, 23(?) for the Outback and 24 for the old Accord. Granted, this was a 2005 Element, whereas the new Elements have an extra gear in the transmission, so its likely that the new ones won't tach 3000rpm going 72mph on a flat surface with not much wind. Honda claims that the 2008's overall mileage is 22-23mpg. On the other hand, maintaining 58mph on the US-26 hill kept the engine at 4000rpm for 1.5 miles, causing me to burn 1/8th a tank of gas just getting to work(!) My guess is that of Steven's, that the vehicle's drivetrain has to be programmed that way on the hills to overcome air resistance and weight. Parallel parking wasn't that hard, though it never is in Portland because we don't squeeze the way people do in, say, San Francisco. The back seats had excellent legroom, however; Alexis was very happy that she could stretch out in the rear seats on our way to lunch Thursday, and that's even with patman (6'4" guy) in the front. My boss said the floors were sturdy enough to survive the high-heels test. On the way home from Freddy's the food cans broke loose from the plastic bags and slid all over the floor from the front to the back, with an annoying RRR RRR RRRR noise every time; cargo nets would help with that.

Zipcar/Zapcar/Outback/etc

All the car reviews are now hosted here: http://djwong.org/oldnews/2008-04.html

This includes a quick review of Zipcar for adambox, as well as an updated Element review, and reviews of the Zapcars, and the Subaru 2008/2009 Forester/2008 Outback.