Taco or Element?

[Dantheman]

Possibly in the market for a new vehicle while we can still get some good resale value out of our Legacy ('95 w/ only ~70k miles, if anyone's interested) and it's pretty much down to these two. We want something we can easily chuck bikes and camping gear into. Right now I am leaning towards the taco for a few reasons:

• Real 4wd and better ground clearance, so better for dirt road adventuring and driving around construction sites as I often do for work
• My "commute" to work is <10 min so gas mileage is a non-issue
• Lots available around slc
• Proven vehicle, I have no qualms about buying one that is over 100k miles
• Less $$$$
• Most 4wd models are manuals
• Much less fugly

The Element has some advantages though:

• Can sleep in it and lock shit inside (doable in the taco too with a shell, but I haven't seen many listings w/ one)
• More room for eventual lil' rippers
• Probably better in snow
• Less proven vehicle but it's a Honda so reliability should still be solid

Your thoughts?

[Conundrum]

I don't know anything about Elements but couldn't be more stoked on my Taco. I used to get bored with cars and switch out every year or so. I've have my Taco for four years and have no plans to get rid of it. I haven't had any problems either. It does fine in the snow, I get around 18-20 and can pull my raft/trailer with no troubles. I have a cap and that was the best upgrade.

[flip]

Get the Taco if:
- you really do off-road
- you throw (literally throw) tools and lumber into your car

Get the Element if:
- you ever have more than 1 passenger
- you ever haul anything tall inside the vehicle (lots more height than Taco with cap), like several bikes with wheels on them
- you car camp a lot. you can sleep in a Taco bed, but the Element is luxury compared to that, even with a platform and mattress built into the truck.

For reference, I've owned toyota pickups, my ex-GF had an element and I currently have a first gen 4runner which seems to me to be the best mix of the pickup and element.

[RootSkier]

I have a Taco.

Next ride for the wife will be an Element.

Best of both worlds.

[bio-smear]

I was just scoping out the Element in the parking lot at Meadows the other day. I've had my eye on them for a while, and I think it's an excellent utilitarian design.

Do I need my Tundra? It weighs like 6000 lbs. I don't haul shit like a general contractor, just my meat and my skis or bikes. The extended cab seating is not small enough to scare my buddies into suggesting we take their car, but it's large enough that they can sit back there in somewhat tolerable back pain.

The times I like my truck are when I'm hauling a lot of gear, or driving in deeper snow, as I run All Terrains with some meaty shoulders.

My domestic partner girlfriend has an AWD Matrix, which is a nice complement to the Tundra, so...I still get to drive an economical car too.

I think most drivers' impediment to buying an Element is ego and/or image. It's an ugly little box, and no matter how much better an option it is, people will avoid for the aesthetics alone.

This is indeed a difficult decision.

[kidwoo]

Seing as how you're now a mountain biker and you WILL be driving on gnarly dirt roads to access both the trails you'll be building AND the sweet dh shuttle runs, you should definitely get the element so that we can laugh at you when it gets high centered and those little skateboard wheels go spin spin spinning away.


Seriously.....are you dan the MAN, or danthefaggylittlegrocerygetterdriver ?


There's no way in hell an element is 'better in the snow' by the way.

[MOHSHSIHd]

One word:

TACO


Mine is fucking unstoppable. I have driven it in waist deep fresh snow. Get a TRD and get some BFG All-Terrain KO's in the largest size that will fit and the thing is a beast.

I see nice fiberglass toppers on CL for less than $500 all the time. Some guy had one listed in denver for $200 the other day.

Yeah, get an Element if you are a 45 year old single woman.

[PowTron]

I can fit two bikes in the summer and a TON of gear in the winter in my element...

It also gets MUCH better Gas mileage then a TACO (I average about 23 mpg with yak spacebooster on top year round)...

I like the all wheel drive in the snow, it is very stable and has NEVER let me down in snow storms...EXCEPT for when I want to do offroading, which you CAN'T in an element, I love mine...

And, with the ability to rip the rear seats out, it is nice to camp in, too...just pop the rear sunroof out and gaze at the stars

[cliffhucker]

I don't own a taco, but i will someday, I have never heard a bad thing, go with the taco

[Dantheman]

One word:

TACO

I am definitely leaning this way. Lots of options out there and all for 3-5k less than the element. Plus, I don't see the element going anywhere that the WRX won't go, the taco on the other hand....

[ill-advised strategy]

taco &#177; legacy > element

[kidwoo]

I think we need to clear up what 'driving in snow' means.


I'm talking about leaving the house at 5 am on an unplowed road with 2-4 feet overnight and getting first chair or creating my own parking space at the bottom of what I'm hiking that day.

To others, it seems like driving in snow means driving on a road with a little snow on it........which I'm sure the massive 4 inches of clearance on an element perfoms just fine on. If your roads are always plowed, it seems like a good little car.

I've slept in the back of my tacoma a zillion times (with camper shell), regularly throw bikes and multiple, multiple pairs of skis in there and have never not been able to get where I wanted to go. Honestly, I'd say the only reason to NOT get one would be passenger space. There's that whole extra cab thing if you can deal with the smaller bed I guess.

[Vicious]

D, if Taco ends up being the call (which it undoubtably should), hit me up...I work for/with all the local SLC dealers.

Edit to add that I concur with 'woo. I had a '98 Taco for 6 years, an '04 Tundra for 5 and just stepped up to a new '07 Tundra...all have killed it. I may be slightly biased, but great trucks nonetheless.

[altachic]

I really, really like the benefits of an Element, especially the sleeping factor and when 1 or 2 little rippers join our family, so element is my vote. Plus, we drive 13 hours to northern CA a least twice a year so the element would be much more roomy, especially if you have more than 2 people in there.

But....the Taco seems perfect for DTM and his commute to work and us going to Moab, biking...etc. But, the Element can do that too and we are not the tallest people, so throwing bikes into the back of an Element seems way too convenient, just sayin'

I'm for the Element, he's for the Taco. Oh geez.

[ptavv]

Get a 4runner.

You get the best of both worlds.

Without the ugly aesthetics.

[Steven S. Dallas]

I'm for the Element, he's for the Taco. Oh geez.

IT'S A WALK-OFF!

[MOHSHSIHd]

yeah, 4-runners do also rule.

[kidwoo]

yeah, 4-runners do also rule.

It's a tacoma with an element bolted on the back!!


WIN WIN!!

[Dantheman]

Get a 4runner.

You get the best of both worlds.

Without the ugly aesthetics.

Actually it's the worst of both worlds. Same or worse gas mileage as the taco, can't easily throw bikes in the back and no easily cleanable rubber floor.

[tigerstripe40]

What about a quad cab Tacoma?

They are plenty roomie for the little rippers and for your 13 hour drives to Cali.

[iscariot]

Get a 4runner.

You get the best of both worlds.

Without the ugly aesthetics.

Either above or a Pathfinder. My pathfinder does all that you are looking for. Gas mileage is the only down side, but you said that's not a concern.

[ptavv]

a bike rack for the trailer hitch costs < $100 on craigslist and takes about 20 seconds longer than just throwing into the back of a truck... plus adds security (assuming you get a lockable one)

and you can easily put a rubberized cargo container in the back that you can just pull out and hose out if it gets all muddy

[Rontele]

I really, really like the benefits of an Element, especially the sleeping factor and when 1 or 2 little rippers join our family, so element is my vote. Plus, we drive 13 hours to northern CA a least twice a year so the element would be much more roomy, especially if you have more than 2 people in there.

But....the Taco seems perfect for DTM and his commute to work and us going to Moab, biking...etc. But, the Element can do that too and we are not the tallest people, so throwing bikes into the back of an Element seems way too convenient, just sayin'

I'm for the Element, he's for the Taco. Oh geez.

dtm, listen to your wife. I've always thought the Element is a great, utilitarian car. The Taco sure would be nice, but for what you have described, Element, no doubt.

Plus, you get Honda reliability, which is off the chains.

[PNWbrit]

dtm, listen to your wife. I've always thought that looks aside, the Element was a sick like car. The Taco sure would be nice, but for what you have described, Element, no doubt.

Plus, you get Honda reliability, which is off the chains.

Also I hear you can get an extra set of wheels for them mad cheap off of the internets .

[flip]

Yeah, get an Element if you are a 45 year old single woman.

Hey she was 38, okay?