Taco or Element?

[El Chupacabra]

I looked at Elements back when they first came out (circa 2003). I liked the space, size, versatility, Honda reputation. I disliked the absence of any ground clearance, and a nice plastic gas tank dead center under the vehicle, without any skidplate protection for it whatsoever. But what made the Element unacceptable was the gutless motor. It struggled to maintain highway speeds uphill in the Sierra.

Aerodynamics of a brick + CRV 4-cylinder = unimpressive.

[BobMc]

Yeah, but you may as well buy a bigass diesel at that point.

Except then I'd have to own a bigass diesel. Which, I have no need for. My two children and one of my dogs fit in the back without touching each other, that works for me.

Bigass diesels have their use. I doubt Dan and Liz's needs meet a bigass diesel. Just remember, there are a lot of other costs involved in owning a vehicle then just fuel mileage.

BobMc

[char]

I at one point wanted a Taco. Then I figured out that I can pretty much get anywhere I want to go in my 2wd Ranger with way better mileage. Plus, I don't spend that much time "off road". Gas prices pretty much drove that decision.

And it was a hassle trying to find a reasonably priced truck that didn't sell in 2 days. 18-20k for a truck thats 3-5 years old with over 100k miles? No way. I might as well just buy a new one for 24k.

The pre-05 tacos are sweet and I'm still considering buying one, but I'd never buy one of the new ones. The awesome thing about the pre-05 taco is that it is a small truck. Which means you can pretty much get away with the 2.7L 4cylinder unless you tow a heavy load. Not so much with the new ones.

Plus, they are fucking ugly. The Tundras even more than the Taco.

I'd still get the Taco over the Element though.

Edit: The Taco is a really solid machine, but not worth the premium to me.

[El Chupacabra]

The pre-05 tacos are sweet and I'm still considering buying one, but I'd never buy one of the new ones. The awesome thing about the pre-05 taco is that it is a small truck. Which means you can pretty much get away with the 2.7L 4cylinder unless you tow a heavy load. Not so much with the new ones.

Mrs. C.'s '97 extra cab 2.7L 4-cyl 4WD manual transmission Tacoma got about 23mpg highway, which is damn good for a 4WD pickup truck. It got that mileage because it was seriously underpowered. Forget towing anything at all -- it struggled to go up Sierra passes faster than about 45 with 2 people in it. Flat land, highway cruising = fine.

We replaced it with an '05 4.0L 6-cyl 4WD automatic transmission double cab Tacoma. It gets about 20mpg highway, can tow decently well, and goes up Sierra passes at a reasonable speed (65 easily; have to downshift to 4th, but doesn't lack for power).

The new Tacoma is so much nicer in every way than the older one. I don't know if the new one is as well-built as the old one, however -- nothing much broke on the old one, but the new one has some rattles in it already.

[MOHSHSIHd]

Helps that I got my Taco in NJ. Much cheaper prices compared to western states for used ones.

[Hugh Conway]

I'd love to see the correlation between "I drive a bigass manly truck" and "Gas prices suck" and "I'm broke" threads.

Element = Civic mechanicals. Cheap, easy to maintain, gutless below 70mph (80mph if you've a passenger) good with gas until you've a roof rack. Amazingly you can sleep in a civic as well.

[char]

Mrs. C.'s '97 extra cab 2.7L 4-cyl 4WD manual transmission Tacoma got about 23mpg highway, which is damn good for a 4WD pickup truck. It got that mileage because it was seriously underpowered. Forget towing anything at all -- it struggled to go up Sierra passes faster than about 45 with 2 people in it. Flat land, highway cruising = fine.

We replaced it with an '05 4.0L 6-cyl 4WD automatic transmission double cab Tacoma. It gets about 20mpg highway, can tow decently well, and goes up Sierra passes at a reasonable speed (65 easily; have to downshift to 4th, but doesn't lack for power).

The new Tacoma is so much nicer in every way than the older one. I don't know if the new one is as well-built as the old one, however -- nothing much broke on the old one, but the new one has some rattles in it already.

Huh, I get up passes at the speed limit (65) with my 'truck" full of everything I own just fine. 2.3L 4cyl. Towed 1500 pounds up I-5 as well. Only place I ever had a problem was going up I-70 out of Denver with the bed full. I'll trade my 27-30 mpg (again, full bed) for 4wd any day. I just cannot afford any more engine than I have with the gas prices the way they are.


They are good trucks, I'm just not as in love with them as everyone else on the planet seems to be. I think most Americans seem to think they need waaay more vehicle than they actually do.

[ill-advised strategy]

My 2wd 2.3L Ranger was like a new truck and even had the original brakes when I sold it with 145K miles on it. That was one well-made, totally practical vehicle. And I drove it in some steep slippery shit with chains.

[Viva]

Here's a different take, DTM. Since I don't use my Taco much anymore, but still want a lil' truck, I'm likely going to sell it and buy an older Toyota SR5- in fact, I almost bought one the last time I visited PDX. The old SR5s are sweet rigs and can still be found with reasonable mileage (125-150K) for around $5000 if it's really clean.

Advantages: less insurance, less vehicle registration, better gas mileage, tougher body (sheet metal is thickerer), cheaper maintenance costs (so I've been told), and $$$ left over to buy an Element later on and keep AC happy.

[MrZach]

Tacos?

[Gordyman]

My experience: One car family, 2006 Honda Element. Coming up on a year and 15K miles on it. Live in snow land, so our Element has been through good variety of conditions.

PROS:
1 Runs well no problems, always starts (about -15 degrees F coldest morning so far).
2 Peppy motor, even with the whole damn fam and ski gear. Not a hauler, but peppy.
3 Handles great, traction control system is amazing. We have run the same crap tires from the factory thru this winter and not one slide off. I was leery of computer controlled drive trains, but I am won over.
4 Not too noisy for a box on wheels
5 No carpet, IMHO carpet is stupid in cars. It's a car, not a bedroom. Mostly no-nonsense interior design, with good choice of cup holders, cubbies and other storage features.
6 Not a big car but maybe the most efficient use of interior space ever. I can cram more shit into that car, it is impressive.
7 Has a plug in for mp3 players.
8 Has useful features, but very little extranious bells and wistles that usual quit working after a few years.
9 How much that car opens up is somehting that you cannot appreciate until you see it. With all the doors and hatch open I can air out the car in nothing flat. Put visqueen over the dash & I think I can pressure wash the interior. Haven't tried it, but but I might this summer.

CONS
1 some call Elements toaster ovens.
2 seat belts for 4.
3 low clearance.

[bagtagley]

Regarding the little rippers. If you go Taco, a quad cab is a must, IMO. If we didn't have the ability to put the kiddo in both cars, we'd have been screwed a handful of times (daycare drop off/pick up comes to mind). Also, now they're saying that kids shouldn't be up front until 12. That's a lot of years to be a 2 car family relying on a single car for family transportation.

Just sayin'.

[PowTron]

My experience: One car family, 2006 Honda Element. Coming up on a year and 15K miles on it. Live in snow land, so our Element has been through good variety of conditions.

PROS:
1 Runs well no problems, always starts (about -15 degrees F coldest morning so far).
2 Peppy motor, even with the whole damn fam and ski gear. Not a hauler, but peppy.
3 Handles great, traction control system is amazing. We have run the same crap tires from the factory thru this winter and not one slide off. I was leery of computer controlled drive trains, but I am won over.
4 Not too noisy for a box on wheels
5 No carpet, IMHO carpet is stupid in cars. It's a car, not a bedroom. Mostly no-nonsense interior design, with good choice of cup holders, cubbies and other storage features.
6 Not a big car but maybe the most efficient use of interior space ever. I can cram more shit into that car, it is impressive.
7 Has a plug in for mp3 players.
8 Has useful features, but very little extranious bells and wistles that usual quit working after a few years.
9 How much that car opens up is somehting that you cannot appreciate until you see it. With all the doors and hatch open I can air out the car in nothing flat. Put visqueen over the dash & I think I can pressure wash the interior. Haven't tried it, but but I might this summer.

CONS
1 some call Elements toaster ovens.
2 seat belts for 4.
3 low clearance.

I agree completely, same reasons I love mine...

now, if they had a 6 cyl Element with two or three more inches of clearance, I would truly buy another one...

otherwise, it is FJ next time...

The Element is great for my gear, AND for having kids...

[ill-advised strategy]

It's hard for me to understand how trading your legacy in for 3 to 3.5K is worth it when you consider you could easily get like 150,000 more trouble free miles out of it and there isn't much an element is going to do that the sube can't. OTOH, a pickup truck is going to do things either the sube or the element can't.

[MakersTeleMark]

The element is underpowered and has no clearance. It's a good city shuttler for kids though. The taco is a compact pickup truck. Two totally different vehicles. Anecdotally, both friends of mine who owned elements wrecked them and replaced them with other vehicles, one of them being the 2.5 lesbaru forester which I would guess to be the closest compromise between the two vehicles.

I say get an awd van and be done with it.

[bigairnbumps]

but oooooooooh, look at the taco. and with the arb safari snorkel and ski box even. grrrrrrr!

[BeyondDan]

Element just cuz of the lil rippers possibility.

[iriponsnow]

My exp:
I have an element set-up w/ grar tires & thule box on top. Set up simply kills it. Carry the wifes 210's, my phatties, plenty o space. Most of the time we have a seat out so we can fit more junk.
We also live backwords VT on land that requires 4wd (no bs it is in the deed to home). This is due to the 45 degree private road & couple miles of dirt roads to get there. Never have has an issue in snow. even when others are off the road or don' go out.
only gripe: get some floor mats to absorb the snow/mud

[iriponsnow]

better pic

[squirrelmurphy]

My exp:
I have an element set-up w/ grar tires & thule box on top. Set up simply kills it. Carry the wifes 210's, my phatties, plenty o space. Most of the time we have a seat out so we can fit more junk.
We also live backwords VT on land that requires 4wd (no bs it is in the deed to home). This is due to the 45 degree private road & couple miles of dirt roads to get there. Never have has an issue in snow. even when others are off the road or don' go out.
only gripe: get some floor mats to absorb the snow/mud

your wife skis on 210s? thats bad ass

[altagirl]

I sold the suby this fall and got an Element and have been super happy with it. It's made it up LCC on a couple of mornings before the road closed or was plowed recently without issue. I wouldn't have any concerns with that being your ski-mobile. Where in the hell would you be going around here that there's 2' of unplowed snow?? The only issue would be if you're doing something more serious off road and need lower gears.

I'm confused on the underpowered argument. Obviously it isn't as fast or fun to drive as the Suby with the turbo, but it'll haul ass up long hills even loaded with people and gear. If I can still accellerate at 90mph up a long hill, I don't know what else I actually NEED.

As for bike shuttling.... I guess it depends on where you're going to go. I can't think of anything that we shuttle that really requires clearance - hell Bountiful is probably the worst shuttle road and you see 2wd sportscars on it. The only possible thing I can think of where it might be an issue are at a couple of campsites. But I don't think Kevin had any trouble getting to that one we all stayed at last fall and that's about the rockiest one we've stayed at.

Anyway, I can see either one working out for you guys.

[iriponsnow]

your wife skis on 210s? thats bad ass

yeap!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dantheman]

No money has been exchanged yet, but verbal agreements have been made.

[bigairnbumps]

and with the extended cab you also have room for future passengers

[squirrelmurphy]

i spent much of my youth fighting my older brother for legroom in the back of a king cab just like that. nice truck dan.