Gooooood morning and welcome to Shitbox Showdown, baby! Today’s is brought to you not by Mark, but by me, Griffin. I’m taking the helm for the next couple of days, as Mark is unfortunately no longer with us (he’s on a much-deserved vacation).
I’ve been advised by the higher-ups that I shouldn’t just push Corvettes on y’all the way I want to (I daily-drive a C6), but no worries, we’ve got a decent crop ready to go anyway.
Yesterday, Mark handed y’all an ’88 Mustang LX juxtaposed with a ’93 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, both convertible and listed for $2,500. If you ask me, that Mustang was a clear winner with that red interior, and I’m not even mad at its tiny little 4-pot engine. The debrief on yesterday’s poll says I’m not far off:
That Oldsmobile isn’t exactly the most attractive machine, I have to say. That’s right, there’s a new sheriff in town and he’s choosing to take an anti-Oldsmobile stance for some reason even though the defunct company can’t even defend itself.
Anyway, let’s look at today’s options …
2007 Honda Element – $10,975Â
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter dual overhead cam inline 4,
5-speed manual, AWD
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Odometer reading: 176,855
Operational status: “Runs and Drives Great”
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I used to think nothing of the old Honda Element. I remember logging onto Twitter during the pandemic and seeing this exact listing with a closing price of $36,000 and I thought it was untenable. Sure, it’s low-miles, clean, and on Bring a Trailer, but I still didn’t quite understand it until I did some research and learned the Element is actually a kind of rad car.
From Edmunds: “We’ve found that the Honda Element does offer reasonably peppy around-town response with enough smoothness to make everyday commuting a pleasant enough experience.” The EPA also rated the car for 18 miles per in the city, 23 highway for the manual transmission, which I’m not mad at for a larger ride like this clocking in at 3,500 lbs. Add to this a rather commodious interior behind its beautiful un-alive doors with those fold-up-and-out-of-the-way rear seats, and I kinda get excited, I can’t lie.
Aight but now you’re asking “Why else should I care, idiot? Big friggin dummy person, bring back Mark!.”
Well first off, ouch! Second: This listing refers to the Element’s “very rare ‘5-Speed AWD'” and moon roof offerings, the latter of which I know is pretty nice especially here in California.
It also comes with power windows and locks, which seems to be a rare combo as older manual-gearbox offerings are often stripped of nearly all creature comforts – presumably because an affinity for punching gears yourself must mean you like to do everything yourself.
Add to this cruise control, privacy glass, roof racks, and recently passed emissions, and I’d say you’ve got a pretty decent machine here. At some point, the “Premium Stereo CD System and Premium Sounds System” was a desirable, but lil’ 20-something me is stunningly light on CDs these days, so a trip to Amoeba Music might be in order to pad out the CD player.
Next contender:
1999 Honda CRV – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter dual overhead cam inline 4,
5-speed manual, 4WD
Location: Victorville, CA
Odometer reading: 190,000
Operational status: “Everything works”
I can hear y’all now: “Hey new guy, what the hell are you doing comparing an Element that costs 11 grand with a CRV that costs less than a quarter of its competition?” The answer is I don’t know. I don’t know what any of this shit is and I’m fuckin’ scared. But nevertheless, we persist! This ’99 green CRV is reported to run “good,” and has a clean title to boot. Sweetening the deal for you clutch-kicking freaks, it’s got a couple of new parts on it! The lister says it has a new clutch, throwout bearing, and pressure plate, meaning you likely have fewer repairs to concern yourself with in the immediate future.
Worried about getting this old thing through an inspection? Me too! Luckily its check engine light isn’t on. Excited yet? Don’t be! It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, because check this out: “Just tried to smog, needs a catalytic converter.” Maybe a little foreboding, buuutt get this: “I’ve reduced the price to cover it.” So maybe it’s still a good deal! It at least explains the low price tag, right?
Looking at the interior photos makes me feel like a kid with those old-school cloth seats, so this one has a couple nostalgia points for me there. Like the Element, it looks like it has power windows, but jury is out on the power locks (I’m fairly sure you could never only get power windows, right?). While there’s no straight-on photo to confirm, zooming in on the radio appears to reveal a new head unit has been installed, which could either be rad (includes boomin’ system, yes!) or sad (shoddy install of Walmart junk, oh no!). Flip a coin.
My verdict between the two? Well, as Mark reminded us on Monday, “‘None of the above’ is not an option here,” so with that in mind, I’d say that the Element is my choice here, though I’m not particularly inspired by either of them. I think you should just buy a C6 Corvette instead (shit, I recommended one again), but being able to impress Bring a Trailer junkies by pulling up in the Element is worth the extra eight stacks alone.
But eight stacks is a lot, so maybe I’m wrong. What do you think? CRV or Element? Weigh in and I’ll see y’all tomorrow.
I like Elements, but not at $11k pushing 180k miles
I think I’ll go with the Honda.
Elements are so cool and soooooo overpriced.
For $10,975.00, that Honda is out of my element and the CRV is a little too janky for me! 😉
Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00. Hard pass on both.
Element is far heavier than the crv which is bigger. So since both have a torqueless i4….
? CRV is longer, but narrower, and despite more ground clearance, has a lower roofline (at least in these model years). whatever the driving dynamics, and i’ve never driven or ridden in either model of any generation, the CRV can’t be construed as the bigger vehicle.
12 grand for a mainstream car with 176 is very, very crack pipe. No fucking way!
Plus, the Element’s seating position is quite school-bus. I’ll take the fresh clutch and more carlike CRV.
I was leaning toward the CRV until parts of the ad set off my bullshit detector with the lines “approximately 190,0000 miles on replacement engine” and saying “everything works”/”,just tried to smog,needs a catalytic converter”
I fucking hate it when sellers only list the mileage of the replacement engine and not the miles on the actual vehicle. That’s a red flag. And if you’re replacing the engine, why would you swap in an engine with that much mileage? Why wouldn’t you spend a little bit more on a much lower mileage engine? Well I have an idea why… the thing is a basket case and the seller is ‘fixing’ it as cheaply as possible just to sell it.
And the seller says “everything works” and then makes it clear that everything does NOT work… because if everything did work, it wouldn’t need a catalytic converter… and they’re too fucking cheap to put any real money into it.
So as a result, I suspect the much newer Element is likely the better deal even though it’s priced a bit high for a 17 year old vehicle with 176,000 miles on it.
That 176,000 miles on the Element is likely substantially lower than the actual total miles on that CRV.
Engines die when the cat does. Cat sand being sucked up by the engine kills them.
This cannot be real.
I did better on the highway with my automatic 2008. But, it isn’t exactly aerodynamic…
Neither is a 400 hp F150 that gets 17/25
I had one when they first came out. I got maybe 12 on straight 20 miles trips to work and back. Between 3 cracked windshields from the upright brick-like nature of it and unjoyfully replacing many worn out tires (fronts only), got rid of it happily. Kids loved it from the theatre style seating in the back though, and cleaning it out with an air blower.
A contemporary F-150 got worse fuel economy than that, all the way down to 14 combined if you got it with the 5.4 Triton. For its time the Element was mediocre but not awful when it came to fuel economy. It’s basically a CR-V with all concessions to aerodynamics removed.
A 2010 Kia Soul of similar size, shape, and power got 26/31 mpg.
A Nissan Cube was 27/31.
The Element was not mediocre, it was awful.
The 2010 Soul weighed 800 pounds less and only got that kind of mileage with the 1.6L base engine. The Element was taller, boxier, and had a considerably larger engine. I’m not calling the Element a fuel efficient vehicle. It sacrificed everything to get that boxtruck shape that made it possible to have seats that folded up against the walls. In the context of 2007 though the fuel economy wasn’t terrible for an SUV with a huge amount of interior room.
I’d like to know how they diagnosed the catalytic converter. If it failed a sniffer test, it could be the converter. Or it could be burning oil.
If the CRV was closer to me, I’d be calling the seller. I’m looking for one like that.
CRV all the way. It’s had an easy life in California so far. It would make an excellent winter beater. I imagine that it yearns to actually use that awd system for plowing though snow and salt.
2.5k for a beater that needs a cat is not great. It’s better than 10k for a 170,000 mile car from 2007 though. CRV.
I’m not in California, so I’ll take the CRV and actually be able to get a cat for it, and the rust-free California part is good too 🙂
It’s also MUCH cheaper 😀
The Element’s cult status has boosted prices for years, but it’s still a 5-speed manual with AWD and those are getting harder to find in decent condition, so I want it.
Why did Honda stop making these? Very appealing niche vehicle. I don’t understand.
Because only me and three other people bought them.
I really like the concept and admired a friend’s Element when she showed it to me, but I wasn’t in the market for a new car then, and by the time I was, it was gone.
Because for what they were, they were reasonably priced at the time.
Honda would much rather push you into a CR-V or Passport than provide interesting niche cars for the budget minded.
The story I’ve heard most is that Honda envisioned selling a lot of these to younger buyers looking for an entry level, reliable, active lifestyle vehicle without a lot of frills. They did for the first couple of years. But competition began to emerge (Scion, Cube, Soul) in the youth oriented econo toaster market and the Element also quickly became popular with older folks, especially retirees, which helped turn the younger buyers away. At the same time, Honda was selling other, more expensive SUV/crossovers to the same older demographic and the Element cut into those sales a bit. Since the kids mostly stopped buying it, and Honda wanted the olds in higher profit cars, they made the decision to drop it from the line up figuring older buyers would just move to the more upmarket SUVs. Also, the Element only seated four people, OK for empty nesters and newlyweds, but young families outgrew it quickly.
I could see using the Element as weekend car for outdoorsy stuff. Toting my bike around, maybe getting into kayaking, great car for dogs too.
Well, as I’ve already sorted the Lincoln engine into the Mustang project, I’ll need a parts runner, and the Element will be better for that as it’s got a less destructable interiror than the CRV. Once the Mustang is sorted and up for regular cruise duty, I can strip the Element of it’s driveline and rebuild my 03 Lx as an AWD K Swapped Evo killer, but I’d have to barter the price down a bit. I’d be happeir close to 9K.
I miss my 2008 Element. It was too hard to get it with a stick, but I’d buy another one as a beater and to lug PA equipment around again if I had room to put a third car somewhere.
AS someone who has recently inherited a 1gen CR-V that manual is awesome out side of California the exhaust fix is $400 project as I’m doing this currently. So this is a bargain compared to the $11,000 price tag on another one in Chicago.
I loves me a Honda Element, but I’d sooner let Kristi Noem watch my dog than pay 11k for an econobox with 170k miles.
The CR-V is a no-brainer, when it dies I can buy 3 more and still come out ahead of the Element.
I still can’t believe that psycho thought telling the country she shot her dog was a good way to launch a national political career.
We are living in a country where the inane, and insane has become normal.
And it sucks the big one.
Every blunt skulled maggot is trying to out do each other with stupid takes.
I wish the son of muskrat had wiped his booger on the king of the Turds…
Just saying.
Gulf of America? Fuck off.
Sure, you may hate Gulf of America. But have you heard about the new hotness, “Red, White, and Blue Land”? (yes, it’s a real bill brought to congress to take over and re-name Greenland).
The shit show never stops.
This is why I watch securely from my Fortress of Solitude (Canada).
It wasn’t for us, it was for an audience of one rich city slicker who loathes dogs. And it worked dammit.
any running car for $2500 is a win these days. An AWD stick Honda? Easy choice. As a non-Californian, the cat issue is of no concern.
The CR-V seems like the much better deal here. I DO like the Element and all of its funkiness but it’s unclear how much more it can haul/do than the CR-V. I thought the CR-V was much smaller than the Element a quick search says the Element has 25/75 ft3 vs CR-V 29/67 cargo volume.
ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR AN ELEMENT WITH 170K MILES?!?
CRV for me! My state doesn’t do emissions testing, sooooo…
C6 Vette isn’t an option on the poll, I’m withholding my vote until this situation is corrected.
THIS GUY GETS IT
I’ll go with the much cheaper CR-V so it doesn’t eat too much of my Corvette fund. Somewhere out there is a C4 hardtop in cocaine white over whorehouse red just waiting for me.
I always thought the Element was for people who were very practical and didn’t mind if others thought they were a little weird. In other words, a very cool car.
I’d have to spend a little extra for the Element. I did, however, have a rental years ago in Charlottesville, VA that did have manual windows with power locks and a power sunroof. FWIW, it was a Subaru, and my options were either that abomination, or my pick of 5 different minivans.