Element goes boom

My favorite car ever. Honda Element EX-p 2006 bought when my second son was days old, in an 8 hour process of frequent breastfeeding and a 2.5 yo strapped into a stroller and squeeling for freedom and when released would run wild and I had only the single stroller at the time so there was no place for the little one to la down and sleep so I held him the whole time as my husband played the salesman until they finaly gave us the exact bellow invoice price we wanted! Worst day ever but the outcome was my fabulous fun mobile. I was in my Element. Here she is on our trip up the PCH in the summer of 2007

this is in the Northern Redwood forest of California.

this is what it looks like when you sleep in it with a 1 yo along for the ride. all 3 of us and all our gear minus the stroller could fit comfortably for the night. Looks like a mess but really verry comfortable.

And now the sadness
Here she is now. No longer mine but still loved.



and


see the rest of the pictures by browsing my flickr page by clicking one of the photos. More pictures at the end of the blog post.

As far s we can tell the front driverside tire blew and at some point the entire wheel flew off and they could never find it. I was on the freeway going 70 mph next to a semi truck my car went out of control and I hit the broad side of the semi with the front of my car. Monster #2 was in the car with me but he was in a 5 point harness car seat and thanks to the airbags no glass got on him and he was just fine he was more worried about the car and kept telling me that I hurt the truck. My back isn't too happy with me right now and I don't recomend letting them put you on one of those hard boards to take a ride to the Hospital because they make your back hurt worse I'm convinced.

Now this happened on Dec. 20th and since then we have had issue about what car to get to replace the beloved Element. We went back and forth about seating capacity. Now the Element only sits 4 people. So it's perfect for our family but that is it. So I won't be driving any soccer teams around in the thing, but we aren't doing soccer right now anyway and it's looking more and more like the older one may be pretty good at baseball he can throw straighter than any kid his age! ANYWAY!

We both decided that the Element was the car for us. And so the search for the perfect Element model began. Now my husband loves the Element SC now let me explain the Element models as far as I can figure.

LX means Lacks Extras there is barely a stereo in the LX. Now the Element isn't a car that has a lot of luxury options so the LX takes those simple additions and strips them down. Basically it's the same but no overhead glove box, hubcaps instead of rims and you don't get that super cool chrome plated exhaust pipe cap.

EX means Extras whatever you get the basic element with the washable surfaces no carpet fabulousness with the overhead glove box (handy!) Alloy wheels, that chrome exhaust cap Neeto! and with the AWD you get a skylight in the back. That was in 2006 when we bought ours. Main reason I didn't want the AWD because I couldn't stand the thought of my children roasting under the desert sun all day long in the 120 degree weather here in Vegas.

EX-P in 2006 meant EX with Paint! Now all the Elements have fully painted bodies but if you've seen them around you may have noticed the front and back panels being black plastic stuff and the rest painted but for a little bit more money you could get painted panels. That was new in 06 and I think standard now. That black stuff scratched like crazy!

SC the SC model was released as a 2007 model only a month after we bought our 2006 in may of 06. My husband about had a fit. The SC is about 2 inches closer to the ground has tires that are 2 inches larger and body styling that is a little more sporty and a little less Utility. It has a different suspension system so it drives more like a car too. But you want to know what does SC stand for? There are 3 options for SC as I see it. First would be Special Copper! It came in one color with copper colored trim and copper detailed fabric on the inside. The color was a coppery color but I think they called it rootbeer. SC could also stand for Soft Carpet there is carpet in the driver and passenger section of the car but not in the back where the storage area is. Nice helps reduce road noise but takes away the appeal of the "You can just hose it out" interior I was drawn to in my EX-p. But I think that SC really stands for Senter Console. Now I know center isn't spelled with an S but Honda is a foreign car so who knows right? It has a real center console. very nice addition to the EX model my husband HATED that about the Element. He likes to fill up the console with a bunch of junk. ;) I admit that the car did get filled up with a bunch of junk that could have been inside a console so I see how they are handy.

So after about a million visits to the Honda website we decided that the SC would be the right car for us. I have to admit I am a sucker for something shiny and the trim in the new SC is all shiny black and silver with highlights of copper. AND they got new fabric I didn't really like the barbwireish styled print on the fabric the last couple years but this year it's pretty cool. So we decided that if we went with a 2009 Element sc we would get the Honda satellite Linked Navigation system with voice activated ipod controls and back up camera. I know a bit extravagant but really worth it in the end right? We do have a little bit of money coming to us from the insurance company. Well lets just make a long story short because most people probably stopped reading after the last picture. The SC with Navi is unavailable would take 3-4 weeks to get one of the 3 that are in production for the ENTIRE western part of the country. And to get one made the color we wanted and options we wanted would take 3 months. Well no good... So we decided to get a regular SC. Well of all 6 honda dealers in town only 3 had ANY SC models 2008 or 2009 one only had blue and hubby doesn't like blue. Truth be told I'm not a fond of the blue they put on the Element either. So he gets some pricing info and heads over to the other Honda dealer in town that has both 2008 AND 2009 models well there is one 2008 and one 2009 and after haggling with them they wouldn't give him a deal on the 2008 at all. The 2009 they gave him a very reasonable price on, bellow what Edmunds says the car is selling for. The 2008 model however according to Edmunds should be selling for 19,000 but the dealership wouldn't give it to him for that! They gave him a price difference between the 08 and the 09 as only $178.00 why in God's name would they do that? So.... What do we have in the driveway? A 2009 Honda Element SC in midnight red. :) And now more pictures!






and the kiddos get to enjoy their stadium seating again. The little monster would cry every time we got into the rental because he couldn't see out the front window.
Hope you enjoyed!