And the winner (probably) is…
Oct 29th, 2005 by Jason
The Honda Element. And most likely a 2005 model at that. (Not really digging the ‘06 colors or the new ‘06 wheels.
The HHR won on cost. With Jason2’s GEICO discount, it comes in ~$200 over invoice, which isn’t bad considering that the dealers around here are selling HHRs for $2,500 over *MSRP*. Good lord. Who pays MSRP, much less THOUSANDS over it? I never knew the law of supply and demand could be so lucrative! 
Where the HHR lost me was on ergonomics. It has a very small windshield which made it impossible for me to see the traffic light without ducking my neck forward — even if we were two cars back from the light. That, plus the A pillar was created a fairly large blind spot. The way I go whizzing through the neighborhood here, I need all of the side vision I can get. If I wasn’t 6ft3, I doubt these would be issues, so if you’re interested in the HHR, please don’t let my experience disuade you.
I was pretty caught up on MPG (the category where the HHR kicks the Element’s arse) because I wanted to pay the least at the pump as possible. When I first crunched the numbers, the HHR beat the Element by $30/month in this category. Then I read the owners manual that warns if you use less that 93 octane gas (that’s the most expensive around here), performance may lessen and the engine may ping. It went on the say that if you used 87 octane (the least expensive), it may ping excessively and need to be brought to the dealer. With that factored in, the money saved by the HHR’s great MPG - the extra money spent on the premium gas = only saving $10/month more than the cost of the Element.
I can live with a “more expensive to operate” car when the difference is only $10/month.
just keep in mind that when if you buy an 05 model, its already a year old…. look up the trade in value for a use 05 model with 5k on the odo and see what kinda of figures you get, that should give you a good basis to negotiate with the dealer on
Honda’s don’t depreciate.
Hmmmm.
KBB (private resale value) for the model I got (with 5K miles) was about $1K more than what the dealer ended up selling it for, so I guess that’s good.
too bad you went with the Element.. my 04 Element just started to ping when the engine is cold… annoying..
I didn’t have any problems with the Element!
You did have a problem with the element though. For some odd reason it looked like a toaster from the day you drove it off of the lot! They really need to look into that…..