Crossover SUVs have taken over the automotive landscape, and let’s face it, a lot of them aren’t much fun. But that wasn’t always the case. Twenty or so years ago, there were some genuinely fun and interesting offerings with some cool features. Honda offered two crossovers that were mostly the same underneath, but had very different designs and characters.
Yesterday we saluted the GMT800 truck chassis in all its forms, and the consensus seems to be that the Chevy Suburban is the way to go. The Sierra pickup’s scruffy condition didn’t help its case, but the Suburban’s practicality and only slightly higher price made it a shoo-in for the win. And is that really a nine-passenger vehicle? I didn’t realize the third row held three. Learn something new every day, I guess.
For my choice between these two, I have to take into account that we already have a long-bed GMT400 pickup and a SWB GMT800 Yukon, and the combination of the two makes for a pretty formidable fleet. The Suburban could technically replace both, if we really wanted to, though it has slightly higher mileage than either of our trucks. And I have no real use for a short-bed crew-cab pickup. So, yeah, Suburban for me, but I’m not about to give up our two trucks anytime soon.
The term “sport-utility vehicle” is meant to conjure up images of fun road trips to cool places that are off the beaten path far enough to require four-wheel-drive. They’re marketed with images of surfboards and skis and whatnot, parked rakishly on a beach or a mountaintop. But we all know that most of them end up hauling the kids to daycare, or making Costco runs, or just plain old commuting. Hardly the carefree lifestyle shown in the brochure. But all the stuff is there, and you could go skiing or surfing or hiking, if you so chose. Honda’s crossover SUVs of the early 2000s did a good job of selling the lifestyle, and gave you two distinct flavors to choose from. Let’s check out one of each.
2002 Honda CR-V LX – $5,300
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, AWD
Location: Klamath Falls, OR
Odometer reading: 200,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Honda and little 4WD wagons go way back. As far back as 1985, the Honda Civic Wagovan, with a taller roofline than other Civics, was available with part-time four-wheel-drive. The Wagovan lasted for two generations, but it was dropped after 1992. It wasn’t until 1995 that a successor appeared, in the form of the CR-V. This is a second-generation CR-V, with a little more power and a little more refinement.
The CR-V has a lot of Civic DNA underneath, but uses a larger engine, a 2.4 liter four-cylinder from the Accord. This one has a five-speed manual transmission and Honda’s “Real Time 4WD” system, which is front-wheel-drive most of the time, but can kick in the rear wheels when needed. The seller has only owned this one for a year, but speaks highly of it. Unfortunately, that short ownership period means they’re unlikely to be able to tell you anything about its history. Best assume it needs everything in terms of maintenance, just to be safe.
It’s in really good condition inside, especially for 200,000 miles. Even the side bolster on the seat looks good. Unfortunately, the seller doesn’t say anything about the functional condition of anything inside, so it’s up to a potential buyer to try stuff and ask questions. But it does still have the CR-V’s coolest interior feature:
Yes, that’s a folding picnic table. It stows in the floor of the cargo compartment. I’ve heard more than one CR-V owner say they had no idea it was there. The outside of this CR-V looks pretty good. I see a few dings and scrapes, but nothing worth worrying about. And since it’s an Oregon car, it’s unlikely to have any rust problems.
2004 Honda Element EX – $6,900
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, AWD
Location: Seattle, WA
Odometer reading: 179,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The CR-V is a cool little car, but if you’re looking for something a little less conventional, Honda has you covered. The Element, introduced for the 2003 model year, is mechanically more or less the same as the CR-V, but it’s in a class all its own. With its gray plastic fenders and pillarless “suicide” rear doors, the Element is an acquired taste, but the folks who have acquired that taste seem to really love it.
The Element uses a similar 2.4-liter four-cylinder and Real Time 4WD system, but this one has a four-speed automatic transmission. The seller says it runs well and has been well-maintained, but it’s being sold by a dealer, so I don’t know how they know that. Maybe it comes with all the records, but dealerships don’t typically hold on to that stuff. Again, you’re better off checking it out yourself, but really, you should do that with any used car.
The interior of the Element is unique: it features rubber floors and spill-proof fabric. The rear seats in most small SUVs fold down for more storage, but in the Element, they fold up and to the side, and stow along the sides of the cargo compartment. This creates some enormous blind spots, but makes for a nice, big open floor in the back. Most of the interior of this one is really nice, but the bolster on the driver’s seat is worn through.
With the exception of a dent above the right rear wheel, the outside looks pretty good. There shouldn’t be any rust on this one either, but it’s never a bad idea to take a look. Elements came in some really cool colors, but sadly, this isn’t one of them. It’s hard to make one of these look bland, but this dark silver color is sure trying its best.
You can’t really go wrong with either of these; they’re Hondas, after all. It’s more about which flavor you want. Do you prefer a manual transmission, or weird and unique styling? Do you want a picnic table, or the perfect place to put your dog? I’ll leave it up to you.
Having gone back through all three pages of earlier comments, I have to pat you all on the back for such relevant commentary. (Not that that is unusual on this site!) This was a very nostalgic SBSD for me and reading all your comments brought additional warmth to my memories.
Thank you.
I’m a bit late to the discussion, but in 2002 we replaced our (her) ’94 Jeep GC V-8 with a CR-V EX. Our son was of the age that food-related spills were still a thing and the dealership we bought from offered reupholstering with leather for about $1,000. Done deal. The thing that first struck us about the CR-V was how they made the interior feel bigger than the Jeep but be smaller (and far more efficient with fuel) on the outside.
It was nimble around town, great visibility and unstoppable in the snow. The only knock, and this applies to a lot of Hondas up until recently, was that road noise was annoying, particularly on Seattle area freeways which were bordering on cobblestones in coarseness back then. My ’17 Accord has the same issue, but to a lesser degree.
The only non-routine maintenance we had to do was replace an oxygen sensor twice. It was my son’s car through undergraduate college. By then, it had 160K on the clock and when he went off to law school in Wisconsin, my wife insisted we get him something newer, so we sold it and bought him a lightly used AWD 2015 Escape (in New Orleans of all places, where he was doing a gap year). It held together well enough, but I think the Honda would have been fine. Probably better. Some airflow regulator in the HVAC system on the Escape went toes up, would’ve cost a ridiculous amount to repair and my son sold it and bought a Mazda CX-5.
At the time, the Element was intriguing, but its poorer fuel economy and general uh, uniqueness, was off-putting to his mother.
I liked that generation of CR-V’s taillights which gave me serious Volvo V70 vibes. It wasn’t a stick and that would have been my preference then and now. My kid learned how to drive a stick in my Jetta TDI, but hasn’t touched a stick since. Oh well.
If the choices were between a CR-V EX with a stick and the Element, it would be a super easy choice. Or if the Element had a stick, that would make the choice harder.
And we did actually use the table on several occasions. A couple of times inside the house for parties!
Element for sure.
As much as I love my manual 2006 CR-V (170K on the clock and still tickin’) the only other vehicle of its time and age that I would trade it for is an Element—even though it’s an automatic.
I like Elements but we decides against one in 2004 because our Great Pyrenees dogs couldn’t make the jump into them. That said we have to this day a 2000 CR-V that we bought in 2003 and you’ll pry it from our cold dead hands. We love that little guy.
We had two Labs that could both hop right up into the back of our CR-V from that era. A rubber mat in the back was a godsend when they would roll in whatever foul-smelling stuff they could find during runs on the beaches. Goofy dogs. When they were in the back, they knew they were going either to the beach or to the vet’s which for some unknown reason they loved going to. Seems like the other dogs I’ve had knew that a car ride meant they were going to the vet and weren’t happy about it.
I had a manager with the first gen CR-V and he didn’t like what Honda had done for the second gen we had. He had jumped through the hoops to bring his down from Canada.