Video: 2008 Honda Element

And if you want to see all of its cargo features, check out our weekend athlete video with Cars.com editor, Bill Jackson. Today, I'm going to take you through how it drives as well as the interior and some of the seating features. Now, even though the Element's been around for a few years, it's probably still Honda's most unusual looking car. And this comes from a company that's usually known for pretty sedate, pretty conservative styling. Now the Element comes in three trim levels and two of them offer waterproof fabric for the front seats. If you can see here, you pour some water on it and it pretty much just beads away like that. Pretty easy to wipe up. Honda also says that the waterproof fabric repels stains like coffee and soda, and, well, this is a loaner car, so we're probably not going to try that out. Now the driver's seat has a height adjustment, but it uses this rotating knob. Otherwise, the front seats are pretty supportive and they have plenty of cushioning. One thing there isn't as a center console, but Honda gives you these nice armrests for each front seat and it's nice cause they don't leave you hanging. One thing you'll notice about the interior is the storage options. There's a shelf above the glove compartment and it kind of continues over next to the steering wheel and it's got five separate storage areas and you can really throw anything in here. There's also an area above the rear view mirror, it has a net here and you can throw something in there as well. Often times utility comes at the expense of cabin appeal and that's definitely the case here. Overall fit and finish is pretty good, but the materials are hard and not very inviting. There's also a couple other old school Honda features. The steering wheel audio controls let you go to the next track on your CD, but you can't go back to the previous one. One other thing you'll notice is how long the dashboard is. The windshield is pretty far away and it's pretty upright, but the side windows are pretty tall, so overall visibility is fine. That's not the case if you put the seats up. They fold up on each side and you're gonna want to make sure you put the driver's seat up to the side instead of the passenger seat, if you only have to use one of them. So if you put the passenger side seat up, it really blocks a blind spot. Now to get to the back seat, you have to open these rear hinged access doors. It's actually much easier to get back here than it is in other SUV's with this feature like the Toyota FJ Cruiser. Once you're in, there's plenty of leg room and plenty of head room. We'd like to see a little bit more support in the seat cushions, they're a little bit short here, as you can see. The Element uses the same four cylinder engine you'll find in a lot of other Honda cars. The accelerator is pretty sensitive, so it's fine around town. If you're getting on the on-ramp, there might be a little bit of buzzing and there won't be quite as much power as you might need on a real hard acceleration. Overall gas mileage is in the low 20's. That's not quite as high as some competitors, but ultimately the Element is all about utility. That's the name of the game here and that's what sets this car apart. That's why our weekend athlete loves it and that's why we even like it too. (watering splashing) For additional information on this car or any other, go to Cars.com and our blog, kicking tires.