Dear Honda,
Two days ago I walked out of a dealership crying. Frustration and exhaustion got the best of me. I felt like a fool. I am one person among millions and well aware of that but just once I want to be the one screaming loud enough to heard.
When my first car, a perpetual hanger queen, unexpectedly died, I was desperate to replace it with something more reliable. I ended up with a Honda Element. At 5 feet and 11 inches with more waist than leg, I can sit in the driver’s seat of a fraction of the vehicles on the market. As a dog lover with more than one medium-sized pet, I can fit my dog crates into the trunk of even less of the vehicles on the market. You must know where I’m going with this.
This is the part that makes me angry, Honda. I’m uncomfortable being at the mercy of a corporation, but I am. In 2011 it was announced that the Honda Element, the only car that fits all of my very particular needs, was going to be discontinued. At the time I understood why, and I still do. The model was no longer as popular as it had been in recent years and customers were often turning to the competition. It didn’t bother me then because I had my Element and I planned to keep that car forever.
The transmission on my Element died six months ago. I paid $4,000 to have it replaced. Six months later, it’s back in the shop and I’m scared because they are telling me they might not be able to fix it this time.
I have sat in, test driven, and measured the trunk of nearly every SUV model on the market today. The reason I reject each of those models fall into two basic categories: I don’t fit or my dogs don’t fit.
I keep waiting for somebody in the marketing department of any major automobile manufacturer to figure out that they are completely missing an entire group of people with very specific needs. Unfortunately, at this point, I have little faith that any of you are actually going to pay attention to us. If I had the money, I would stockpile those ugly little square vehicles and happily drive one for the rest of my life. Unfortunately I don’t have the money- all I have now is a problem with no solution.
I walked out of a Honda dealership crying two days ago because the Element I had spent the entire day rushing through work to go buy was sold minutes before I arrived. I now spend most of my free time scouring the pages of the internet looking for a used version of the only car that appeals to me but I’m hunting an endangered species. I know that, after this next car goes, I’m going to be out of options. I pray that somebody somewhere figures out a way to fill this niche before that time comes but I don’t have a lot of faith.
Like I said, I’m one in millions. I occasionally join the other individuals who feel like one in millions and write you letters begging to bring back some version of the car I love. In the grand scheme of things, this probably doesn’t matter to you. But I just wanted to let you know that there are a few of us who will always love this car.
Most sincerely,
A Proud Element Owner
