As it is inappropriate to this List, I will avoid the recent political bent
this thread has taken and try to return it to Mr. Wilder's original POSITIVE
nature.

My 26 yo son recently forwarded a brochure to me for the first SUV that I
would ever even think about owning...  a H*nda Element.  The test drive
impressed him. He is a little cool on the performance of our vans (drives a
VR6 GTi), but is beginning to open his eyes to a more useful vehicle.

The VW designers would do well to emulate the thinking that has gone into
this open platform concept.  UTILITY is the main design parameter.
Utilitarian is the effect achieved. It has the requisite retro look and Gen-
X marketing approach that seems prevalent in the outdoorsy vehicle target
market.  At 22 (city) and 26(hwy) the mpg isn't great but it beats all but
our diesel vans. It comes in vanilla and deluxe 2WD or 4WD

4WD all dressed up brought the base price of � $16K to just over $22K out
the door. And it's made by my Buckeye neighbors to the North ( East
Liberty?).

I still would prefer the Westy and even the Caravelle (Carat) over the
Element but as these vans get longer in the tooth, it is becoming easier to
imagine owning a newer replacement.

Just MHO.

--
Stephen Steele*
Chillicothe OH
'91 Caravelle  "Hans"
'87 Westy      "Franz"
'84 Westfalia  "Fritz"  on loan to my nephew
'81 Diesel Rabbit "Ol' Yeller" by PO
'82 Caddy VW Diesel P.U.
'90 Jetta GL  17 yo Sons' "together" car
'74 MGB  My first car...yep, I've kept it since '74
'93 Chevy S-10
*all rights reserved/no portion of this document may be reproduced w/o prior
written permission