For those not familiar with it, the Honda Element was a very interesting vehicle. Based on the CR-V chassis it was a square four door CUV thing, with the rear doors being suicide style similar to the Toyota FJ Cruiser, and rear hatch with a proper tailgate. The interior was all lined with water resistant fabric and the floors were rubber-ish. The most interesting thing about it was it interior size – with rear seats folded and and secured against the wall, the thing had more space than a Land Rover. The front and rear seats also folded flat, making the Element a great “camping” (wink) vehicle.

Aside from its funky looks (sunroof was in the back, near the hatch) and utilitarian design that made it appealing to a limited group of people, there wasn’t much else to the Element. It was a good vehicle in a Honda sense, reliable and efficient, but otherwise unappealing to enthusiasts. Except this one guy who turbocharged his.

I found two advertisements for this car: an earlier undated one from the original owner when the vehicle had 81,000 miles on it, and a current one with 114,000 miles on it.

From the original sellers/builders ad:

2006 Honda Turbo (gt3076r) [Element] Ex AWD

I’m putting up my Turbo 06 ex awd auto Element for sale. Its got 81k on it and everything is running great, I’m just entertaining trading up for something else. This car is a serious sleeper and has ruined more than a few hotrodder’s day’s. I drive a lot of highway and I hate that I’m putting so many miles on this thing. My commute is 65mi/day. Price is 14,000obo , I’m just looking to get enough to trade up on a new car.

The turbo kit is a one off and was built by myself and highly skilled friend of mine. Low boost is about 10psi , the high boost setting is 14psi. I keep it low to stay on the safe side. The Garrett gt3076r is capable of 530hp. On 10 psi it does 0-60 in under 7sec, with a 60ft time of 2.19s. Not bad for a car that originally had 115whp. I’ve never done a timed put on high boost, but I can assure you it produces considerably more power and wheelspin.

This thing has been meticulously maintained and every service done on time if not early. The oil has been changed every 4000mi since new with full synthetic, except for the first change which was done at 500mi with normal oil.

From the current ad, dealership (sorry for the caps, direct quote):

2006 ELEMENT AWD GARRET TURBO INTERCOOLER METH COOLED BAD RIDE!!!!!!!! (ONE BAD ELEMENT! REAL BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

2006 HONDA ELEMENT EX – ALL WHEEL DRIVE – REAR FLIP UP SUNROOF – POWER WINDOWS – POWER MIRRORS – POWER DOOR LOCKS – KEYLESS ENTRY – AM/FM CD PLAYER – CRUISE CONTROL – STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS – FRONT BUCKETS – FOLD UP REAR SEATS – EZ CLEAN VINYL FLOORING – TINTED WINDOWS – ALLOY WHEELS – TIRES IN GOOD SHAPE – NOW FOR THE GOOD PART……………………………GARRETT T-3 TURBO – TOP MOUNTED METHANOL COOLED INTERCOOLER WITH S.T.I. HOOD SCOOP – FULL ENGINE BRACING – FREE FLOWING PERFORMANCE EXHAUST – ADJUSTABLE BOOST CONTROL – ONBOARD PROGRAMMABLE A.E.M. FUEL MANAGEMENT COMPUTER – DASH MOUNTED METHANOL SWITCHES – ONE BAD ELEMENT!!! THIS THING IS AS PERFORMANCE ORIENTED AS ANY ELEMENT ANYWHERE!!! ALL THIS WHILE STILL MAINTAINING IT’S DRIVEABILITY & GREAT STREET MANNERS!!!! IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THAT SPECIAL STREET MACHINE , THIS IS THE ONE!!!! WE ARENT LETTING ANYONE TEST DRIVE WITHOUT COMPANY & DEFINITELY NOT TAKING ANY CRAZY TRADE’S!!!! THIS IS A FULL ON SUPER QUICK STREET MACHINE!!!! BETTER HURRY , THIS IS ONE OF THE NICEST , MOST UNIQUE ELEMENT’S IN THE COUNTRY & IT IS NOT GONNA LAST LONG AROUND HERE!!!!!!!!

OUR “ONE OF A KIND” PRICE – $10,999.00

This is very interesting. Looking at the pictures (links below), this Element looks very clean. The turbo installation seems rather clean too, given its one-off kit-like setup. I’m no expert on K-series engines or this AEM fuel controller, and I certainly do not know much about methanol injection (is it like water injection or does it spray over the intercooler? feel free to chime in comments) but it looks like some thought went into making this work, with reliability in mind. A similar K24 engine and automatic transmission was used in the Acura RD-X, so this may work very well and has lasted over a 100,000 miles.

The angled cross-brace seen in the above picture is factory. The exhaust piping looks nicely made, with the flex pipe further convincing me that this is good quality work. I like the fact that everything else is factory, except for the all-terrain tires, which look surprisingly at home on this little ride. It even has a tow hitch on it!

So, is this a work of a madman or should have this looked and performed this way from the factory? Having owned an earlier, a 1999, Honda CR-V there was number of times when I wanted to turbo it and throw some all-terrain tires on it, so I see how the original owner got started with this.

[Source: Knoxville Craigslist | hdmotorstn.com | modifiedcartrader.com ]