IN OUR ELEMENT.(News)(Honda Element)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

We knew it would happen soon enough, and sure enough it did. Once the warmer weather hit, our ranger-green Honda Element became the consummate home- away-from-home camper-mobile, the perfect tailgater, the moving van extraordinaire.

Said one editor after a week-long jaunt: "It's basically everything you need in one package. A truck, van, SUV, '60s love van, safari truck... whatever. It's as functional as any car we've driven here that I can remember.''

On camping trips, our jack-of-all-trades- mobile received kudos from fellow campers for its high level of functionality, its wide-opening B-pillar-less side doors, usable tailgate and rubber-matted flat floor. But it was the fold-flat/ foldaway seats that intrigued many, who saw the Element as the perfect cargo hauler/cabin on wheels. One fellow camper abandoned his tent for the weekend and instead enjoyed two restful nights stretched out on the twin cots in the Hotel Element, emerging the second morning to report, "I was in my Element.'' So true.

We did learn that loading the Element to capacity doesn't help its performance. With three or four adults and their camping gear on board, the vehicle's 160-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder was taxed to the maximum, especially at the low end when trying to enter a busy highway, for instance. But ...