Matchbox 2004 Honda Element

During the 2000’s a strange sensation started up in the automotive world: boxy car-based vehicles such as the Scion xB and the Honda Element.  These vehicles were designed for younger buyers who prefer a more adventurous lifestyle and need a vehicle to fit their needs.  Problem is half of those buyers were older and looking for a more practical vehicle.  None of them lasted to the next decade, yet still there are diecast replicas of both vehicles and Matchbox offered the Element during the dark 2004 Hero City time.

The Model X was a Honda concept that debut in 2001 designed to attract generation X-ers with a practical SUV that has pickup-like capabilities.  The platform was based on the second-generation CR-V and shared the same mechanicals, but the styling was boxier with rugged plastic front and rear fenders that wrap around the front and rear wheels.  The four-door CR-V design was replaced with a two-door that has pickup-like half doors for rear access to give a wider opening on the sides, while the rear tailgate splits into two with the lower section dropping down to form a bench seat.  The rear sunroof is also removable and the floor inside has a rubber texture to allow the floor to be hosed out with water.  Seating is for four with the rear seats that fold and swing up to the sides to allow access to the large and flat floor in the rear, or all seat backs can fold flat to create a mattress, oh and don’t forget about the optional tent that sets up over the rear liftgate.  Very practical, indeed!  The engine is the 2.4L DOHC I-4 that produces 166 horsepower through a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission and either front or all-wheel drive.  The Element lasted longer than usual with body-colored front and rear bumpers offered later on and in 2008 a revised front-end on the new SC sport trim package with projector beam headlights.  In its last years the regular Elements also got the updated front-end but used different headlight designs than the SC, yet the sales still didn’t improve so the Element was discontinued after 2011.

Matchbox created this casting as the brave few realistic castings that stuck out in the crazy Hero City character cars that ensured the 2004 line.  Even worse, the crummy and crude detailing of Hero City models suffered the Element as well.  The orange paint looks good and stands out against the plastic front and rear bumpers, both are part of the interior trim.  The front has square headlights with round reflector, foglights on the lower bumper bulge, and the odd silver grille with H logo in the center.  Signal lights are on the outer corners of the headlights and on the sides of the front-bumper, while the sides have detailed door handles, window shapes to outline the truck-like door configuration, and gray roof rails that lead to the rear window that is nothing but a black tampo since it is part of the metal body.  The rear has detailed taillights that contour with the lower bumper bulge, H and Element logos, and even the handle for the upper gate recessed into the lower rear bumper, and of course the rear sunroof is also visible. 

Things start to go downhill as the base is just bare of details, the taillights are half cut-off on the sides, and the sawblade wheels look rather odd on this casting.  The interior has a poor layout with four seats, though the rear seats sit far back right below the rear sunroof to allow the rear rivet post to come through where the rear seat should be.  The upright dashboard with integrated shifter in the middle is crude and sinks down to the point that the shifter is now on the floor; this would explain why most of these versions have blacked-out interiors.  Despite the crude looks it was on par, though slightly worse, than the Tomica version and then the production of the casting was so limited that it only got a few years of use before being retired early.  The 2005 version fared better with black paint, lightly tinted windows, and front and rear detailing that finally improves the look of this casting over the 2014 version.  To add to that is the Superfast version that debuted later on in an odd way: the first release was a limited one because the interior was a lighter color and that reflected on the front and rear bumpers for a rather odd look; a running change made the interior back to the gray color for a more natural look against the green color.  Here adding a few more details myself improves the casting a bit, though not as much as the black mainline version; the only new change here is using the 5-spoke Superfast wheel that looks better on this truck somehow. 

So while not the best casting it did inspire more boxy cars later on that included the Scion xB and Nissan Cube in the Matchbox line, both with limited life spans, but only the Element has the rugged chops to be considered a true SUV.