When I was looking at cars (last month

), a friend that recently was a Toyota mechanic and no works on Hondas STRONGLY advised me to look at the Scion xB over the Element, esp. the new xBs with the 2.4.
He went into details of why, which I can't remember off the top of my head. I'd rather not try to parrot what he said, as I would probably mis-state something.
(He changed dealerships as his LOCAL management at the two varied and he had a friend at the Honda one. He is not impressed with the Element, but is with the xB2. He lives in a different state than I do.)
Also, the fact that the Scion dealership is just over 20 miles away and the Honda one is over 35 miles was another factor . . .