Honda Element - underpowered and noisy or not?

Greetings,

I've been reading a number of usenet and magazine articles to get the
scoop on the Element's engine and highway wind noise, and I'm reading
all kinds of opinions.
One magazine says that the main major downside with the Element is the
amount of wind noise at highway speeds, in the 60 to 70mph range even.
I've also read how people are very suprised to find it so quiet for
such a boxy vehicle.
On a side note, I've also read that it eats tires and to avoid the
noisy Good Year tires (I'd probably slap on Michelins if that's
possible, I think it's nuts of trust the unworthy Good Year brand).

So, my question to Element owners. What about wind noise at around
70mph. What about wind sensitivity? If it's windy out, does it gets
pushed from side to side a lot, because of the boxyness?
What about performance? I've read that it actually outperforms many
V6 SUV's, at 8.4 seconds from 0 to 60 (pretty darn good!).

When you remove the back seat, what's the maximum length of a flat box
(an Ikea desk in a flat box for instance) that fits?
What actual gas mileage have people been getting? I'm reading you
should expect 25mpg on the highway, that's kinda all right at best I
think.

Thanks for any feedback in advance.
I've owned 3 civic's in the past, and find Honda engineering
outstanding, and I look forward to drive a Honda again.

 

goto a dealer and take one for a test drive on the highway, then you know
for sure =)

 

wrote in @posting.google.com:

I'd have to think... we have the roof racks with bike racks installed
right now and they whistle. (It's the roof rack that's whistling; we took
the rubber strip oout when we installed the bike racks this spring and
now we can tell how fast we're going by the pitch But I don't
remember it being particularly noisy.

It gets pushed around a bit more than it's predecessor, a 2000 Civic. I
thought it was less than one would expect looking at it, though.

Haven't had any problems passing competitors - erm, other drivers - on
the highway.

I want to say it's approximately 6' but I don't know off the top of my
head.

It's a fun vehicle to have, especially coming from a history of small
cars (Civic, Saturn SL, Accord, VW Golf). It's easy to clean out (you
can't just hose it out but it's almost as easy) and it's different. And
I'm 6'2" and I fit into each of the seats without any issues. Very
important...

-Neil