Why do we like the Element so much? Well for one, anything that isn't just another CR-V is immediately more interesting—though the Element was based on the CR-V platform. The Element's rugged demeanor, both inside and out, defined it as a great soft-roader, as well as a great starter vehicle for a small family that doesn't want what their parents drove, but might still want a practical interior that's fairly easy to clean.

The current 2023 Honda CR-V takes a lot of notes from the old Element's package, as it's now a sportier, more off-road oriented design that's more truck-like than the CR-V has ever been before. Honda could take it further for a new Element SUV. We want to see the return of the black plastic fender cladding, the boxy silhouette, split-opening doors, and the once-standard 5-speed manual option while we're at it.

That's exactly what we instructed our render artist, Abimelec Design, to present to us in these renderings, but just out of curiosity, we also threw some images and prompts into an artificial intelligence generator to see what it would spit out, and the results were very adorable: