I’ve been driving the 2018 Clarity for 6000 miles now. Came from a GMC Terrain and a Buick Enclave.
My impressions:
Car is the most quiet car I have ever owned. You can literally whisper, and you can hear each other.
Car spooks people out when you get in it, and drive away, without a car starting noise.
Car drives like a sports car. The flat suspension and the weight of the battery combine to make it a cornering beast. Has really good, but not Mustang 5.0 pep off the line. I regularly spin the front wheels if I am not paying attention.
Very good accelleration.
I thought I would be bumbed by the lack of lane change assist, but I actually have fallen in love with lane view. Its main advantage is when you are getting off the freeway on a high speed ramp, and must see way behind you to see if someone is speeding toward you on the access road. The more common “no yield to ramp” exits we have now in Texas do not force the access road to yeild to you. When you must turn right at the corner, you have to cross quite a few lanes. This feature makes this childs play. You not only can see what is next to you, you can see way behind you in the lane you are moving to. Much, much more safe, from my opinion. Has already saved my bacon.
I was hoping for lumbar support, but have not missed it. I have driven to Houston from DFW twice in the last 2 weeks with never a care for my back. The seats are well made.
I wish it had a heated steering wheel, but the heated seats work great.
The thing I miss is the opportunity to upgrade the car wirelessly, like the Tesla. The link is there, but I don’t think anyone at Honda is doing this. What a waste. I have lots of improvements to the display which I could offer.
I constanly get compliments on the car. “What is this? I have never seen one of these before” is a common refrain. All of them think it is pretty.
The need for an oil change at 6000 miles was a surprise. It has not run the engine but for about 1000 of those miles. I would like to see seperate odometers for the car and the motor. (Only increment it when the motor is on). They tell me this is a “break in” oil change, and is free, and the next ones should be much further apart.
All in all, this is the best car I have ever owned. Comfort, luxurious, safe, freaking drives itself (almost) with lane assist and adaptive Cruise, corners, acceleration, oh, and I buy 3 gallons of gas every 2 weeks. In Texas. In DFW. Crazy good.