Thanks for the great link Visajet! David Pogue is one of us! I think he did a great job articulating why PHEVs aren't more popular and what a great car the Clarity is and how it is unique (only 5 passenger PHEV with a long range). My only disappointment is that he had to follow all the other reviewers and call the rear end ugly . I always thought bulging fenders were considered aggressive.
I'm willing to overlook his ugly comment for the rest of it - FIRST, he's driving MY CLARITY (gray Touring!) and the rest of his review was AWESOME. He's got a lot of following in the tech world, so this should bring a lot of attention to PHEV's and the Clarity in particular. I sure hope those numb nuts at Honda see this!
Loved the article, but not so much the comments. Am so grateful that this forum is a troll free zone. Thanks to all of you for your intelligence and civility.
David Pogue's experience is like many of ours. He was looking to buy a replacement car and the Clarity just popped out of nowhere. Although the Clarity is is a so-called green car, there's no need to bring politics into factoring how one chooses it (sadly, why is it even political to be fuel efficient?). For us, we were looking for a mid to full sized sedan that drives well, is nice inside, and comes with the latest safety features. Fuel efficiency is always a factor because who in their right mind wants to waste money? With the tax credit, state rebate, and dealer discount, our Clarity Touring cost about the same as a similarly equipped Civic. At current gasoline prices/electric rates, we will save about $800/year in fuel over our previous vehicle. I've learned that it will cost less to maintain over the long term (not much to go wrong with the electric motors, won't run the ICE too much, and easy on the brakes because of regenerative braking). Basically, we bought a big, luxurious car for the cost of a compact that keeps paying back year after year. From a pure value proposition, there's nothing else like it out there. Forget about politics, the Clarity is simply a smart buy (of course, no one's stopping you from feeling good about hurting the environment less)!
The haters and the politically skewed tend to be running amok these days. Maybe they always have and I just didn't notice it until now, but somehow they've been newly emboldened by the presence of social media and 140-character brain farts. I think most of us here know what we've gotten ourselves into, and I bet that most of us are pretty happy about it. I get that some good people are still being left out - for whatever the reasons - economically. I don't know how to fix that, but I'm pretty sure that gifting more money to the wealthiest people in the land isn't the answer. So at least I can feel "rich" while I'm driving my Clarity - even if I'm going to be in hock for the next three years as a result. LOL
I read a few of the comments suggesting using the tax credit was stealing from the government and everyone has to pay for our incentive. I wonder if they realize exactly why gas is so cheap in this country?
And it's both so much easier to spell, and much more generally useful, than floccinaucinihilipilification.
I'm so happy to find this board! Thank you, all... I'm DIGGING my new Clarity. (And YES, there are a ton of idiot trolls on Yahoo comment boards. We sigh and move on!)
Welcome to the Clarity board! Loved your video and write up. It seems that once people actually own the Clarity, they love it. You're the only reviewer I'm aware of that actually bought one so that's clearly reflected in your review. As a Clarity enthusiast, I've found this board to be intelligent, friendly, and civilized. Maybe we can teach Washington a thing or two!
Great video and write up. Being a writer in the green/plug-in space, the Clarity was a total mystery car to me too. I mean, it was their hydrogen fuel cell car nameplate for quite a while, but the move to make it a plug-in as well went under my radar. But anyway, welcome to the Forum. I hope it proves a useful resource to you.
It soitenly has for us early adopters. Glad you recognized this situation so quickly and provided some space. Thanks!