Scale from 1 to 10?

That may be the case. It wasn’t clear to me in your first post. I took it as scoring the Clarity on its own merits. If it has flaws, it has flaws. Then we start chipping away at the perfect score of 10.

If we’re going to compare it to other cars, perhaps we should only compare it to PHEV’s. But it’s your survey.

The neck snapping, six-figure, turbo EV can’t make it to Vegas without a stop at the Bun Boy, so even that dynamo doesn’t score a 10.

 

2 years ago when I was looking I was really interested in the Kia Niro EV as well. But it was nowhere to be found.

 

I would give it a 9.5 as well. It loses 0.5 points due to the lack of modern rear cross-traffic sensors. I'd buy it again in an instant. The smoothness and quiet of an electric car are wonderful. Driving the Clarity is like being in a Library or Concert Hall on wheels. I would never, never go back to an ICE. My wife's high-end Lexus is noisy by comparison.
My main wish is now for an electric convertible.

 

Great, but still a concept? I have been watching the Maita EV conversion on YouTube at .

They are close to episode 8, but the car is drivable already.

 

When I first got the Clarity, I was embarrassed to have people ride with me: The noise from the ICE was ridiculous. Car rating a 2.0 - It sounded like a Yugo.

My noise problem has been resolved with premium gas, but the rpm’s still go higher than necessary. The hybrid management system suffers from a tiny engine, but does not take advantage of the enormous battery. The engine rpm go high, when there is still plenty of battery to assist with power to the car. Engine warmup time allows the battery to drain, and the engine tries to make up that lost charge.

Managing EV/ HV mode to avoid angry bees is a hassle. I like driving automatic transmissions because I don't have to worry about how the car is doing.

Now, I would give the Clarity about a 7 on a generic car rating. If it was not an electric, it would be rated lower: I give it some points because I feel better ‘saving the planet’.

I bought my Clarity on a whim, but I generally consider a car a utility: I just expect to turn the key and go. I had a few surprises that anyone that researched electric cars before buying may have considered. My car is a PHEV, so some of the problems are mitigated for me, but could have been a disaster if I had gone BEV. (Some of these are specific to my car, but even those represent an issue for electric vehicles in general.) The feeling that I am ‘saving the planet’ still offsets some of the negatives.

Surprises for a new electric car owner:

Good things:
Charging at home is easy and saves trips to the gas station.
Charging at home is often cheaper than gas. Time-of-use rates can be a real advantage.
There are some free public charging stations
Cost of charging at home is ‘lost’ in the monthly electric bill
There are apps that show you where the public charging stations are
Brake pads last longer
It is a car, and works like you would expect a car to work.
An electric car does not need oil changes, or other routine maintenance
Electric motors are quieter than gas engines.

Bad things:
The car has an electric heater that uses battery power, reducing range of the car.
The battery is less effective in low temperatures, and cannot be used in extreme cold.
The battery is limited in high temperatures.
The range is improved by dramatic car body aerodynamics. (Roof racks and back racks disturb these.)
The range is improved with special tires, and they do not have great wet or snow traction
The car is not rated for towing.
Battery charging takes a long time (Hours or tens of minutes, not minutes or seconds)
Battery chargers have to be specially installed.
It is inconvenient to use the car for trips longer than the battery range.
Public charging stations can be very expensive.
Public charging stations may not be available when you get there. (ICE’d, broken, in-use)
Charging at home is not free, and cost can be close to, or more than, gasoline cost.
Reduced range, due to cold temperatures, makes fuel more expensive per mile.
Regeneration is limited when the battery is full
It is a heavy car, due to the weight of the battery
The tires are more expensive than other small cars.
Brake pads and suspension components are bigger than typical small cars (weight of car).
Public charging stations are not as common as gas stations.
Lighter body materials (plastic) are used to reduce weight, but they are not as strong as the old steel bodies.
Highway range is less than city range, and drops with increased speed.
Road noise can be greater because the car is so heavy.
Regeneration control is a complex topic, and I don't always agree with the car design.
LED's are used to reduce electrical use, and they are very expensive to replace.
High torque of the electric motor can wear out tires, suspension components, and engine mounts.

 

Bill: All are good points. My comments were based on my particular usage pattern:
- I live in a fairly warm place, with no snow and very rare freezes.
- My car is indoor garaged and always plugged into the level 1 (110v) charger.
- My indicated EV range each morning ranges from about 45 M (cold day) to 60 M (warm day.)
- Most of my trips are about 15-20 M RT. A few are 100 M RT. I once went 1000 M RT. (For long trips we use my Wife's ICE car.)
- I always leave the car set to Economy.
- I never hear the ICE. My gas use is trivial.

So you can see my use is very non-rigorous. For that pattern, the car is perfect.

 

Looking through the earlier posts points out that personal preferences vary greatly. My wife and I have a 2018 Touring and think very highly of it. It suits our driving situation very, very well - mostly short trips (we rarely buy gas, but do want the available range with gas), we charge at home (and have a solar PV system), don't need towing capability and our hot-rodding days are over! Our previous PHEV was a 2012 Prius and this car beats it in all respects and in 2018, the newer model Prius did did not have anywhere near the features of the Clarity.

 

My kingdom for a volume knob!! I can’t count the number of times I started the car and music started crazy loud because of that 2-3 sec lag with the volume clicker.

 

The question was value. For me, it’s a 9.

For me, the decision to lease the Clarity was mostly financial. The lease rate was really low. It was the first car I ever leased as usually leases are not smart financially for people that keep their cars for how long I generally do.

One thing that did not work out financially was the idea that I would be a lot of money using electricity vs. gas. When I bought it, gas was at $3 per gallon, and trending upward. Also, I live in CT which has one of the highest electricity rates in the country. With gas prices where they are now, and our high electric rates, most driving is cheaper in HV mode. For states with much lower electric rates, that’s a really big plus.

Overall, I really like the car a lot. I wanted a bigger comfortable car. I wanted a full EV, but I don’t want to plan longer trips around charging stations. This car is the best of both worlds. Our second car winding up being an EV (Hyundai Ionic Electric) that we can work for about 95% of our driving trips. I almost never use public chargers.

As with any car, there are small things that bother me. The poor quality of the backup camera bothers me every time I put it in reverse. I wish it has side warning systems, instead of just the camera on one side. I wish there was a wider range of regen control. I wish there was more EV information, wish you could set a maximum charge percentage. Various other minor things. My biggest criticism of the car is the engine noise in local traffic when you have no charge left. I love the drive of the car in EV mode, I think the engine noise is fine in HV on the highway. I don’t enjoy driving the car non-highway in HV or when battery is depleted. I simply don’t know why they could not manage the high revving better.

Looks wise, overall I think it’s good. I don’t mind the front end. I HATE the wheel skirts. I chose black to try and minimize the look of the skirts. I will avoid black cars in the future, as I don’t enjoy keeping them clean.

Lastly, as the saying goes, put your money where your mouth is. At the end of the lease, I will be purchasing the car. The $13,XXX purchase price seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

I really like it as a car.
I would prefer a longer battery life (I get 35 winter, 52 in summer; but I have a home charger, and 2020 has been a low-travel year), but it was the longest available and affordable hybrid when I leased mine in 2018. On first drive, I thought it was a little stodgy in it's handling, but once I got used to the battery weight so low below the center of gravity, I fell in love with it's ability to hold the road. Very comfortable cockpit & seats (I have the Touring model). The drive controls are weirdly space-consuming, but you get used to it.
It is a BIG sedan. Most people don't buy sedans anymore, but I like them. Huge roof surface for my bike racks. Wish Honda made a hitch for it, so I could mount a bike rack on that. I would not tow anything heavy.
Honda has basically abandoned the car in New England.
When my lease ends in a year, I'll certainly look at alternatives, but if Clarity holds its price point, I might do another.

 

I wouldn't call it a 10, nor the height of automotive excitement but it's pretty darned good for what it is. Running costs are very cheap. I cannot believe how many auto magazines rag on about the lack of volume control on the touch screen, when the steering wheel control for volume is much safer and intuitive.

I agree with Jim1960 about the road handling. With the low center of gravity, this thing really holds the road on twisty mountainous roads. I'd be barfing in the SUV's that I have owned.

Since I cannot charge the car at home, I drive mostly using gas. The biggest irritation by far for me is the sound of the engine. Does switching to premium gas really make a noticeable difference? If not that, has anyone tried adding soundproofing?

 

I found the premium gas made a big difference. I would suggest trying one tank of the best gas you can find (91 or 93 octane), and report back your results. It is a fairly cheap test.

 

I'm in the minority amongst the PHEV fan bois, but I will never buy another car with an ICE of any sort. If I was to compare the Clarity PHEV it to other PHEVs, it would be a solid 8 or 9. Compared to all the other choices out there, it is maybe a 2.

I have no desire to haul around an ICE for occasional use and sacrifice electric range to do so.
I don't want to mess with oil changes and all the other maintenance and parts that wear out on an ICE. The time spent filling up at gas stations, trips to the dealer or other shop for routine service far exceed the excess time spent stopping on road trips in any given year.
Where I live it is cheaper to operate on electric than gas, and so much more convenient that going to the gas station.
Our 42 mpg gas guzzler will soon be gone and our 4 wheeled vehicles will be ICE free (the motorcycles are a different story).
YMMV

 

I really think this may vary by car. My hearing is still fine (from what I can tell) and I haven't ever really had enough engine noise from the Clarity to complain about. Often it is so quiet that it is hard to hear it running, and when it revs up, it still isn't really noisy. My previous PHEV to the Clarity was a 2012 Volt, and that thing was loud when you ran the engine after depleting the battery. I finally figured out that it was much better to run the ICE before depleting the battery and that helped a bunch to cut the noise. I'd say my 2019 Volt is slightly noisier than the Clarity when the ICE is running, but it isn't too bad either. My wife drives that car and she never runs the ICE until the battery is depleted, so I don't have a good comparison to know if it is quieter running the ICE before battery depletion, but I suspect it is. Also, you can tell that I seldom (pretty much never) run the ICE on the Clarity with the battery depleted.

 

Torklift makes the Ecohitch for the Clarity.

 

This has been my experience since I started using premium gas. If my car had sounded like this since new, I would not be able to understand the noise or angry bee complaints: But there seems to be plenty of noise complaints.

 

@ClarityBill, I wasn't trying to dismiss your or anyone else's noise complaints. As you say, there are lots of owners that have complained. I can only say that I have never experienced this behavior. I think that there are a few others that have not observed the "angry bees". I am glad that for those that are plagued with this, that the premium gas is helpful. I've driven my Clarity about 40% ICE, 60% EV, and like I said, I probably only have a very few miles on the ICE with the battery depleted, so I don't have a lot of experience doing that. I might (maybe even probably would) have engine noise complaints if I did that. And also, I haven't used the ICE to climb any large grades either on long trips. That has probably made my life more quiet. The terrain here is pretty flat compared to a lot of the country, especially when traveling south towards the beach which has been a lot of my highway driving. So maybe it doesn't necessarily vary by car, but more by how owners need to use their cars. Regardless, I apologize if it seemed like I was dismissing your position/statements.

 

I have wanted an EV for a decade. I found a 2018 Clarity with 5K miles on it for a great price. It's already my favorite car. I had a 2002 first generation Prius I used in a delivery job, and just traded in my 2015 Accord Hybrid. The fact that this car weighs 400 pounds more than the Accord but gets better hybrid mileage is what caused me to grab this car. Accord got around 42 mpg on average, and I am not an aggressive driver. I'm taking the Clarity on a 2200 mile road trip next week and can't wait. So far I give it a 10.

 

Here goes....
It is unfair to compare this PHEV to anything but another PHEV. There are very few out there. If you're not happy, why not spend for the BMW 330E which has a starting price of only $44,550 and an EPA electric range of 22 miles. Can you imagine what real world winter electric range is for this vehicle? How about BMW priced maintenance? And you will be hard pressed to even find one at that price. Typical BMW policy is to load them up with thousands of options. However, above all, it does have the BMW cachet.

None of the PHEV's out there come close to the Clarity's mileage. The interior is pretty decent, and not full of hard plastic like in most other vehicles. And don't compare it to a Tesla, which is a full electric, and real world will cost a lot more money. Some of us need the flexibility of gas and electric. And don't compare it to an SUV, which typically gets half or less gas mileage.

You got a large, solid, dependable sedan which is incredibly cheap on gas, or runs quietly on electric. And, in big cities, gets you into the carpool lane solo.... Yes, I don't love everything about the car, but it's very good for what it is, a Honda quality PHEV sedan.

And yes, I am bugged by the ICE noise. I can live with all the other nitpicks in design/engineering.