Scotty Kilmer - Least Reliable cars and trucks of 2018

Clarity PHEV sales are huge compared with the gen-1 Insight, Honda's first experimental hybrid. Averaged over 7 years, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., sold fewer than 170 gen-1 Insights per month--at a price that was likely less than half the cost to produce the car. As with the Clarity, Honda introduced the car with a TV ad that ran just a few times. It's clear to me that Honda doesn't spend money marketing cars that it is selling for reasons other than to make a profit. The company priced these two cars to sell in the volumes they desired.

Honda did not produce enough Canadian Clarity PHEVs to satisfy a temporary artificially high demand (Ford's abolishing of a huge financial incentive in Ontario). However, the Clarity PHEV's MSRP, was not low enough to move all the cars the company brought to the US and further incentives were implemented. We beta-testers who purchased this wonderful car should be happy Honda wanted a significant number of these cars in the hands of drivers to gather the data they needed (yes, the Clarity is collecting and sending data from your car to Honda).

People complaining about no sunroofs, missing cross-traffic alerts, a lack of flashing LEDs warning about blind-spot intrusions, and steering wheels that don't radiate heat should realize that those features just didn't make the cut when Honda drew the line at how much money they were prepared to lose on each Clarity PHEV sold. Creating yet another low-volume trim level (Elite?) with all those features would raise the cost of distribution. Increasing the price by, say, another $3K for this trim level would still not make the car profitable to sell.

It will be interesting to see how Honda prices the upcoming Pilot Plug-In Hybrid. We Clarity PHEV drivers who got great deals on our high-tech cars are providing data that helped Honda design this SUV. The company will not be pricing the Pilot Plug-In Hybrid, their top-of-the-top-of-the-line vehicle, as a loss-leader. I look forward to Consumer Reports' and Scotty Kilmer's evaluations of this SUV (and I expect those evaluations and verbiage will correspond closely).

 

He is an individual with credibility in one area who is pontificating in a different area. He's like a celebrity who acts like an expert in political policy. He is using something other than his personal experience as a source, but he is not citing that source because essentially he is stealing the information for his own gain.

The problem is that a lot of folks will accept his opinion because he has credibility in a related topic, or just because "they read it on the Web". There are many Internet gurus out there spouting various flavors of advice, some of it useful and some of it harmful, and someone who is researching what model of vehicle to buy has no way of judging the reliability of a specific author. He and his ilk will influence the buying choices of people who research what they're buying.

So, sorry, in this particular case I disagree . . . he is a hack. If he wants to share his knowledge and opinions based on personal experience, or interpret other articles and attribute them in an ethical way, that's fine. But to spout "facts" based on what he has read, and not tell us the basis for his opinions is just adding to the vast amount of misinformation that floods us these days from our computer screens.

 

Well it is a valid criticism but I believe a bit overwrought. He is not stealing things. What he is doing is adding information which confirms his personal bias. His bias is based on experience with other Honda vehicles which are not the clarity.
Is anyone looking at Scotty as a guide to a new vehicle purchase....no one with a brain in their head. It is Toyota Toyota Toyota with Scotty always and forever, despite rotting out frames and this and that that he occasionally finds.
He stated recently Tesla will never make it, as if they are stuck five years past. Here are Teslas global numbers referenced just yesterday in Technica….."
’We published something like a bazillion Tesla sales charts and stats. (See “30 Nasty Charts,” for example.) But this is actually a new one. Jose Pontes of EV Volumes and CleanTechnica has his 2018 tally wrapped up and it puts the Tesla Model 3 in the #1 position globally among all plug-in vehicles.
In fact, the Model 3 was approximately 55,000 sales above the #2 BAIC EC-Series, an extremely popular Chinese model. The Model 3 gobbled 7% of the plug-in vehicle market, while the #2 EC-Series and #3 Nissan LEAF each had 4%."
Tesla fills three of the top five models by sales globally.
But as mentioned, with subscriber input, he is gradually being educated to tesla and the EV market. No offense to scotty he is a great mechanic in this he is a dino. His just two days ago in a video by a subscriber on tesla, he paraphrases with..am I wrong on the tesla? Yes he is wrong and his statements are applicable perhaps five years ago.
These are global companies and we can only venture the why's behind their marketing strategy. The ultimate aim is not the US market, it is the world.
Personally I found the clarity pretty widely available at dealers. Try to find a Hundi Ionic plug in, not possible due to battery supply issues there are simply none able to be found for sale. The Kia NIro plug in, is found here and there by dealer availability, not widespread with many dealers having none. Subaru with their new plug in crosstrek is available only in select states.
Considering how the others are marketing their EV's and plug ins, Ford is discontinuing one model, getting out of sedans in the US entirely, Chevy as well withdrawing their prime seller, I'd say it is a market in flux. All the manufacturers know what is coming, which is a vast shift to EV, but the question is internally how to manage the transition. And for most this is a international target not US. Fact is most here do not even know the second best selling EV globally is made in china, and only sold in asia. So abstract from our economic decline in comparative fashions we are kept by media. We think the US is it as to the future and growth as it was in the past. No it is not, firmly not, growth of the personal vehicle market is found in asia. Ford has stopped selling cars here...do you think they have stopped selling cars entirely.....they have not and do not plan to do so.
If the US was the ultimate aim for Honda as per the clarity, why then are they all the clarities made in Japan?
Seems to me the eventual aim of Honda with the clarity and things of similar nature is found for them a bit closer to home.
A test market perhaps in a global strategy which will dwarf that found just in the US, is my personal read.
The whole industry is moving EV, the US market does not speak of the global situation.Gross profits made by ford in selling pick em up trucks to unwitting americans here, goes where...into research to fund how to build better EV's there.
Have no doubt Honda is dead serious about the clarity. It is the future. Present US sales mean not a whole lot. This is not 1980 the US is no longer it, in a automotive fashion. A big part still but not what is coming.
Honda themselves are way beyond auto sales entirely. They sell for one, personal jet aircraft, and all sorts of things. A whole plant in NC is revolving around that. Fujini the man who runs that is key in their corporate structure, a major player. They think global, not US national.
We are ,myopic in this fashion thinking the auto world revolves around the US, It no longer does when once it did.

 

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with both of these statements.

So if he reads an article from Consumer Reports, and he basically parrots it in his YouTube video because he is biased against Honda, that's not stealing? If he really had any meaningful personal experience with the topic he's pontificating on, I'd be willing to accept what he says as adding value to the original article. I do not think that's the case.

And sorry, but the reality is that there ARE people who will use this man's YouTube video as a decision point on whether to buy a Clarity. Do they have "a brain in their head"? Maybe not, but it's YouTube videos and similar information that car buyers (and all kinds of buyers) use these days to make their buying decisions. It may not be right; it may not be logical; but it is what it is.

This is just one tiny symptom of the bigger problem that the population has become incapable of vetting what they read. "I read it on the Internet" has become the mantra for how people run their lives, and for those of use old farts who are used to the days when there were actual editors and publishers that enforced some level of quality . . . that's scary.

 

MN no offense but I claim a bit of authority in this. Why that...I am a fan and have followed Scotty for several years and watch most of his videos. The problem perhaps with American things in the politic is not the things stated, but the refusal to accept difference of qualification in things. We all think all is democratic and this fellows opinion is equal to that. Well no offense but in things of this sort we are all not equal.
Take my word on it or not, probably you will not, Scottys demographic, the people who watch him and are in the market for clarities are not depending on scotty for this decision.
He is a great mechanic and can tell at the drop of a hat what is likely wrong with any vehicle older than five years things that may stump the best of them. He is that good.
All every one who watches his channel knows his established bias for Toyota.
Of all the people who watch scotty, they are either in the industry themselves, are owners of older cars with problems, or have owned older cars with problems and have this as hobby. I watch scotty as it is a bit of a hobby. Was I in the market for a clarity...yes I was. Would I ever consider scotty a authority in this purchase...not at all. That is a absurd notion.
Clarity owners people who are concerned with the environment. This is not democratic to say nor polite....clarity owners are in general almost without exception, more intelligent than a average American and certainly more intelligent than your average scotty viewer.
My neighbor who now owns a 1992 4 by 4 chevy pickup may indeed pay attention to scotty and buy next a new ford 150 as opposed to a dodge ram based on scotty. And scotty is right in that, and they are well served in that. He provides them good advice in their world experience. Dodge sucks royally. Ford not so much. Chevy almost as bad as dodge.
But my neighbor is not going to buy a clarity, it simply is not on his radar. Nor is a tesla nor anything that does not affirm a certain male American image. They are not buying function but image.
Viewership is also by the numbers but not democratic. Scotty cannot be considered separate from his viewership. He simply is not watched by any prospective clarity owners for any determination of purchase of any sort. Some on this side watch as I do, tesla owners as well, but it is more as watching the art of a great mechanic not for specific advise on what vehicle to buy.
So no offense but you are wrong in that. I say show me one owner of a similar vehicle that changed from clarity as choice to other on the basis of scotty.....I will wait forever for that as none exist. Not even a single one and he has millions in viewership.

I personally went away from clarity as I live at altitude suffer very cold temps and they simply will not function below certain temps I see here every year. Read your owners manual if you think I am making that up. For a clarity buyer it is function not image.
My neighbor he is well served by scotty advice. This pick up or that, scotty's opinion is well honed and valid. This ev Plug in or hybrid.....no, it is not scotty nor his audience their concerns at all. Those like me who are buying things do not depend on scotty to provide things he cannot, good opinion on EV's of any sort or description.
Scotty with his bias supports status quo in general, which is adverse to things like tesla and the electric vehicle market at large.
Stealing or some other nefarious things are not a part in it. He is a old guy, a mechanic who lives in Houston Texas in a old run down house. Are old mechanics who live in Houston texas adverse to new things...yes they are. Will they pick and choose things to support their bias..sure they will. It is however not stealing.
Scotty may change, he is a intelligent guy. Things seem to suggest he is. Will he then be able to provide good advice on EV purchases..quite probably. Can he now..heck no.
To add scottys bias for Toyota is so prelevent and well known, he is subject to humorous satire(kidding) every time anyone in this nitch of you tubers, car repair guys and gals, mentions his name. He is also however widely respected as a great mechanic.
Scotty advice, buy a Toyota preferably a used one. A camry, not a hybrid EV plug in or any of that. He and his wife travel in Houston probably 6k a year, if that. So for him not a bad choice. He uses by majority rentals on his various jaunts. So you want anything other than a camry used to boot...don't ask scotty what to buy, as that is it always.
Who goes to people who have such narrow focus for advice on cutting edge technological devices purchases….no one.
A Toyota truck first then ford. I know scotty well. You may or may not admit you don't so much.So hence I claim qualification you do not hold. I know scotty. Recognizing qualification or never recognizing qualification, is the larger point expressed. Years ago many admitted they did not know politics really, just not informed. Now, rarely is that stated. Which to the greater point stated ...the problem. A consequence of democracy or freedom one step to far extended perhaps.
A new review of this particular video shows this. Scotty makes the claims of unreliable status based on his past customers experiences with their Honda hybrids.
As this is a hybrid plug in, with that as focus, not a secondary add on hybrid to a conventional vehicle, we can probably infer he means the earlier delegated hybrid vehicles. They are the most similar vehicles produced by Honda.
But in this specific there is no carryover, as this clarity is a new model, not a extension of a older model line. It is a new technological format a large sedan with a electric based engine with gas as assist. Honda has simply never fielded such a vehicle and as result the most we can say on the past is that it is past.
So scotty can not draw from his experience. A new vehicle the cards are still out.
We cannot say this gm vehicle is going to be the same as that gm vehicle simply on the basis of experience with Gm. Products differ and produce different reliability result.
A prius yes there is a product extension and expected result.This is new.
Does scotty know of this distinction, I'd say likely not.

 

You miss my point. I am not concerned about the people who regularly follow Scotty, as that is a tiny percentage of potential buyers of the Clarity. I am concerned about the majority of potential buyers who, like me, are not "car people".

How do we decide which car to buy? We do research on the Internet by doing a search on "plug in hybrid" or, later in the process, "Honda Clarity". We are the folks who are going to see Scotty and, with no background on whether this individual is credible on the specific topic of the Clarity, take his words at face value and use them in our decision process with the same attention level as other information from a more credible source.

Scotty is a symptom of a serious problem that we have today - there's a LOT of information available and it has differing levels of accuracy. It is very difficult to sift through this stuff and figure out who to believe.

 

Well to a extend it has always been buyer beware in the car market. Back in the day I distinctly remember one car magazine calling the Chevy citation a revolutionary car, as it was front wheel drive. Car of the year I think they named it. Truth was it was a piece of junk. None of them survived, as they all broke down well before their time.
That was typical of the industry when they controlled all the information. When Tesla first came out, a BBC outlet actually ran down the battery to claim it failed the range stated. How much worse is that a trusted source doing that than a Scotty Kilmer some mechanic saying things?

Far worse by my read, as they are naturally considered trustworthy. So yes we must now qualify things. But considering this past we are much better for it. This video clarity excepted, most of it seems substantiated by other source. Dodge ram pick ups reliability sucks from various sources found. Chevy by some authority or other is claiming they are more reliable than any other truck maker, a patent lie that.
So yes this is cautionary, this tale.
A person just coming upon Scotty's videos, well of course they have to research the site to see the source. Who would not do that in todays you tube world? A well known you tuber has for years claimed all the shootings of the kids in conn were all actors.....made up the boatload of it, including this thing in Florida a few months back(he is being sued now). Pedophelia run by a presidential candidate out of all things, this ring, a pizza shop in Maryland. Some loon acted on that showed up with a gun. Bill Maher is now killing children and sucking their glands to get high...did you know that? You tube fact.

So yes we must check things but to my opinion that belabors the obvious.
If people are just accepting all things said on you tube(you may be right in that), there is a problem, it is not with you tube, but as I have mentioned, the inability to discriminate and establish likely qualification. The education system has clearly failed. But that is not you tubes fault. They teach memorization, this system, not how to qualify truth from untruth. Which is more important? If you are trained to only have expectations of selling burgers for a living, I suppose the memorization of a order is way way important. For the rest of us qualification is the thing, not memorization.

Just came from checking you tube and guess what..scotty has another video on Toyota. Do I have to watch it? I already know what it says. But how much research could it possibly endeavor to see Scotty on Toyota is biased? It takes by my guess, about ten minutes to find that out. Reading the titles of the videos would about cover it.
You would never just see scottys video and then go make a buy determination on that basis. It just never would happen. We can afford to just follow this politic or that, but when it comes to real money, buying a new car, truck, it is down to business we are.
Intelligent folk. Like I mention some buy on image and get image and poor choice of vehicle as result. But those are not clarity buyers. Very rare that in EV, even tesla buyers, but some do buy for the elite image, a few.
Those buying a image not a car, get sold a thing, and stolen from. That is not scotty doing that.

No offense to you, I am certain you have this capacity but this..."It is very difficult to sift through this stuff and figure out who to believe." is a thing we all need to learn in gradeschool. How to do this. It is really not all that difficult.
It could be reduced to a formula, which could be taught. But none of us are taught that most important thing, how to sift and figure. To old I guess we cannot learn it.
That is the problem, to easy we want things. Yes finding truth requires effort sifting and figuring always.
I failed miserably personally academically. I could not do that most important thing well, memorize useless information. In life I did know how to sift and figure. I still cannot memorize useless things. But I have never had to take burger orders, so perhaps that I may never do. I am just not suited to that.
Blame scotty for people lacking the skill to sift and figure....no not for me that. Expect that is not your meaning as well nor is that your intention.

 

If Scotty did attribute his view of the Clarity, at least in part to Consumer Reports- it would probably have less, not more credibility with many of his his viewers. Which given that IMHO, CR is one of the most objective sources for car buying advice- speaks volumes.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

Scotty is in a bit of a pickle there. Why that..he stated multiple times on various videos how the magazines and writers can be bought for a song and are not to be trusted.
So if you watch this one carefully, he notes the past experiences of his customers. Problem is quite obviously this is a all new vehicle with a car that honda has never really ventured before(in the US), a full size from the ground up electric first vehicle, the gas part really supplemental for the electric main mover. So there is no track record applicable to it. Reliability then is a guess. Problems..yes it has been mentioned having difficulty with a upload of a app to the main screen, is way different than a transmission that does not work. So some of this reliability is subject to qualification.
A brand new vehicle with all new technology a thing like that, qualification becomes increasing difficult.