Clarity 1 Year / 29,000 Mile Update

  • Thread starter Thread starter Viking79
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 18
  • Views Views 3K
V

Viking79

Well-Known Member
Can't believe we have driven this far in the year (bought 2017.12.14), but anyway, here is my update:
https://carswithplugs.com/2018/12/16/honda-clarity-phev-1-year-update/

I really love the car, not that it matters as I am not the primary driver. What really matters is my wife loves the car and really happy she got rid of the Quest minivan we had before. It all started when she borrowed my '12 Volt for some highway trips. Glad we can do our part to save 1200 gallons of gas a year (at the rate we are putting on miles).

Given the decision to buy one again I would. Sure, I would like a Model 3 Long Range but how I would want one equipped would add about $23,000 to what we paid for the Clarity. My personal opinion is that the Clarity is one of the most responsible "Green" family vehicle you can buy in the $40,000 and less price category. I estimate my mileage split is about 17,000 EV and 12,000 efficient gas miles (roughly). Cars the like the Bolt EV clearly wouldn't have worked for our driving style.
 
I'm surprised by your 4 oil changes in one year given it uses synthetic. How many of your 30,000 miles are on gas, again? (I estimate about 13,000 from the 300 gallons of gas)


"The total service costs have been about $250 for 4 oil changes (full synthetic) and tire rotations."
Or did you mean 4 services, 2 of them oil changes and two tire rotations?
 
Last edited:
Probably 12,000 or 13,000 on gas (winter mpg last winter when engine running is lower). Assuming 3.5 mi/kWh indicates about 17,000 EV miles too, which aligns well with gas estimate of about 12,000 miles.

Agree, it is too often, just going by computer until warranty is up. Will drop to twice per year after warranty is up in spring. It seems to be triggering at 3,000 gas miles or so.
 
Nice write up, thank you for taking the time to do this. One point you mention: Even on my highway driving, I've been staying in ECON and HV mode. And yes, I've noticed slow response to ACC that you mention. It kinda sounds to me like there isn't a big hit to using Sport vs. Hybrid mode. Is that correct?

My biggest concern is that even on 200 mile trip where I religiously hit "HV" before starting out I'm losing battery charge. I know the car tries to keep the battery charge in HV mode but in my case, it simply cannot. It drops over the miles as I go. Anyway, I don't know if Sport would make that effect worse or if it is same as HV in this regard. I like to preserve electric charge to avoid the "angry bees" sound when my estimated range goes to zero.

Around town I don't get the range others in this forum get. My car currently gets estimated range of about 30 miles on a full charge (with daytime temps near 50 F, overnight about 40 F). So don't know to what degree that affects things. I don't think all Clarity owners got a battery in the same condition.

-Dan

PS: I am extremely pleased with the car. Yesterday I drove from Eugene, OR to Portland OR (about 220 miles total) with 37MPG and this with cruise control set to 80MPH (with ACC so I wasn't always doing 80 of course). My last trip to Portland, I sped less, and got 41MPG. So the mileage estimates they give us have definitely been real for me.
 
The main issue with using Sport on highway is forgetting to set back to Econ at end of trip :)

Sport is really no different than other modes other than accelerator and maybe steering response. As long as you drive carefully it won't hurt economy. HV should keep charge, but maybe not if full. I set to HV when it gets to half or so. I haven't tried setting when full. You will lose some at gas stops (especially forgetting to engage it for a couple miles), but I probably had 25% left towards end of 800 mile drive.
 
Viking79 said:
Can't believe we have driven this far in the year (bought 2017.12.14), but anyway, here is my update:
https://carswithplugs.com/2018/12/16/honda-clarity-phev-1-year-update/

I really love the car, not that it matters as I am not the primary driver. What really matters is my wife loves the car and really happy she got rid of the Quest minivan we had before. It all started when she borrowed my '12 Volt for some highway trips. Glad we can do our part to save 1200 gallons of gas a year (at the rate we are putting on miles).

Given the decision to buy one again I would. Sure, I would like a Model 3 Long Range but how I would want one equipped would add about $23,000 to what we paid for the Clarity. My personal opinion is that the Clarity is one of the most responsible "Green" family vehicle you can buy in the $40,000 and less price category. I estimate my mileage split is about 17,000 EV and 12,000 efficient gas miles (roughly). Cars the like the Bolt EV clearly wouldn't have worked for our driving style.
Click to expand...
for new readers you can get a touring model in most states for ~32K and then get at least $7500 and up to $10,000 off with Fed and state rebates- so real cost for this amazing car could be $22,000.
 
LAF said:
for new readers you can get a touring model in most states for ~32K and then get at least $7500 and up to $10,000 off with Fed and state rebates- so real cost for this amazing car could be $22,000.
Click to expand...
Yes, I sort of wish I had waited to get a better deal, but at the same time the car cut my expenses by about $2,000 over the van in the same year, so it is probably a bit of a wash.
 
Great write up, @Viking79. That's an amazing number of miles in a year!

One thing I noted.....you mentioned active noise cancellation with speakers playing a sound to cancel road noise. My car does not have that.
 
LAF said:
and then get at least $7500 and up to $10,000 off with Fed and state rebates-
Click to expand...
I am quite aware of the $7500 federal tax credit, but is there a place I can go to find out about any other rebates? I am not aware of any active state rebates that apply to me. (And unfortunately my electric utility does not have any time-related rate or an electric-car program.)
 
Sandroad said:
Great write up, @Viking79. That's an amazing number of miles in a year!

One thing I noted.....you mentioned active noise cancellation with speakers playing a sound to cancel road noise. My car does not have that.
Click to expand...
This thread seems to indicate the Clarity has ANC: https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/audio-upgrade-for-clarity.2221/
If I am wrong though I will fix that, anyone confirm if all models have ANC or is it limited to maybe Touring? Specifically, post #56 in that mentions that the user was wrong and had to unplug the ANC connector for the audio upgrade to work.

Yes, too many miles, I can't believe how fast they have racked up :) I forgot powertrain warranty is longer, they must want me to do another year of oil changes, looks like powertrain is covered to 5/60,000.
 
Viking79 said:
This thread seems to indicate the Clarity has ANC: https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/audio-upgrade-for-clarity.2221/
If I am wrong though I will fix that, anyone confirm if all models have ANC or is it limited to maybe Touring? Specifically, post #56 in that mentions that the user was wrong and had to unplug the ANC connector for the audio upgrade to work.

Yes, too many miles, I can't believe how fast they have racked up :) I forgot powertrain warranty is longer, they must want me to do another year of oil changes, looks like powertrain is covered to 5/60,000.
Click to expand...

According to Honda sales info, the Pilot, Odyssey, Accord, CRV, and Ridgeline are the models with ANC. My Clarity Touring does not have it. I’ve driven cars (Honda Crosstour and Ford Fusion Energi) that have ANC and it’s amazing. I really wish Honda had put it in the Clarity.
 
FWIW, my Touring has what appears to be a microphone mount in the headliner over the rear seat slightly to the passenger side. Don’t know if it’s active or not or even wired up, but it’s there.
 
VIKINg79, thanks for this write up. Very well done and an informative shared experience from traveling close to 30,000 miles in about year.

In my close to 12,000 miles in 10 months, much of your experience is similar to what I experienced with the Clarity. With that being said, there is one huge aspect of the mighty Clarity (in my opinion) that gets very little, to no mention in reviews of this car as it relates to the extensive use of aluminum in its undercarriage and outer shell. I suspect because it has nothing to do with direct driving or technology the owners are engaged with. For a car at this price point to use so much aluminum in it's design and not share its platform with other honda products, other than Clarity fuel cell and full BEV, is amazing. I suspect in 10 years when most cars in the north have rust, the claritys frame and body should remain solid.

The Clarity is the best overall car I've own so far and thank you again Viking79 for taking the time to write up your experience for the larger Clarity community.
 
Viking79 said:
The tech documents in the linked thread clearly show the ANC connections in the Clarity PHEV. Look at posts 56 and 57. I wonder if there is a way to test it.

Sales information in printed and web sources has been wrong on Clarity PHEV on numerous occasions.

This link also references the ANC in the diagnostics menu. https://www.insideevsforum.com/comm...ty-hidden-diagnostics-and-settings-menu.3310/
Click to expand...

Hmmm.......now I wonder if my car has ANC and it's not working? Or maybe it's just for certain frequencies (low) and works only when the sound system is being used? I have to delve into this a bit more and retract my general statement that my Clarity Touring does not have ANC.

Anyway, thanks again for the writeup; my wife appreciated it too, since she's the primary driver around town.
 
I am curious too, maybe set a bluetooth speaker in the car and use a phone app to generate a low frequency through the speaker? See if it gets canceled/muffled? It seems designed for lower frequency. I was trying to think of ways to test this... :)
 
Nemesis said:
there is one huge aspect of the mighty Clarity (in my opinion) that gets very little, to no mention in reviews of this car as it relates to the extensive use of aluminum in its undercarriage and outer shell.
Click to expand...
Not only the extensive use of aluminum (which I appreciate in my all-aluminum 2006 Insight), but also the innovative and expensive high-strength steel found in the Clarity.

z3-high-tensile-steel.jpg
 
Exactly, the build quality is high end luxury in terms of strength and being high tech. I want to see IIHS ratings on it, hopefully they test it soon. I should go add some of that stuff to my review update, there was so much that I didn't want to get overly long. I will try to add some of my own pictures too.

The Clarity is in the shop getting the door repaired (where it was backed into). The 2017 Accord EX-L V6 loaner is pretty nice too, my wife says she likes the power, but is complaining that it is gas and doesn't get good gas mileage and the transmission is jerky (i.e., it is a multi-gear automatic and it actually shifts).
 
Last edited:
Nemesis said:
VIKINg79, thanks for this write up. Very well done and an informative shared experience from traveling close to 30,000 miles in about year.

In my close to 12,000 miles in 10 months, much of your experience is similar to what I experienced with the Clarity. With that being said, there is one huge aspect of the mighty Clarity (in my opinion) that gets very little, to no mention in reviews of this car as it relates to the extensive use of aluminum in its undercarriage and outer shell. I suspect because it has nothing to do with direct driving or technology the owners are engaged with. For a car at this price point to use so much aluminum in it's design and not share its platform with other honda products, other than Clarity fuel cell and full BEV, is amazing. I suspect in 10 years when most cars in the north have rust, the claritys frame and body should remain solid.

The Clarity is the best overall car I've own so far and thank you again Viking79 for taking the time to write up your experience for the larger Clarity community.
Click to expand...
The Clarity, basically identical, is sold in Japan for US$55,000. The Japanese HR-V (called the Vezel) stickers for less in Japan than the US and comes better equipped so Japanese cars don't generally cost more there. Thus, given the extensive engineering and premium materials used to build the Clarity, $55,000 probably represents a price point where Honda can make a profit. They are very likely selling at a loss at $37,000. That North Americans can buy one for less than $25,000 after incentives and discounts makes the Clarity the biggest automotive bargain out there today. I love mine and have not had a single problem (I don't consider the HV estimate issue to be a real problem) after a full year of ownership. In fact, it has exceeded my unreasonably high expectations.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top