Clarity a month in, vs. Prius Prime.

atc98092 said:
I looked at the Clarity, but two things kept me from pulling the trigger. One was the horrendous drone when the ICE started and revved to a ridiculous RPM. It settled down and wasn't too annoying until I tried climbing a long hill. Note that this was all with an uncharged battery. I found another dealer that had one with about a 1/2 charge, and it became a completely different car. I was giving it serious thought, but then I folded the seats down to see how much cargo space was available. I was shocked to see a small opening, rather than having a wide open space between the trunk and the rear seat area. This made it completely unacceptable for me, as a flat, long storage area is something I have to have.
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Dealers are notorious for not charging the Clarity batteries, which means not only does it have 0 EV range but likely the battery is depleted several percent below what it would normally be, thus resulting in some unpleasant test drives that are not what would be experienced in normal usage even when you get to 0 EV range. My Clarity for example I really don't notice when I run out of EV range unless I happen to look at the display. Or when the light turns green and I step on the accelerator and hear the gas engine (at normal volume) and I realize that I am no longer in EV.

Certainly cargo space is an individual requirement. But it sounds like there is probably no non-hatchback car that would work for you, as any sedan with a trunk that I have seen only has a small pass through. The Clarity pass through is actually larger than some sedans that I have driven as rentals, and some sedans don't even have a pass through. Again not questioning your need for a wider opening but I suspect you need a hatchback.
 
When my Passat seats were folded down, the opening was pretty large. But yes, you are correct that a hatchback or wagon fits better. That's why I ended up with a Niro PHEV. With the Niro, I too have trouble telling if the engine has engaged if I'm traveling at higher speeds. Around town it's pretty obvious. I just wish I had about 10 more miles EV range with the Niro. At least for this time of year, I can easily exceed it's rated 26 mile range, usually being more around 32. It's been almost 5 weeks since I bought gas, and still have a full tank after 800 miles. So maybe the EV range isn't as critical. :) But I do have to use the ICE on my drive to work to climb a long hill and save the range for a full EV drive home.
 
I've barely heard the engine in almost 4000 miles of driving and that includes multiple times of going up the final hill to our house with 0 EV range showing. Also the storage space in the Clarity is pretty shocking. On the last trip (a camping trip), we had a huge cooler, table and chairs, 2 camp chairs, large tent, a corny keg and pots and lots of other stuff and there was still extra space left. Sure oversize items will be challenge, but there is seriously a lot of space in this vehicle.
 
atc98092 said:
When my Passat seats were folded down, the opening was pretty large. But yes, you are correct that a hatchback or wagon fits better. That's why I ended up with a Niro PHEV. With the Niro, I too have trouble telling if the engine has engaged if I'm traveling at higher speeds. Around town it's pretty obvious. I just wish I had about 10 more miles EV range with the Niro. At least for this time of year, I can easily exceed it's rated 26 mile range, usually being more around 32. It's been almost 5 weeks since I bought gas, and still have a full tank after 800 miles. So maybe the EV range isn't as critical. :) But I do have to use the ICE on my drive to work to climb a long hill and save the range for a full EV drive home.
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Glad you’re liking your Niro, but let’s meet back here in 10 years and see whose car has held up better and has had less repair costs. Just saying...

And like @Tomrl, I find the 15.5 c.f. trunk to be plenty and the ICE to be extremely quiet.
 
atc98092 said:
I just wish I had about 10 more miles EV range with the Niro. At least for this time of year, I can easily exceed it's rated 26 mile range,
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Having primarily owned hatches since the 80's with currently 3 in the family, no one has to tell me how useful they are but when it comes to plug-in's: Range is King. If I have something that won't fit in the trunk, I have many solutions to choose from: use another vehicle, ask a friend, use a hitch solution (what I do with my C-Max Energi even tho' it's a hatchback), get it delivered or rent a truck. The latter two are when something won't even fit in one of my hatchbacks.

But solving range issues? That's a lot harder nut to crack. Buy range first. BTDT
 
We had a 2008, then a 2015, Prius Hybrid. They were fine cars with a few irritations. When we wanted to upgrade to a PHEV we took a quick look at the Prius Prime but rejected it for these reasons:

- EV mile range was simply not enough for us to be in EV mode 100% of the time around town on our daily commutes. This was enough to kill the Prime for us.

- Design: I don't put much stock in how a car looks on the outside but I do care about the interior. My wife was so turned off (subjective I know) by the interior all she would do was look through the windows. She wouldn't even get into the Prime.

- Comfort: My wife and I would rather drive in a more vertical position than most sedans. We've owned SUVs and prefer the higher driving position rather than the laid back position. Toyota decided to lower the height of the Prius line vs the Gen III models. That was going in the opposite direction than we wanted to go.

- Prime cargo space was insufficient.

We kept looking until we stumbled on the Clarity information back in November 2017. It was much more in line with what we wanted. We bought the first one off the truck Dec 5.
 
I briefly considered the Prius Prime, but the two biggest turn-offs was:
1) Limited EV range. ~25 miles would barely get me to work and back without going to the ICE.
2) The battery takes up a HUGE chunk of the cargo area. The car was clearly not designed to be a PHEV.
 
atc98092 said:
I looked at the Clarity, but two things kept me from pulling the trigger. One was the horrendous drone when the ICE started and revved to a ridiculous RPM. It settled down and wasn't too annoying until I tried climbing a long hill. Note that this was all with an uncharged battery. I found another dealer that had one with about a 1/2 charge, and it became a completely different car. I was giving it serious thought, but then I folded the seats down to see how much cargo space was available. I was shocked to see a small opening, rather than having a wide open space between the trunk and the rear seat area. This made it completely unacceptable for me, as a flat, long storage area is something I have to have.
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Both of these are valid points, but not applicable to everyone. The high RPM noise is only a problem if you are doing long trips in a mountainous region. For shorter trips or relatively flat ground the engine noise is much lower than a regular car. If you are doing trips that involve more than 2,000 ft climbing regularly, I do not recommend Clarity.

The small pass through is not unique to clarity and a lot of sedans have this problem. For some cargo it is an issue, for example it is not suited for Ikea runs involving wide and long items.
 
I have taken my Clarity on five road trips so far, two of which were through the white and green mountains in Vermont and New Hamster. Last week we went into the mountains with a larger load than usual so took the wife’s crv. That four cylinder was pretty loud for a lot of the trip. The Clarity (unless going up a long steep grade) is surprisingly quiet now that I am paying more attention to ICE engine noise. I think it’s more annoying to drive the Clarity in the city using HV (which I did just to see what it was like) then on the highway. Honda did it right with this car. Just remember to it the HV when getting on the highway and all is good. On the above posts, 25 EV miles is simply not enough. I easily go over that on a weekend. Getting 55 EV miles in the summer so never need the ICE.
 
I just switched from a used Prius Prime Premium (bought a 2017 with 32k miles in March 2021, 57k when sold back) to a used Clarity Touring (2018 with 51k miles 8 days ago). OP's review was one of the things that attracted me to the swap and so far I am glad I took the plunge.

My 1st concern was with the EV range, as the PP usually made about half the trip (17-20 miles) despite being rated for 25 miles when new. I chalked this up to the degradation of the battery over time and figured the Clarity would similarly suffer. My commute is 41.5 miles one way, so my guess in winter temps was about 35-36 of that before switching over to HV. Well, nope I've been driving it in 20-ish degrees F weather (I'm very conservative with the heat use, FWIW) and so far it has only used about 15 miles worth of gas after 300+ miles of driving.

I'm able to charge at the office for 75¢/hr. and again, this was a question on my mind because the PP usually cost about $1.50 and I wondered if it would be twice as much to charge, or if it would be worth the while. 8.8kWh vs 17kWh... well my concerns were erased as I have been able to charge it daily for ~$1.70. So far the longest stretch I've done a full 47 miles home from work including a diversion to another freeway, all EV miles. This is about 80% freeway driving, and I've been setting the cruise at 72 mph as a baseline measurement (go any slower in Atlanta and you'll get hit). I know from my prior experience with the PP if you go much faster you will lose range, but I may experiment with higher speeds in a 1 mph increase each week and take the averages down.

Nearly everything of my experience so far lines right up with the comments here. Going from the PP to the Clarity, neither had a volume knob (since I had the Premium trim, you get the iPad in the center console, which I did not care for). So, in a fair comparison between steering wheel controls I do like the Clarity volume ticker better--it takes half or less the clicks to adjust volume up and down. Seats are better, ACC and LAKS are better, the seat heaters work faster and get hotter, ride quality is on a higher level, and the stock stereo speakers are like comparing apples to ice cream sundaes. I also prefer the in-dash display and infotainment controls on the Clarity, though both systems are quirky and take a bit of a learning curve. My 6-year old is a fan of the bigger back row and the trunk has more room for our baseball stuff.

The backup camera picture is not as nice on the Clarity. It's not worth the hassle to replace it, but it's a small annoyance when so much of the car is a step above the Prius. The picture is more grainy and shows very little detail in the dark. Also, I think it could really use a heated steering wheel but it appears there is not a graceful option there. The component speakers in the rear doors are noticeably inferior to the front ones, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise.

I've de-badged most of the decals except the H logos and rear Clarity logo, and plan to get the paint reconditioned. Then will either ceramic coat it or do a wrap/hydro-dip to change the color. This one is Solar Silver, and for the life of me I just can't see myself keeping it that color. Again, OP's post about the stereo upgrades are giving me GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I will probably do something similar with the audio, albeit in stages. Overall it is an absolute upgrade and I don't see myself having any buyer's remorse. It's bigger, nicer all round and nearly cancels gas for my situation. I'm not fond of Honda's entire lineup, but this one is a definite winner.
 
It's amazing how well my opinions like up with the OP's original post and the latest post by PHEVB4BEV. The only things I disagree with is that I really like the wheels including the plastic covers. My only real dislikes are 1) The occasional high engine revving, 2) the poor backup camera, 3) the rear fender covers, and 4) lack of volume knob. Pretty short list.
 
I'm glad I saw this thread, and I'm grateful for the detailed breakdowns. I've been debating between the Clarity, Prius Prime, and the Hyundai Tucson PHEV. The way Toyota used the space in the Prius is pretty silly. Really makes you wonder if they only did it because they felt like they had to, because it doesn't seem like any real thought was put into it. Also wild to me that its HVAC system and seat heaters are so anemic. Guess that's where the extra 5mpg over the Corolla Hybrid comes from, because it's the same powertrain between the two. After reading this thread, seems like I can safely cross the PP off the list.
 
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