I've driven my Clarity 12 months and 7500 miles. I went to the dealer for service last week for the first time. Oil change ($41) and outstanding TCB's. That's it. CR has 'normalized' their findings across all types of vehicles in a way that washes out important details despite their claims to the contrary. As for the car itself it's great IF you're interested in understanding how the Clarity is designed so you can operate it effectively and for maximum enjoyment. I love it. Not for everyone though.
Consumer Reports - Clarity Much-Worse-Than-Average Reliability - Really?
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Lowell_Greenberg
Active Member
I appreciate many of the replies to this morning's post. It is legitimate to ask why, if I perceive some negatives, I am still thinking about the car.
There are two reasons. First, the government credits/rebates and fuel savings make it economically feasible for me and (2) I am disgusted by my reliance on burning gasoline in an age of devastating climate change. Another reason is that my situation precludes being totally electric. Otherwise I love my current car and would drive it forever.
The second (climate) reason is both logically correct and admittedly emotional.
Also, the Clarity has its strengths- comfort, relative quietness, some safety features and I want to add overall Honda reliability. But the latter has appeared to slip somewhat with their dream engines mixing gas with oil and issues with other newer models.
Other PHEV options have their own drawbacks- price, insufficient government incentives. roominess, etc.
I promise I won't bore you any further
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If you have test driven it three times and still don't like it, I'm surprised you are still here reading anything about it. Different people like different things. Trust your own opinions/impressions over others. Unless you have similar issues over the Prius Prime and other cars.
Dan Albrich
Well-Known Member
And just to echo a bit of what Lowell has said. My wife and I like to visit Alaska for vacation. We've been a few times in the past 10 years. Witnessing the same glaciers retreat, and the degree to which they have is shocking. So off soap box now, but I decided our next car would get about 40 or more MPG. There's multiple options that fit that profile now. I paid 35K for clarity touring (it was really more like 36K to get it off the lot with required fees for all new cars). So say after my 10K in federal and state subsidies I'm actually out 26K (and yes, you may wait a year to get it all back). A very nice car for 26K. Also, I rationalize the possible battery pack dying in say year 11, with the gas cost savings for the 10+ years prior.
Now, in Oregon and CA, new dealer incentives have pushed the price even lower. I've mentioned to some friends but I realize this car isn't for everyone.
I don't mind a little "involvement" in understanding how to optimize my use of the car. I find the Clarity to be spacious and comfortable, and not to be a compromise for the MPG like some compact cars clearly are. I also didn't realize how much I was actually paying (and how often) at the pump with my old Subaru. Subaru was a good car (reliability) for the most-part, save head-gasket issues, but the mileage was terrible in retrospect. I guess I didn't realize what is possible. I've now had at least one period of 2 months where I didn't use one drop of gas. That blows my mind. I love "filling up" at home.
Edit: I also live in an area where price per KWH makes sense vs. gas cost. Oregon rarely gets below $3/gal for gas, and we're always higher than the national average. My commute is such that I can do it with all electric, so that would play into my decision as well.
Now, in Oregon and CA, new dealer incentives have pushed the price even lower. I've mentioned to some friends but I realize this car isn't for everyone.
I don't mind a little "involvement" in understanding how to optimize my use of the car. I find the Clarity to be spacious and comfortable, and not to be a compromise for the MPG like some compact cars clearly are. I also didn't realize how much I was actually paying (and how often) at the pump with my old Subaru. Subaru was a good car (reliability) for the most-part, save head-gasket issues, but the mileage was terrible in retrospect. I guess I didn't realize what is possible. I've now had at least one period of 2 months where I didn't use one drop of gas. That blows my mind. I love "filling up" at home.
Edit: I also live in an area where price per KWH makes sense vs. gas cost. Oregon rarely gets below $3/gal for gas, and we're always higher than the national average. My commute is such that I can do it with all electric, so that would play into my decision as well.
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Thevenin
Member
I appreciate many of the replies to this morning's post. It is legitimate to ask why, if I perceive some negatives, I am still thinking about the car.
There are two reasons. First, the government credits/rebates and fuel savings make it economically feasible for me and (2) I am disgusted by my reliance on burning gasoline in an age of devastating climate change. Another reason is that my situation precludes being totally electric. Otherwise I love my current car and would drive it forever.
The second (climate) reason is both logically correct and admittedly emotional.
Also, the Clarity has its strengths- comfort, relative quietness, some safety features and I want to add overall Honda reliability. But the latter has appeared to slip somewhat with their dream engines mixing gas with oil and issues with other newer models.
Other PHEV options have their own drawbacks- price, insufficient government incentives. roominess, etc.
I promise I won't bore you any further
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
I'll tell you what I was told when I came here looking for advice.
No car is perfect, every single one will have some major shortcoming. As long as the vehicle fits your basic use case and budget, the important thing is that you like it enough to overlook those shortcomings. We can give you all sorts of facts and figures (snow tires >> 4WD, CR predictions =/= CR reliability retrospectives), but we can't tell you to love the car.
If you don't have that gut-level response, keep trying out different cars until you do. You might come around to the Clarity, you might not.
Personally, I ruled the Clarity out at first because it wasn't a hatchback. After test driving some of the competition, the Clarity's strengths (lack of weaknesses, really) came into sharp focus, and I found I didn't care about the hatch anymore.
Edit: It just occurred to me that with your commute what it is, you may consider two cars. Find a cheap, abusable electric (I'm thinking a >$10k LEAF or Fiat 500e) for your 45-mile commute, but keep your ICEV for longer trips. This will get you about the same carbon footprint as a PHEV, but it should be much cheaper.
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MPower
Well-Known Member
Agreed. So far it moves.
Lowell_Greenberg
Active Member
Thank you. This is a great and very empathetic response
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Robert_Alabama
Well-Known Member
I'll add that you really need to test drive the clarity with at least some reasonable amount of battery charge. Test driving one with a depleted battery is not the most pleasant of experiences. In my opinion, there really is never a good reason (short of unforeseen circumstances) to ever drive the car on ICE with the battery completely depleted. The dealerships should understand this, but of course they do not... Knowing how to drive the Clarity to really enjoy it and appreciate it is more important than for any other car I have ever owned.
I'd say it's a feature.... Meh
At the meanwhile, Clarity gets longer EV range, more EV mode power, and more regen braking.
It doesn't fit your need, clearly. But please don't assume everybody is in the same place.
I bought my Clarity because I plan to dirve it as a EV for the most of times. And after reading the posts here, I'm fully aware that if I need a longer road trip, I shall avoid depleting the battery or I will be stuck with the 1.5L engine in a 4000lb midsize.
A few months ago, I drove my Clarity into an national park, full of mountains. HV Charge mode was used all the time, so the battery is never got empty. Despite noise, it worked out quite well all the way uphill. I didn't experience any loss of power or angry bees. When I went downhill, the battery got recharged to almost full. If I was driving a Prius, those energy would be just wasted heat on mechanical brake.
Honda didn't do a good job informing its customers, or in other words, their product is not very intuitive to use. Fine, I'm an engineer, and I'm happier to figure it out myself.
For my specific use case, Clarity is the best option I can find. I never regretted buying a Clarity after one year into ownership.
vin seeram
Member
1. Clarity is a new car. Early issues would have already been fixed in the later production cars. The long term reliability is still unknown, but the risks are low.
2. It handles the same as an accord.
3. Every car has it's quirks. It is up to you which ones you can live with and which you can't. In terms of looks, I personally find clarity better looking than the current accord or the civic or the camry with its massive grill
4. I haven't experienced loss of power , but I do most of my driving on EV and haven't driven a lot of hilly routes yet.
If you want "proven" reliability and lack of it would be a constant worry then Clarity may not be right for you.
The reasons I chose ,
1. I wanted a high mpg car
2. compact cars dont work for me and that leaves out all the remaining current PHEVs.
3. After fed and state tax rebates the Clarity came out to be cheaper than a new decently equipped Civic.
It met most of my criteria and I have decent faith in Honda , to slightly make up for "unproven" reliability.
I have only had Clarity for a month and I love it so far.
Good luck with your decision.
Sandroad
Well-Known Member
Here are some ideas (but admittedly without knowing your full situation).I appreciate many of the replies to this morning's post. It is legitimate to ask why, if I perceive some negatives, I am still thinking about the car.
There are two reasons. First, the government credits/rebates and fuel savings make it economically feasible for me and (2) I am disgusted by my reliance on burning gasoline in an age of devastating climate change. Another reason is that my situation precludes being totally electric. Otherwise I love my current car and would drive it forever.
The second (climate) reason is both logically correct and admittedly emotional.
Also, the Clarity has its strengths- comfort, relative quietness, some safety features and I want to add overall Honda reliability. But the latter has appeared to slip somewhat with their dream engines mixing gas with oil and issues with other newer models.
Other PHEV options have their own drawbacks- price, insufficient government incentives. roominess, etc.
I promise I won't bore you any further
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
You mentioned loving your present car. One possibility is to keep it for a couple more years. I think by 2021-2022, there will be more EV and PHEV vehicles available. There may not be tax breaks to buy one, but I still think you should not buy a car you don’t like (like the Clarity in your case) just because it’s cheap. We are in a transition period, moving to EV for transportation and it will take a while for lots of good choices to be available.
Look at some of the extraordinarily high mpg hybrid cars like the Honda Insight. You will still burn some gas, but not much.
Test drive a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV. I was impressed in the test drive I did and if I had needed the room, it would have been a good choice.
coutinpe
Active Member
I have owned the car for 10 weeks so it may be too early to pass judgment but so far I'm very pleased with it, haven't seen that HV range bug (although I've refueled only 3 times). The only issue I've ever had is with Pandora on CarPlay getting crazy when I tried to change stations and the phone then went wild. Unsure how much is it Honda's or Apple's fault.