Moving on from Clarity, suggestions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Melisa
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 79
  • Views Views 13K
M

Melisa

New Member
Unfortunately, we have decided to move on from our 2018 Clarity PHEV. Our family of four has really enjoyed the car, but it has just been through so much (minor front and rear collisions, HVAC issues, etc.) so we have decided to cut bait as we just don't feel comfortable owning this out of warranty.

That said, we'd like to stay in the PHEV / BEV arena, so I'm curious what others have moved on to or would suggest. We have been checking in to the Leaf Plus along with the Niro plug-in, but we are still very early on our search and would love some suggestions.

TIA
 
I leased my Clarity back in 2018 with the idea I would move to a BEV in 2021. I have ordered two though will only accept one. My first choice will be the Ford Mustang Mach-E but, with my lease not up until October, it might show up faster than I anticipated by April or May by the looks. I am hopeful. If the Mach-E does not work out. I have a VW ID.4 on order, too. The ID.4 should be close to a late summer/early fall arrival.

Both can be canceled with a full refund of my deposit.

If all else fails, I will get a either a used Bolt or new Ioniq Electric. :)
 
I have yet to see anything for the money that has convinced me is better than Clarity in the mid-size segment. I'll be watching over the next 2 years as my son gets to driving age but until then I'm happy. The BEV still haven't gotten to the price and range level I'm happy with except for the smaller cars like the Bolt
 
JFon101231 said:
I have yet to see anything for the money that has convinced me is better than Clarity in the mid-size segment. I'll be watching over the next 2 years as my son gets to driving age but until then I'm happy. The BEV still haven't gotten to the price and range level I'm happy with except for the smaller cars like the Bolt
Click to expand...
My issue with BEV cars is they are fine for around town like the Clarity, but on road trips they require stops for charging. I'm not so interested in the range as I am the charge time. A longer range, like 300 vs 250 doesn't change the situation much.

Our normal out-of-town trips are either 350 mile single day round trips or 1,100 mile 7 day round trips. In a Clarity we stop for gas which takes 5-10 minutes. In a BEV if we want fast charging we have to locate one that isn't broken or occupied. Even then we have longer "refuel" times.

The scenero I also think about is with a BEV having 250 miles of range we would have to charge on one of our 350 mile day round trips. If we plan to visit a museum at our destination that would certainly provide time to charge. But where to charge? If the museum has charge stations or there are some close by then that's not too bad. A charge station could be 1/4 mile away or more. We would drive to the charge station, plug it in, then find some way to get to the museum - walk or Uber I suppose. But then after the car is fully charged etiquette suggests we unplug the car and move it which means another trip walking or taking an Uber back to the car. With the Clarity it's just a 109 minute stop. We could drive our 4Runner that gets 15-20 mpg on the highway but, even though it's a nice SUV, it just isn't the luxury low fuel cost car the Clarity is.

So for us a BEV is impractical at this time. I also agree they are priced out of my range.
 
Melisa said:
so we have decided to cut bait as we just don't feel comfortable owning this out of warranty.
Click to expand...

What are you looking for other than minimizing out of a warranty concerns?

The PHEV/BEV arena is quite diverse.

What is your budget?
Do you want a more roomy vehicle as the family grows?
What are your driving habits?
Is less EV range than the Clarity acceptable?
What are you looking for as far as ride quality?
Are you a one car family?

In my opinion, answers to those questions, and others, will help you make a more appropriate decision to meet your needs, rather than asking others what vehicle they would buy to replace a Clarity.
 
Landshark said:
What are you looking for other than minimizing out of a warranty concerns?

The PHEV/BEV arena is quite diverse.

What is your budget?
Do you want a more roomy vehicle as the family grows?
What are your driving habits?
Is less EV range than the Clarity acceptable?
What are you looking for as far as ride quality?
Are you a one car family?

In my opinion, answers to those questions, and others, will help you make a more appropriate decision to meet your needs, rather than asking others what vehicle they would buy to replace a Clarity.
Click to expand...

What is your budget? >$45k
Do you want a more roomy vehicle as the family grows? We are set with our family of four, but we do like the roominess of the Clarity
What are your driving habits? Typically short commutes within 20 miles
Is less EV range than the Clarity acceptable? Within reason, yes
What are you looking for as far as ride quality? No preference
Are you a one car family? No
 
jdonalds said:
My issue with BEV cars is they are fine for around town like the Clarity, but on road trips they require stops for charging. I'm not so interested in the range as I am the charge time. A longer range, like 300 vs 250 doesn't change the situation much.
Click to expand...

Agree! My former Fit EV was a fine commuter in fair weather but below 30* it was limited to only directly to/from work. When I wanted to ski out of state I had to take my truck.

A long enough range BEV say 300ish could make reasonable say 4 hr trips ok if not super cold but it still forces reliance on charging that isn't always up to par. Now with Clarity I took a 2000 mile road trip to OH and just charged at hotel overnight and otherwise it was just a "fuel efficient gas car".

PS the previous collisions presumably have nothing to do with the car being a Clarity, are you concerned with later in life issues popping up as a result?
 
SThomas219 said:
I leased my Clarity back in 2018 with the idea I would move to a BEV in 2021. I have ordered two though will only accept one. My first choice will be the Ford Mustang Mach-E but, with my lease not up until October, it might show up faster than I anticipated by April or May by the looks. I am hopeful. If the Mach-E does not work out. I have a VW ID.4 on order, too. The ID.4 should be close to a late summer/early fall arrival.

Both can be canceled with a full refund of my deposit.

If all else fails, I will get a either a used Bolt or new Ioniq Electric. :)
Click to expand...

Did you know you can get out of your lease early without penalty if you want to? It's in the contract. You need to get approval from Honda Finance and wait three months. I just turned in my 2018 Clarity BEV 9 months early and bought a new 2020 Clarity PHEV. In my letter (email) I sent to Honda Finance I said I was barely driving the cart due to COVID 19 and wanted to turn it in ASAP. That was in late August and I dropped the car off at the dealership in early November.
 
SThomas219 said:
I leased my Clarity back in 2018 with the idea I would move to a BEV in 2021. I have ordered two though will only accept one. My first choice will be the Ford Mustang Mach-E but, with my lease not up until October, it might show up faster than I anticipated by April or May by the looks. I am hopeful. If the Mach-E does not work out. I have a VW ID.4 on order, too. The ID.4 should be close to a late summer/early fall arrival.

Both can be canceled with a full refund of my deposit.

If all else fails, I will get a either a used Bolt or new Ioniq Electric. :)
Click to expand...

Been a Clarity and BEV owner (Bolt and Ioniq). Bolt is better now with more range and deep discounts, but I would not buy another one. I don't really like the seating position, size, and the look. It was fun, terrible on cold winter trips with range derating (the older lower range version, also did not like torque steer or the suspension much). Ioniq (2019 limited with the heat pump) was a fun drive, almost like a little sports car for me, but if I had to go more than about 60 miles one way, I took my Clarity.

Just sold the Ioniq (two cars makes no sense for me, especially with COVID limited driving). Bought my 2018 Clarity off lease (Honda has pretty good early buyout terms), so now hold title paid off. Been driving Clarity lately for a few trips here and there and remembering what a joy it is in its own right. Definitely a cushy ride (especially highway) over Ioniq.

Probably going to trade Clarity in on a Ford Mach-E (also on order, canceled my VW ID.4 FE reservation). I think (?) the 270 EPA range (AWD, ER) will work for me, although winter derating (no heat pump) in cold wx might be tough (not clear how bad, but 30% for starters is a good estimate).

@jdonalds has seen BEV limitations clearly from day 1, cannot argue with his analysis. For me, and fortunately I can afford a Mach-E, still working, possibly longer than I expected, I want to continue to explore EVs and BEVs for as long as I can afford to (until and unless I really find one I cannot part with, not there yet, but Clarity does come close!)
 
Last edited:
Melisa said:
What is your budget? >$45k
Do you want a more roomy vehicle as the family grows? We are set with our family of four, but we do like the roominess of the Clarity
What are your driving habits? Typically short commutes within 20 miles
Is less EV range than the Clarity acceptable? Within reason, yes
What are you looking for as far as ride quality? No preference
Are you a one car family? No
Click to expand...
In addition to our Clarity we own a 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Limited PHEV. It is a very nice car. A lot roomier with some cargo space and roof racks too. It’s got almost 30,000 miles on it and we’ve had very few problems. The ride is very quiet and smooth even at highway speeds. And the Harman Kardon audio system is pretty good too.
 
Melisa said:
What is your budget? >$45k
Do you want a more roomy vehicle as the family grows? We are set with our family of four, but we do like the roominess of the Clarity
What are your driving habits? Typically short commutes within 20 miles
Is less EV range than the Clarity acceptable? Within reason, yes
What are you looking for as far as ride quality? No preference
Are you a one car family? No
Click to expand...
LEAF & LEAF +plus are being deeply discounted now and can be as low as ~ $15K after incentives (depends greatly on location).
Kona and Niro EVs are worth a look as is the Bolt.
Model 3 you would likely find a little cramped. Model Y a bit over your budget (unless you live in a spot with really good incentives). If you haven't driven a Tesla, it is worth doing at least as a data point in your shopping.
BMW i3 is quirky but within budget.
XC40 Recharge, Mach-e, ID.4 are possibilities but there is no inventory and there are waiting lists.

Only a small handful of PHEVs with 30+ miles:
i3 REx, Pacifica Hybrid, Escape PHEV (if they ever start to ship them), AV4 Prime (good luck finding one)
 
Well for what it’s worth, I checked in with two local dealers with 2021 Clarity Tourings in stock and they refused to budge off msrp. So I don’t think that is going to work. Shocked that they aren’t offering anything.
 
I cannot give suggestion on PHEV or BEV since it purely depends on your driving and your charging network. However, I can share my experience since I own both. If it were me, I wait and choose BEV, I will wait for more options. Wait for 1 more year before you buy BEVs when Mustagnag March E, VW ID4, Nissan Aryia, BMW Q4 Etron, BMW iNext, Benz EQS, Chevy Bolt SUV, Tesla CyberTruck. I know many of those cars won't fit your needs, but more options are better.
After owning Model Y and Clarity, I found out BEV fits much more for me because of my driving. I only filled up the Clarity's gas once since I got the Clarity 6 months ago due to my driving. This means I don't need PHEV for my driving. The problem I see if you drive electric-only with your daily drive with PHEV is your charging cycles of small battery vs charging cycles of a big battery of purely BEV. Since your PHEV battery is small, you need full charge cycles every day to cover your range, which will lead to batter degradation faster than BEV.
Not trying to promote Tesla, but after looking at all available BEVs, Audi E-Tron, Jaguar IPace, Nissan Leaf SL Plus, Chevy Bolt, I chose Tesla. 3 big reasons I chose Tesla even though I don't have $7500 tax credit
1) It's not about the price, it's about the cost to own the car after 3 years. Tesla's resale value is the best. All BEVs resale value will lose from 50% to 60% after 3 years, but you will lose around 25% value with your Tesla. So even though you pay more upfront, but you save money in the end.
2) Range and battery degradation. Model Y has 328 Miles range, the rest has sub 250 miles range. If I want to keep the car, my battery is still useful after 10 years
3) Charging Network. Since Model Y is our family car, it's important that we have a charging network during road trips. My friend has an IPace, he keeps complaining about Public charging network, Electric America, Chargpoint, EVgo ane ect..., they are complicated to use (each one has its own apps) and don't work many times. With Tesla, it's plug-and-play and their charging stations in California are available in every corners.

I hope this helps. IMO, if you live in California, you should get BEV instead since the charging stations are everywhere. With fast DC charging, you need only 15mins of charging to cover the 50miles to 75 miles range nowadays. As technology gets better, as charging stations are more available, the shift to BEV makes much more sense. Again, this is my own experience and my own opinions, I am not trying to promote BEV or Tesla. Do your own research to see what fits best for you. It depends on which state you live in and the charging stations that are available for you.
 
Last edited:
Melisa said:
Well for what it’s worth, I checked in with two local dealers with 2021 Clarity Tourings in stock and they refused to budge off msrp. So I don’t think that is going to work. Shocked that they aren’t offering anything.
Click to expand...
Keep looking. I had to find a dealer almost 200 miles away to find a deal.
 
I'm waiting on the Hyundai IONIQ 5 or the Kia version of the same model. Hyundai/Kia has had great value EVs (Kona and Niro) and the upcoming vehicles will be significant improvements being purpose built EVs. Like @Jimmy Vo I think that a BEV will better suit my needs, as I've used a maximum of 15-20 gallons of gas in the three years I've had my Clarity. We will have a separate ICE minivan for long road trips.

The back seat of the Leaf and the Kona is pretty small, so for a growing family of 4 you'll want to take that into consideration.
 
Melisa said:
Well for what it’s worth, I checked in with two local dealers with 2021 Clarity Tourings in stock and they refused to budge off msrp. So I don’t think that is going to work. Shocked that they aren’t offering anything.
Click to expand...
Have you looked for a 2020 still on the lot? You might have a better chance of getting the discount you want. Try dealers in surrounding states. To my knowledge there is little if any difference between the 2020 and the 2021.
 
@Kendalf , don't buy Leaf although you will have a huge discount, usually, over 10K off from MSRP. But still, Nissan already gave up on the Leaf, Chademo is dead, and yet Nissan still decided to put in the 2021 Leaf and no improvement or new features on 2021 at all, nada!. Nissan puts effort into Ariya. Ariya will start out 40K with the base, RWD single motor. Wait for VW ID4 if you can, next year when ID4 assemble in USA, the price will drop by 5K. I personally really like Ariya, I plan to sell my Clarity and get Ariya in 2022. Or get a used 3-years old Model S around 50K:) To be honest, after driving a Tesla, I really don't want to drive any other EVs :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top