My terrible morning with the Clarity

[brianc35]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. We allow all experiences here: good, bad, and otherwise.

But what will never be tolerated is personal attacks. So long as the topic is sort of on topic, we will allow the opinion to be stated.

Debate the thing with facts and experience, and not each other/name calling.

 

[Landshark]

For whatever it is worth, I love the Plug-IN Hybrid idea.

I still like the idea. What I don’t like is the execution from either Honda or Stellantis. Maybe Chevy got it right with the Volt? I spent some time in a friends BMW X5 PHEV which was a pleasant experience but it got poor fuel economy when operating as an ICE vehicle. Swapping cars every 2 years until I find one I like isn’t on my to do list.

Another drawback with these vehicles is that they all have a battery that is costly to replace. The battery can fail without warning and it’s baked in the cake that it will degrade over time which could necessitate a replacement. Same applied to BEV’s Conventional cars can certainly have issues, however they rarely require a $6K-$12k expenditure to replace a single component.

 

[Geor99]

I still like the idea. What I don’t like is the execution from either Honda or Stellantis. Maybe Chevy got it right with the Volt? I spent some time in a friends BMW X5 PHEV which was a pleasant experience but it got poor fuel economy when operating as an ICE vehicle. Swapping cars every 2 years until I find one I like isn’t on my to do list.

Another drawback with these vehicles is that they all have a battery that is costly to replace. The battery can fail without warning and it’s baked in the cake that it will degrade over time which could necessitate a replacement. Same applied to BEV’s Conventional cars can certainly have issues, however they rarely require a $6K-$12k expenditure to replace a single component.

I was really torn back in 2018 between the VOlt and the Clarity. I really liked the look of the VOlt. BUt when I found out that the VOlt may be discontinued, the decision was easy. It would be very interesting to hear from someone who has owned both to compare and constrast. Yes, there are stories of this topic online; but I would like to hear from a real person.

 

[David Towle]

I was really torn back in 2018 between the VOlt and the Clarity. I really liked the look of the VOlt. BUt when I found out that the VOlt may be discontinued, the decision was easy. It would be very interesting to hear from someone who has owned both to compare and constrast. Yes, there are stories of this topic online; but I would like to hear from a real person.

I agree about the look of the Volt, but its people packaging was not family suited. Only 2 skinny people in the back seats is not good in a car that size.

 

[Dan Albrich]

I happen to "live in the sweet spot" for PHEV. My commute to/from work is 5 miles each way, no highway speeds, think 25 mph the whole way back and forth. Every day, I drive to and from work twice because I go home for lunch, which makes it 20 miles a day. Some days I go back into town so add 10. So my usual daily usage is between 20-30 miles. Anyway, I mention this because most often my Clarity can drive all electric. On the weekends in errand mode, I'll do 70 miles on a saturday, but I can space my trips as to recharge between them. So a very high percentage of my driving is electric.

Some say, why no BEV then? Well, it costs some money to insure and maintain each vehicle. 100% of all the BEV drivers I've ever known (many) all have their ICE vehicle for long trips. So the Clarity to me is that sweet spot of 90% electric driving and for days when range isn't adequate I just burn (a small amount of) gas. And for long trips, I don't need a dedicated second vehicle.

But yes, the magic all ends if I encounter say a $9000 repair bill in year 11. I figure its a roll of the dice. I planned to have the car working well for at least 10 years to have my back of the napkin math work. And since I live in a ZEV state, I can pretty much guarantee 10 years of traction battery or without me paying for replacement anyway.

Where I win the game is if I can go beyond 10 years without a disabled vehicle. I don't mind degradation in terms of burning more gas at all. I mind getting an error message on the dash -- or the car disabled, that effectively means I can't drive anymore. So if it becomes a mild hybrid over time I win. If it becomes a pumpkin, well it was a good ride for the time I had it. That assumption that I'd go to mild hybrid mode in later years is the assumption I made that allowed me to buy the vehicle to begin with. If that proves wrong, well, I'll join the mild hybrid club and move on.

[And yes, all of the cars I've owned in my life have exceeded 200K miles. They were normal gas cars. Even my terrible Datsun B210 with the rust through the floor exceeded 300K miles. Anyway, I think for a modern car, it needs to go 150K+ miles to be respectable. My Clarity looks brand new, garaged all the time, and has 90K miles presently]

 

[Robert_Alabama]

It would be very interesting to hear from someone who has owned both to compare and constrast. Yes, there are stories of this topic online; but I would like to hear from a real person.

I've owned 2012, 2013, and 2019 Volts. The 2012 was a great car, but the battery was degrading by the time I traded it for the 2019 Volt. The 2013 seemed to not be as good a "build". It never got the fuel economy of the 2012 and had too many rattles and pops, so we traded it pretty quickly. We kept the 2019 for about 5 years and put 70k miles on it. It was a fantastic car. To compare it to the Clarity, it had about 5 miles more electric range than the Clarity, but didn't quite get as good a fuel economy on gasoline. As @David Towle said, it was primarily a two person car as the back seats were tight. I think that generally the 2019 Volt was a little louder when running on gasoline than the Clarity (I generally never drove either on gasoline with the HV battery depleted as it wasn't a good experience in either - the 2012 was especially painful and was louder than either the Clarity or 2019 Volt). The acceleration in the 2019 Volt when running on the battery seemed better than the Clarity, but I never compared them side by side. The Clarity fits me better since I'm 6'1" and like room in a car. The Volt was a nice car for my wife. We sold the 2019 Volt and a 2002 Tahoe in 2024 to buy a 2024 Blazer EV RWD and a 2024 BMW i4. If we hadn't decided to pull the trigger on two EVs, we would have kept the Volt longer. It was just time to finally send the Tahoe on its way, and the Blazer EV has been a pretty good replacement for it in our lifestyle. I got a trailer hitch on it, so it is our utility vehicle when we need it. Don't know if that helped much, as I really like both the 2019 Volt and the 2018 Clarity. Neither ever have been to the dealership for more than routine oil changes, etc (I still keep in touch with the family that bought the Volt - and they also love the car). Also both the 2019 Volt and the Clarity have been driven more than 75% electric (probably 90+% on the Volt and 75+% for the Clarity).

 

[Geor99]

WOW - you own a hell of a lot of cars. Thanks for the writeup.

Yes, it's dumb but that Clarity wheel well really bothers me. I went with black to minimize it. I don't know why I am so turned off by it, it makes no logical sense, but I really don't like it. I would sacrifice a little mileage to cut them off, if it was a cheap and easy process. Yes, I have seen the stickers hiding them. I can't explain why but I am not a wheel well guy.

In my opinion, the Volt looks a lot slicker, but you do sacrifice some space for sure.

 

[insightman]

WOW - you own a hell of a lot of cars. Thanks for the writeup.

Yes, it's dumb but that Clarity wheel well really bothers me. I went with black to minimize it. I don't know why I am so turned off by it, it makes no logical sense, but I really don't like it. I would sacrifice a little mileage to cut them off, if it was a cheap and easy process. Yes, I have seen the stickers hiding them. I can't explain why but I am not a wheel well guy.

In my opinion, the Volt looks a lot slicker, but you do sacrifice some space for sure.

Eight years ago on this forum, a creative owner who didn't appreciate the appearance of his Clarity's aerodynamic rear wheel wells demonstrated a particular skill with black vehicle wrap:

 

[Robert_Alabama]

Yes, it's dumb but that Clarity wheel well really bothers me. I went with black to minimize it. I don't know why I am so turned off by it, it makes no logical sense, but I really don't like it. I would sacrifice a little mileage to cut them off, if it was a cheap and easy process. Yes, I have seen the stickers hiding them. I can't explain why but I am not a wheel well guy.

I echo your opinion. I also opted for the black for the same reason. I can ignore it for the most part with the black paint.

 

[Geor99]

Eight years ago on this forum, a creative owner who didn't appreciate the appearance of his Clarity's aerodynamic rear wheel wells demonstrated a particular skill with black vehicle wrap:

View attachment 28796

That looks incredibly better. I wonder if it looks real in person. I am assuming by your message that this is some kind of overlay/sticker vehicle wrap, correct? That looks great in a picture; but it may not look that great in reality at real world angles with the sun shining on it, etc.

I cant explain why I dislike it so much. I am not trying to look cool to pick up girls nor show off a car in front of friends I dont care in the slightest about any of that at my current marital status and age. It just bothers me every time that I see it, or see another Clarity on the road.

 

[electriceddy]

That looks incredibly better. I wonder if it looks real in person. I am assuming by your message that this is some kind of overlay/sticker vehicle wrap, correct? That looks great in a picture; but it may not look that great in reality at real world angles with the sun shining on it, etc.

I cant explain why I dislike it so much. I am not trying to look cool to pick up girls nor show off a car in front of friends I dont care in the slightest about any of that at my current marital status and age. It just bothers me every time that I see it, or see another Clarity on the road.

I just joined Facebook and was wondering how to do anything.
I want to write a sentence to my daughter

 

[Landshark]

I just joined Facebook and was wondering how to do anything.
I want to write a sentence to my daughter

This seems to be wildly off topic.

 

[Landshark]

So if it becomes a mild hybrid over time I win. If it becomes a pumpkin, well it was a good ride for the time I had it. That assumption that I'd go to mild hybrid mode in later years is the assumption I made that allowed me to buy the vehicle to begin with. If that proves wrong, well, I'll join the mild hybrid club and move on.

There seems to be some evidence that when the battery becomes sufficiently degraded or even when a single cell fails, the car does not magically operate as a mild hybrid.