New Clarity Owner

  • Thread starter Thread starter dalbeck
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 7
  • Views Views 2K
dalbeck

dalbeck

Member
Hey Everyone,

Just purchased my new Clarity Touring PHEV in Silver on Thursday. Coming from an AWD SUV, and couldn't be happier so far.

Purchase Price: $35,490
Delivered Price after taxes etc.: $37,787
Put 20% down so financing just around $30k on it.

My wife and I love the drive so far, minimal road noise, the features on the inside are great, really love this car. Originally was going to get a Chevy Volt, but on a whim stopped by the Honda Dealership to test drive the Clarity and fell in love.

Just got a Charge Point L2 station installed in the garage today.

Learned so much already off the forum and Reddit. I wish the dealerships would spend some time browsing around here so they can better educate their staff on this great vehicle.
 
Congrats on the new Honda Clarity. I am new to Honda and the Clarity as well...going on three months.

I would venture a guess the majority of folks agree the dealerships are clueless. These cars would sell more if the sales folks had a clue about the product they are selling. I agree with your assessment of minimal road noise, features etc. What I like about the Clarity is the 50 mile e-range plus it is a a regular sized sedan. Gone are the days of limited trunk space due to batteries and the tear drop shape of the beloved Prius.

3000 miles in, I run EV 70% of the time which is fantastic as far as I am concerned. Many others say after 3 months of ownership they still have half a tank of gas that the dealer put in. Gotta love it.

Good luck.
 
Thanks, David, best of luck with yours as well!

Today was my first trip to work since purchasing. I have an 80-mile round trip. In Econ mode, I was able to get to my office with 9 miles of EV to spare. For the time being, I am using the included 120v charger at my work, so hoping I can cover 80% of the return trip home until we get the L2 charger installed here.

The dealer I purchased from was very friendly and up front that they didn't have all the answers on the vehicle but after learning more about it and reading online their demo wasn't too far off. As the common theme around here, I just feel like the local dealers and or Honda just isn't doing a great job promoting the Clarity. I was 99% set on the Volt, and after I test drove it 3 times I felt like it was lacking. Had some nice pep, and the technology was cool, but coming from a well equipped Ford Edge I felt the price tag was too high for some basic amenities inside the vehicle as well as everything being hard plastics. Test drove the Clarity and there was no doubt in my mind that would be the right choice. This is also my first Honda and I am beyond impressed with the drive, the luxuries, and the safety features. I am looking forward to many years to come in my brand new Clarity and can't wait to see Honda's future lineups in EV's.

Would love to see a future Clarity PHEV that offers:
- Sunroof
- Maybe 80-100 mile battery
- Fast charging
- A simple feature I miss from the Edge, and maybe someone knows this exists and I can't find it, but I loved the easy exit feature where turning off the car the seat would slide back to make getting in and out easier.
- The updated head unit seen on the Accords.

Outside of those little things this car is amazing so far, had to take a long trip over the weekend that offered no charging 1 way, so I used up about half of my gas tank from the dealer, but my normal driving on weekdays and weekends should fall 90% on battery.

My only gripe with my dealer was they delivered the car with no battery charge, and I wanted a silver car in the touring trim which they didn't have, so it appears someone drove it from the dealership they got it from in NJ and I received it with 70 miles on it. Not the end of the world because they way overpaid to get me out of my Edge and knocked some money off the Clarity.
 
dalbeck said:
Would love to see a future Clarity PHEV that offers:
- Sunroof
- Maybe 80-100 mile battery
- Fast charging
- A simple feature I miss from the Edge, and maybe someone knows this exists and I can't find it, but I loved the easy exit feature where turning off the car the seat would slide back to make getting in and out easier.
- The updated head unit seen on the Accords.
Click to expand...

Considering the size of the battery pack, it's amazing Honda delivers the Clarity PHEV with all the amenities it comes with. A sunroof would be a nice option but it's unclear if it would weaken the structure of the car, which is built with high-strength steel to protect the hydrogen tanks of the Clarity Fuel Cell car. Most of the body is aluminum, but the roof and rear fenders are steel, so that makes me think Honda wanted extra strength in these areas in particular.

The Honda Clarity Electric has an 89-mile range, but its battery pack not only occupies the space under the floor, like the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, but also most of the trunk. And it achieves that 89-mile range without having to lug around a gasoline-powered engine. So it will require better battery technology to build a Clarity Plug-In Hybrid that goes 80-100 miles in EV mode.

The Japanese Clarity Plug-In Hybrid includes a Level 3 CHAdeMo charging port on the right rear fender. However, the Japanese Clarity Plug-In Hybrid costs $52K. Also, it's been noted that charging faster than Level 2 is harder on the batteries.

No, the Clarity Touring doesn't have that automatic seat slide-back feature. You could fake it by setting the Driver 2 position all the way back and then just pressing the "2" on the door to move the seat (slowly) to that position.

An updated head unit would be great. Many hoped it would appear in the 2019 Clarity, but Car & Driver and Motor Trend have reported there will be no changes for the 2019 car. It required considerable engineering resources to bring this limited production car to market, so it's not surprising it won't get annual updates. Most Honda's change very little in the second year after introduction or after a major model change. In my opinion, the Accord's head unit is its only real advantage over the Clarity.

I hope you enjoy your Clarity Plug-In Hybrid as much as I enjoy ours!
 
I was even thinking with the sunroof if it was just glass with no function other than bringing in a nice view and some more natural light like the Tesla. In regards to the battery technology, I should have prefaced that with future version meaning years down the road :) ... definitely not something I see viable anytime soon, but trust me I am grateful for the decisions Honda made with the current edition of the PHEV and as technology enhances and batteries become larger capacity and smaller sizes I can only imagine this car getting better. That is a good idea with the 2nd memory seat, however my wife and I will be sharing this and she will be sitting on top of the wheel and dash as much as she can so I may need to pass on that one, but can see that working for others for sure... great idea.

I am also wondering if they will expand on the Honda Sensing features, being my first Honda I am/was pretty green on it and what the offerings were. I just saw the sign detection feature on the Insight and thought was a great idea and another nice enhancement. I am sure the more you cram into it the more your EV range is impacted though at the end of the day the purpose of this car is to get you as much EV as possible but take away that range anxiety.

Needless to say, love the car, have heard nothing but compliments over the last few days as friends and family have seen it, and Honda may have won us over as repeat customers.
 
My daughter just bought a Clarity phev and I got to ride in the back seat along with my son in-law. We are both over 6' tall and I must say, there had to have been at least 5" between my knees and the back of the front seat! It was a very comfortable ride! I own a 2014 Volt and the back seat in it barely has room to squeeze into! There's a lot to like about the Clarity!
 
Yeah, I am just shy of 6' and couldn't be more comfortable in the driver's seat. One of my co-workers who goes with me on lunch rides even said he has more leg and headroom in the back seat then he had in my Edge when I had it. The Volt was very fun to drive, seemed much quicker, but I was sold on the comfort of the interior of the Clarity with comparable range. If my work commute plays out like this morning I am going to be one happy camper. Was spending around $300/month in gas charges when I had the Edge.
 
If you have charging at work, I don't see how it can't work out for you. Don't get me wrong, I love my Volt. When you do a heads up comparison between the 2, the Volt does beat the Clarity in just about every category other than the interior. The '18 Volt has a little more range and is a tad quicker 0-60...and it has a heated steering wheel. I'd love a heated steering wheel come this winter! That would actually help to save on the battery as you wouldn't need as much cabin heat. Having said that though, I think my daughter will be very happy with her Clarity. My '14 Volt is only rated for 38 miles of battery, but even so, I'm averaging 110mpg or better and went from May 1st to Sept 21st without needing to fuel up. When I did fill up, I was only down 6 gallons. If I had an '18 Volt, I don't think the engine would ever run and my fuel would probably go bad, since my furthest semi regular drive is less than 53 miles round trip.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top