So it's like a Prius, right?

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Blue Adept said:
The Clarity is a full sized Sedan. The Prius Prime is a Hatchback.
Both can run on electricity. 47 miles for Clarity. 25 miles for Prius Prime

Research and a good excel spreadsheet.

The Clarity costs more per mile than the standard Prius. But is more comfortable.


Clarity is not like the standard Prius tech wise. More like the Prius Prime (please don't kill me for saying that ) But the cost to run the Clarity (that is more of a full size sedan) will cost you less than the 0.60 per mile that the average sedan costs to run.
Different class of car.

Cost per mile on the standard Prius is about .46 per mile.

Clarity 110 MPGe. Prius Prime 133 MPGe. Prius. 53 mpg

Now here is where it gets interesting.

Cost per KWH. Mine cost is .169 under 600 kwh. And .269 over 600 kwh.

17 kwh @ .169 = $2.83
17 kwh @ .269 = $4.57

1 gallon of gas $2.57. (Michigan)

So if you dont have Solar Power (Sunk Cost ) you pay more for the electric power than the gas.

The Clarity is a cool car and is a pleasure to drive in EV.
Most people think of a car like an appliance. Drive from point A to point B. Don't care about the cars tech. They ask one question. How much does it cost.

Since I have driven the Clarity , Prius Prime and Prius extensivly. And people have asked me about each I have to say the Clarity is like an Accord for Comfort and the Prius is like the Corola for Comfort.

No one car is right for everyone.

My wife hated the Clarity. I liked it.
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Interesting comparisons. Just as a side note, while pretty much everyone has heard of Prius and has at least a vague of idea of what it is, Prius Prime is basically as rare as Clarity in most parts of the country and just as unknown to the average person, even though Prius Prime has slightly higher numbers. For example I have seen more Clarities in Georgia, about five, compared to about three Prius Prime. I'm sure for others it might tip slightly more one way or the other, but effectively they are both about equally rare. Thus we were referring only to standard Prius in our answers since it is almost certain that that is what the person who asked the question meant. The answers that we gave for Clarity are probably similar to what Prius Prime owners answer when asked what the difference is between Prius Prime and regular Prius.
 
2002 You are right on the Prius Prime. Rare as a Clarity.

Clarity was a nice car while we had it. No longer any available in Michigan at any dealers. Only see a few on the road. The Prius Hybrid vrs the Prime or Clarity questions I got mostly were "is it worth it to drive the Clarity to save on fuel costs over the Prius Hybrid." To tell the truth "yes" since I am reimbursed. 54 per mile from work with free charging at work. But if i have to drive hundreds of miles I take the Prius Prime.

But since Clarity was killed by road debris on the freeway I only have the Prius Prime left.

People are curious but after a few minutes of talk their eyes glaze over. And don't care.
 
Blue Adept said:
2002 You are right on the Prius Prime. Rare as a Clarity.

Clarity was a nice car while we had it. No longer any available in Michigan at any dealers. Only see a few on the road. The Prius Hybrid vrs the Prime or Clarity questions I got mostly were "is it worth it to drive the Clarity to save on fuel costs over the Prius Hybrid." To tell the truth "yes" since I am reimbursed. 54 per mile from work with free charging at work. But if i have to drive hundreds of miles I take the Prius Prime.

But since Clarity was killed by road debris on the freeway I only have the Prius Prime left.

People are curious but after a few minutes of talk their eyes glaze over. And don't care.
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What is the ride quality like in the Prius Prime compared to Clarity?

What did you hit? What kind of damage did it get? Did you consider replacing the Clarity with another one?

Apology in advance for all the questions, answer what is comfortable for you.
 
Blue Adept said:
2002 You are right on the Prius Prime. Rare as a Clarity.

Clarity was a nice car while we had it. No longer any available in Michigan at any dealers.
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There are a few still. I know Germaine in Ann Arbor has a basic in red.

Honda's claiming that they'll take orders from outside California.
We'll see.
 
The Prime Drives like a Prius. After 3 other Prius's I can't fault it. Only thing is that is at 80 mph and heavy cross winds you can feel the pull. Mostly highway speeds for me. Clarity that my wife drove was quite compared the Prime. I love the tech in cars. Prime and Clarity. But the heads up display on my Prime is my favorite feature.

Both cars suffered EV range loss during the winter.

My wife went back to her old car. She was not thrilled after a while with Clarity anyway. We are going to get a Tesla Model 3 next April.

Plus after seeing the pull back from Honda of the Clarity from most markets we did not look for another one. Both cars proved to me that I can live with one EV and a few Hybrids in the future.

I have to look at cars as appliances and not anything more now.

After having some of the most intereting cars I just have to stop with the spending.
 
Blue Adept said:
After having some of the most intereting cars I just have to stop with the spending.
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But wait until after you get the Tesla then stop :D

Many people seem to feel that the Prime has slightly better ride and handling than regular Prius, possibly due to the weight of the battery as well as tuning of the suspension because of the additional weight. And most people prefer the headlights and taillights of Prime vs regular Prius. Slightly less cargo space due to the raised cargo floor but still holds quite a lot with the rear seats down. And similar to Clarity, for someone who has a daily commute that isn't too far they use very little gas, and even in HV mode the Prius Prime mpg can be pretty phenomenal. I really hoped that because of the visibility of the Prius name that the Prime would help increase the number of PHEV's and thus increase public awareness. But Toyota has been somewhat like Honda and not marketed the Prime, probably for the same reasons, it is not a profitable car for them at the price point required to move them, and so it exists mainly because of the ZEV states.
 
Around town it is like a Tesla but on a road trip its like a LARGE Prius.


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LAF said:
Around town it is like a Tesla but on a road trip its like a LARGE Prius.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
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Add-
FOR ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY DUE TO FED AND STATE REBATES!




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MrFixit said:
But wait !!!
A Tesla can do 0-60 in under 4 seconds. We can't do that :eek:
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That's actually not a bad way to describe the car though. If they nod and move on, at least you know you saved yourself some time. If someone asks why, you can back up your claim with the smooth/floaty drivetrain and ~50mi EV range. Helps get the word out, at least ;)
 
The reason nobody can come up with a quick sound bite for this is because Clarity not like a Prius. Not sure why people like to try to compare them.

So my answer to the title question is simply “No.”

Because...in layman’s terms for non technical people....

Prius is a small gas engine powered car with a small battery and small electric motor booster.

Clarity is a large fully electric car with a large battery that can be charged from external sources. And if you drive beyond battery range the car has its own gasoline generator, so you can keep driving indefinitely with onboard charging and never stop due to a dead battery.

The 2 cars are entirely different.

I guess they both are known to save a lot of gasoline. Then again the same could be said of the 1979 VW Rabbit Diesel and for unknown reasons nobody is bringing up this 3rd worthy car within the comparison...
 
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More like a Camry hybrid that can go on electric for almost 50 plug in miles, while the Camry could go about 1 mile non plug in.
 
...and many of these comments support my initial statement: Quite a lot of technical detail and personal anecdotes! I was attempting to give the most salient description of the difference between the two vehicles to an uninformed questioner. And now to add my two bits: Do casual inquirers want a lecture on the difference between "parallel" and "serial" hybrids? No, they don't. Do most realize that the Prius Prime exists? No, they don't. Have they heard that a Prius is a "self-charging hybrid"? Yes, they have. Do they want to know why I'd want to plug-in a hybrid instead of getting a "self-charging" one? Yes, they do. Do they really care that Volt and Clarity are the only serial hybrids? No, they don't. Do they understand that all other plug-ins are simply parallel hybrids with larger batteries? No, they don't. Do they think all hybrids are the same? Yes, they do. Do they really need to know that the ICE generator in both Volt and Clarity can engage with the drive wheels to provide torque? Maybe after a few drinks... :)
 
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