2018 HONDA Clarity

Clarity is perfect for EV living in the country

Performance: 0 Comfort: 0 Fuel Economy: 0 Fun To Drive: 0 Interior Design: 0 Exterior Design: 0 Build Quality: 0 Reliability: 0 Comfort Rating: 5 Performance Rating: 5 Interior Rating: Reliability Rating: Safety Rating: Technology Rating: Value Rating:

As enthusiastic owners of an original and a 2005 Prius, we were excited about the prospect of buying a plug-in hybrid to drive back and forth to work each day without having to use gas. We live out in the country in upstate NY, so a Tesla (while attractive) was impractical when it came to going on longer trips and not worrying about finding charging stations. We were initially enthused by the prospects of the Volt, but after driving a 2018 we felt it was a downgrade from our 2005 Prius when it came to noise and comfort, particularly for adult passengers in the rear seat. My wife said the Volt felt like a cheap rental car and the back seat felt like the back of a Volkswagen bug. Next-up was the Prius Prime, which had a lot of the features we loved in our current Prius, but we both could not handle the Little Mermaid fish-faced design. While the Clarity is about as boring looking as an Impreza, it's not ugly. Then, December 8th, there it was - the first Clarity on the Honda lot. It was 15 degrees and snowing when we took it out for a test drive and after a few short minutes on the highway my wife and I looked at each other and said "we love this car." We bought it immediately and talk about how much we love it daily, with no regrets. This is an "adult" car. It's big, it's roomy, and it's super comfortable in every one of the 5 seats. It is so quiet and the sound system is so good, that we are enjoying our music (via CarPlay) at a whole new level. From a driving perspective, it does not feel like a hybrid. It is big, it feels heavy and is a lot more responsive than either of our Prius's. The car is very smart, maybe too smart is some cases (road departure, etc), and gets almost as good mileage when driving naturally as it does when driving in a light touch energy efficient mode. My wife loves the natural feel of the brakes, vs. the aggressive feel of most other regenerative braking systems. We just hit the 1000 mile odometer mark today and we are averaging 86mpg in very low winter temps (-5 to 25), even while running the heat (electric) and seat heaters. Living where and how we live the Clarity seems to be the perfect vehicle for us. I consider us to be picky, technology literate, early adopters and so far the Clarity, while albeit a bit boring looking, makes up for this and more with how it in the driving and riding experience.