Did you consider the Honda Clarity before your Prius Prime?

there is a thread here by some clarity owners, and prime owners who have commented.

 

In 2017, only the Clarity EV was listed with an 89 mile range. In contrast, the Prius Prime has a 640 mile range.

Bob Wilson

 

I'm pretty sure they are referring to the Clarity PHEV which has estimated 47 mile EV range and 340 mile combined range.

I realize there is another thread about the Clarity in the Other Cars forum however I would think making some comparisons between Clarity and Prime isn't too off topic here.

Compared to the Prime the Clarity is larger and heavier (think Accord) and roomier for passengers, reportedly five people fit comfortably. However it is not a hatchback so cargo space is limited. It has a roomy trunk, and the rear seats fold down, but there is only a relatively small pass through for long items like boards or skis.

Reportedly the Clarity has a very quiet and smooth ride compared to the Prime (from people who have driven both).

However all of this roominess and quietness comes at a price in terms of efficiency. 110 MPGe compared to 133 for Prime, and gas MPG of only 42 compared to 54 for Prime. Besides using more gas the Clarity only has a 7 gallon gas tank compared to 11 gallons for the Prime. Resulting in a 340 mile range for Clarity which would not be fun on long drives, especially since you probably won't be recharging along the way so it's more like 300 miles, to be safe on a long drive you probably would need to fill up the Clarity every 200 miles or so.

EV range of 47 miles is nice however realistically it requires Level 2 charger because according to Honda, charging from 11% to full charge at Level 1 will take about twelve hours. Not sure why they only quote for 11% since I expect a lot of people will use all of the EV range in their daily commute, especially since they won't always be getting 47 miles.

A larger federal tax credit of $7,500. However there are no factory incentives, and not a lot of discounting by dealers, although a few people have reported getting $1,000 or so off of MSRP but only through some persistence. Of course it hasn't been out all that long so it's hard to predict if eventually there might be some discounting eventually.

 

I think that was Bob's point: the PHEV version just came out so it wasn't cross-shopped by the vast majority of current Prime owners on this site. For folks shopping right now, then it's more likely to be on the radar.

 

I agree that is true for the "Prime Pioneers" here. However the Clarity PHEV went on sale December 1st, and I remember there were a lot of discussions on here by people who were buying Primes in December to make sure they got the federal tax credit. Presumably some of them may have looked at the Clarity also. And the Clarity PHEV has been out for nearly three months now so there are probably more people now who have looked at both, either recent Prime owners or prospective ones.

 

It really comes down to requirements. My wife, her two dogs, and I are retired living my pensions and our Social Security. A Pacifica configured like a camper van might work but my wife is mobility limited.

A four seat, rear folding seats, with space to hold her folding wheel chair with maximum efficiency works. The Honda Clarity exceeds these requirements but at a higher cost per mile.

December 9, 2016, I needed to replace a perfectly fine 2010 Prius because I demand dynamic cruise control and automatic collision avoidance braking. The Honda Clarity could meet those requirements but at what cost?

The Prius Prime was $28k and the Honda?

Bob Wilson

 

40MPG? 7 gallon tank?

Forget that!

 

Did anyone else get one of these in the mail. Nice brochure. 47 miles on EV and 340 miles with EV and gas. MSRP $33,400 with a $7500 tax credit. Curious to see what the reliability will be compared to the Toyota hybrids.

 

Specs are closer to Volt than Prius Prime. But I had no interest in December 2016.

Bob Wilson

 

I sat in one recently at the Atlanta car show, very comfortable and roomy interior especially in the rear seat. It is a much larger car than the Prime, roughly Accord sized. Reviewers have compared the interior to Acura and I would agree, at least for the touring model which is $3,000 more. The only thing I didn't like was the odd flying bridge center console, with "wings" that stick out to the side for apparently no other reason than to impinge on leg space, although I didn't find them in the way, just unsightly. Some reviewers don't like the push-button shifting, but I haven't heard any comments from owners that they didn't like it. All reviews and comments indicate it is very quiet and nice to drive, and handles decently due to the low center of gravity which is a result of the battery being located under the passenger floor. The battery location also results in a very roomy trunk, combined with the fold down rear seats it looked to my eye like it has similar overall cargo space as the Prime, maybe even a little more, although not being a hatchback you wouldn't be able to fit larger items like a TV into the Clarity like you could in the Prime. The Clarity has a pass through when the rear seats are folded down which is actually decent size as far as pass throughs go, just not big enough for TV sized items.

As you would expect of a larger, heavier car, it is about 20% less efficient than the Prime both in EV and HV. The Clarity came out during the winter, so people haven't been getting electric range of 47, more like 30's during really cold weather, low 40's when it's a bit warmer. Will be interesting to see what range people get when the weather warms up some more. Reportedly one characteristic that it shares with Prime is that it does remain in EV mode as long as there is sufficient charge. Interestingly it has a "detent" in the accelerator pedal motion that you push past in EV mode if you want ICE to come on, but if you stay below the detent it remains EV. Reportedly you only have to go past the detent for very hard acceleration. Even with the lack of efficiency compared to Prime, someone who has a daily commute that happens to be near the top of the EV range of the Clarity would probably come out ahead of Prime or at least similar, especially if they can charge at work. But someone who drives more or less than that would not. And it has that odd small gas tank, almost like the Clarity is a SREx (Super Range Extender. I just made that up).

 

Aside from all the specs, the car's headlights looks like it tried to commit seppuku. Twice. Where are the normal looking PHEVs? The prime with its rear and the clarity with it's front. Lol

 

The Ioniq is pretty normal looking. But some people are complaining that it is too plain looking LOL

 

At the Chevy dealer.

 

No hatchback, black leather interior, 1.5 ice (admittedly haven't tried one) sounds piggish, only 350 mile range, etc
Never considered one.

 

the Chevy volt is certainly more normal looking but I don't trust american made vehicles to have to quality and longevity of Toyotas.

 

FYI, a lot of Toyotas are American made while many US brands are manufactured overseas.

 

True. Although you may not be old enough to remember but quality got pretty dismal in the U.S. many years ago, which opened a big void which Japanese automakers began to fill with cars that were quickly recognized as having much higher quality than U.S. made cars.

U.S. car makers responded and quality has greatly improved, however that opinion still lingers somewhat even among those not old enough to remember the bad days.

 

Leather seats are only on the touring model, base comes with cloth seats. It also comes in beige interior, although interior color is tied to exterior color. Only black, silver and dark gray exterior have the black interior. White, red and green have beige interior.

Although I realize that leather wasn't the deal breaker for you

 

Sigh..... unfortunately I am.