Featured Honda Clarity Plug-in

to the clarity owners, does the engine start when the heater is on? I heard the sonata plug in starts the engine when the heater is on.

Can someone also post longer gas mpg?

 

I live in California, where the temp has been >55 F. ICE has not engaged for me when heater turned on.

 

No ICE when heater is turned on during our recent SoCal "cold snap" (yes, it'd be termed a mild start of spring everywhere else east of the desert - but we're not used to highs in the low 50s around here! And nights in the high 30's? Crazy Frozen Nights!)

Mileage hasn't been possible yet because I've only had one fill-up since mid-December, and Fuelly won't calculate it until the next one. However, assuming the tank was full when I bought it, the MPGe for tank one was 154.54… not bad when you consider the same trips as I made on my Prius at 64.7. The increased EV range makes a huge difference.

 

After a couple nasty winter drives into Tahoe valley & over the contental divide ... SoCal never looked better

We love our AWD - but hope we never ever have to depend on it again

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I can vouch for the Clarity having effective electric heat.
I went with my daughter for a test drive in 40 °F weather and we got uncomfortably warm quickly without use of the ICE.

 

Does it have timing belt or chain?

What’s the maintenance schedule look like?

 

It has a chain. See 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid - Owner's Manual - PDF (589 Pages)

 

Either way my engine has only run for perhaps 3 hours since we bought the Clarity Dec 5. The car now has almost 4.000 miles. For us the Clarity is ideal. We live in a small city and drive less than 30 miles at a time. We recharge at home, then may drive to appointments again. So our daily car use is full electric. Only on trips out of town do we use the ICE. So while it's nice to have the chain drive it will be a very long time until the engine has enough hours to worry about.

The Honda app is telling me the car needs to be serviced in 3 months. Perhaps I will bring it in as the initial check-up then. But I'll wait a year between oil changes. Some owners are installing a gas engine hour meter so they can know when to have service done. Sadly the car doesn't have a built in engine our meter like many boats do.

 

Honda has a pretty sophisticated service monitor that tracks things like the mileage, engine hours, load, rpms, and various temperatures. I have only experience with GM's oil life monitor which watches such parameters, but it sounds like Honda's system is a step above.

These aren't like Toyota's service minder light that only tracks the miles the car was driven.

 

Because it's lugging around 17 KWH of battery, not 2KWH as in the accord

 

47 in our experience is low on the all electric range, were routinely getting 52-56 all electric miles per charge, enough to use it as a full electric while in town, and for my wife's commute. As for hybrid mode mpg, the all electric miles have to be factored in, in any total mpg average on a longer trip, with those factored in, actual mpg is far better than 42 mpg.
On a recent trip from Lake Forest, CA to Scottsdale, AZ, we drove a total of 783 miles, and drove 260 of those on full electric, stopping once each way to eat and shop while charging, and recharging at the Hotel while in Scottsdale, that's 33% all electric, so the actual true mpg is far higher than 42mpg. On that trip it worked out to 62.64 mpg, not bad for a car that's bigger than a Honda Accord.

 

Wow, that's very good number. Are they mostly hwy drive or mixed with city drive? On my Prime which has EPA rating of 54mpg (gas only), I routinely get above 60mpg on HV mode, but if Clarity can deliver that milage, I may have to rethink my next purchase, if I ever decide to go for another PHV sedan.

 

i noticed on bobw's latest chart they are starting to sell quite well.

 

Went for a Clarity Touring PHEV test drive today. As a two-time Prius owner (Gen 2 and Gen 3 Plug-in Advanced) I'm quite giddy at the thought of owning one. Here's a really short synopsis of what I liked/didn't like:

- bigger, roomier feeling than Prius
- more powerful - able to accelerate harder than PiP in EV mode
- Longer EV range, I think, than new Prime Advanced
- lower fuel economy than my current Prius and Prime Advanced
- smaller fuel tank than Current Prius and Prime Advanced
- Trunk/hatch area is a tighter squeeze than my current Prius. Current Prius is liftback with fully folding seats. Clarity has folding seats but still only has a pass-through. I went shopping at IKEA one time and was able to get a complete queen-sized bed set in the vehicle along with other items. I will have to remember this.
- no heated steering wheel in Clarity as opposed to Prius Prime Advanced
- more driver-centric controls in Clarity
- less obnoxious touchscreen in Clarity
- lane keep camera, side view cameras for blind spot protection
- interesting option to pause Sirius-XM (allows recording)
- slightly ugly (IMO) tire well aerodynamic panel on Clarity - perhaps worried about winter road sludge buildup.
- IMO, overall better/sportier look on Clarity - looks like an every day sedan.

 

For the life of me, I can't figure why Clarity didn't have lumbar support seating - at least for the driver, if not both driver & front passenger. We found that inexplicable.
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The LX and hybrid Accord don't get lumbar support, and the base Clarity PHEV doesn't get power seats. It is about pinching pennies to reach a price point.

 

Interesting to see so much interest in the Clarity. I saw one at the car show, then decided I needed to take a test drive. I am very impressed, want one for the quiet, the mileage and the vaguely Citroen looks. It's been a long time since I've been to PriusChat in general, good to see it still around.

 

The “new” to us ‘06 Prius is an 82k miles one owner that we purchased from a Honda dealer recently. The prior owner went for the Clarity. We are glad that they did because we got their babied Prius.

Now I just need to get to know them for when they upgrade again. Or keep watching our neighbor who is a few years away from giving up driving. They have done: Honda Civic Hybrid > 2 Gen Prius, 3rd Gen, and now a Prius Prime plug-in. I should have purchased their 3rd Gen but wasn’t quite in the market yet.


2006 Prius Base