2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid consumer reviews

The Honda Clarity has nice styling, but, needs to be Geared more to the driver rather than what Honda thinks the car should do for the driver. When accelerating fast the car goes into charge mode. Why? Who thought that if you Put your pedal to the metal, Put the car in Charge mode. There should be a Switch for the driver to put the car in charge mode. The car Starts off in EV mode which is good, but, if you are on the highway, YOU need to put the car in HV mode and if you don't you loose all of your EV power. If EV mode goes to zero, it does not seem to have any regenerative power. In HV mode the car goes in to very high rev at low speeds. Went to the dealer about this. Tech gave me excuses that this is how the car works in certain modes and Charge amounts. It should not rev so high and this should be corrected. Car lacks basic features: No lumbar support, no sun roof, no blind spot or back up indicators, no automatic trunk opener, no spare tire (not even an option), no body side molding (this should be standard), no heated steering wheel, no cooling seats, navigator cannot understand any verbal commands, but, If I use google, it will pick up any spoken destination. Does anyone at Honda test the voice recognition? It is horrible. so, I have options I can't use and options that should be on the car. It does get good mileage, if you have the opportunity to charge the car often.

Car was bought for EV capabilities . Advertised o get 47 on a single charge , I don't get over 30 I get run around from dealers two of them, Honda customer service is HORRIBLE !!!!

My son is 15 and we were leaving to go shopping, he went inside the car to get his phone charger, and from no where the car reverse back and went 360 hitting two other cars inside the parking lot. I saw that and all what I thought is my son inside this crazy car. The car was Honda clarity, the electric car. It was press bottom car, so I think my son pressed on the reverse bottom accidentally while leaning to get his phone charger. Now, my car insurance total the car and paid off the Honda dealer for the rest of what I owe. Therefore, I’m warning people who have kids to be careful with this press bottom to operate the car. Imagine if a toddler stepped on one of those bottoms?! It’s scary situation. I just had the car for few months. It was hard to operate. I couldn’t change the lane without using the signal. It almost got me in couple of accidents because it kept jumping especially if it was operated by battery only. It didn’t stop fast enough if a car stoped suddelney in-front of me. I had couple of issues with it, and I told the Honda shop when I took it for oil change and was told to watch it for next time. I think the car had a mani factory problems with it. Honda refused even to look at it before my car insurance finish the claim. Therefore. I lost my down payment and all the payment I did for the dealer.

Truly a vehicle of the future. Built well and performs well including in winter snow conditions such as deep snow and icy roads and easy to handle

The plug-in hybrid is a great car for a 45-50 mile round trip commute. I have a free plug at work, which makes it a great deal and means that I can run errands, etc. without using gasoline. The car runs fantastic and delivers on the mileage. The only problem is getting in early enough to take a plug-in spot away from the Teslas. Given the tax credit and availability to use gasoline too to extend the range at a good MPG this can work for an active family. If you work it right you can only need to fill up less than once per month.

Incredible machine; usually travels on electric miles. Charge up overnight, go 40-50 miles in the morning. Gas engine there if you need more range, and it can even recharge the battery while it's taking you places. Good job, Honda!

I bought my 2018 Clarity last December. There is much about it that I love, but there are also some things I really don't care for at all. Let's begin the problem areas with that small rear window in the trunk. Some folks think it is great, but unless you enjoy watching the road immediately behind you, it is most useful for enabling a car burglar to spot things which you thought were concealed in your trunk. I had a reasonably priced high voltage charging station installed in my garage, & it is great to just pull in and plug in. A charge is good for close to 50-miles of driving, or more. I've filled my itsy-bitsy gas tank up twice since last December, and the electric charge is more than adequate for most around-town driving. There is, however, one annoying quirk: If you let your battery get down to 0-charge, the engine will not recharge it, and you will have to plug it in. The cruise control has an aggravating--even dangerous--trait that I have not seen in any other car: In electric mode--or especially in electric mode--when you click it on, it will allow your speed to drop 2 to 5 mph before gradually coming back to about the speed you set it for. But even then, it does not do a good job of maintaining speed. Honda has told me that it is a trait of the EV, and as of now they have no fix. I turned off the Lane Keeping Assist and Road Departure Mitigation systems shortly after I began driving the car. I don't remember which it was, but sometimes when going around a highway curve, the steering wheel would begin jerking back-and-forth, even if you were nowhere near a lane marking. To me, that is dangerous and distracting. Much better for the driver to just keep alert. There is no rear window wiper (I thought all cars had those now). There is no spare tire, & their little pump & sealant thingy is a sure-fire guarantee to get you stranded somewhere waiting for a flatbed to haul you to a repair facility, or if it works, to goo up your tire making it difficult to repair. So, I bought a spare, & with the 18" wheels on the car, & no Honda donut available, it takes up a lot of room in the trunk. So, the car is comfortable, has plenty of zip (for me), has a well-appointed interior, qualified for a total of $10,000 in rebates in Texas, the electronics seem to work reasonably well (although I'm still learning), and it is reasonably environmentally friendly. We're planning our first lengthy road trip, so will have to see just how we deal with the 7-gallon fuel tank. Hope this is a help to you.

The Clarity is very similar to the Accord. But this one is a hybrid, with a plug-in electric motor to power the first 50 miles traveled after charging, total range of 390 miles. I went for the Touring version. Smooth and quiet ride like few others, so much that noise was added for driving and reversing (under 10mph) -some cosmic synthe music. It feels and success like a Honda. One that commutes on electricity and can still drive me out of town for the weekend get away.

On a full charge we've regularly averaged 55-60 miles in urban setting. Safety features allow us to keep the foot off the gas n' brake in city traffic. Camera located on right mirror eliminates blind spots (activated by right directional signal or push button at end of signal arm. Installed Charge Point Charger in garage, takes two (2) hours to fully charge vehicle. Seats four (4) comfortably with an optional fifth seat belt in rear seat. The $7,500.00 federal tax credit is based on battery size. Have had hybrids since November 2005. This is the 2nd plug-in we've bought this tax credit and the longer range distances it from our 2018 Prius Prime Plug-In.

Plug-in Hybrid Electrics done right have all the benefit, power, and range of gas in an electric car: 3.5 cents/(electric)mile with no range anxiety vs. an all gas sedan that gets 33mpg: 8.6 cents/(gas) mile ($2.84/gal regular). When this PEHV does use gas only, it gets 42MPG. However, it recovers most of its energy and uses electric preferentially changing the gas MPG closer to 82-99MPG in long commuter traffic conditions. I’m not a rally car driver, but driving in packs of people “jockeying” for position in traffic means lots of Atlanta traffic lane changes. This car meets Atlanta traffic needs with astonishing agility, comfort, and efficiency. It preferentially chooses electric to motor itself forward at highway speeds. Going down hill, all under the hood is silent as it rapidly recharges its impressive battery power. Much of the “range” used with the accelerator is regenerated every time this happens. When “turbo-level” acceleration is required, the “sport” mode with its thrillingly tight suspension kicks in, and the car is in the lane you want. Where paddle shifters are located on many cars, this car has something more like a Peloton Bike electromagnetic resistance control system. Left “paddle” increases resistance, and right decreases. While resistance is happening, the batteries “super charge”, and the car slows down, like “downshifting”, or braking. No wear and tear on the transmission, and no brake pad or break “brushes” rubbing. Instead of having a car, this is more like having a “transport personal assistant” and high tech energy management system. It “reads” the road and traffic conditions, chooses the most efficient use of energy source: battery, gas, kinetic, or electromagnetic resistance, and produces an arrival time that matches my little turbo VW that was smashed two and a half weeks ago. For that little car alone, gasoline was running close to $7,000/year. This car might reach $875/year. One commute I have is 103 miles. The estimated “range” remaining on the car was 193 miles. When I got to the house, the estimated “range” remaining was 164.7 miles. This is what I’m talking about with the energy management system of this car. It’s not that the range was calculated badly. It simply gives the predicted “range” at any given moment if NO recharging were to occur, or if I chose to drive in exclusively gasoline mode (ran the batteries to zero, then ran on gas alone). The car isn’t really just a car. It’s a full sized sedan that can seat a family of 5 adults comfortably (huge back seat), runs the air conditioner, radio, and heated seats (in winter), and manages to have a reported cross country range of 360 miles (on full charge, full 7 gallon tank of gas), but in real world driving, is getting far more in range than that. I’m averaging 2.2 gallons of gasoline for every 165 miles driven. This includes highway and neighborhood driving. 500+ miles. Commuting to Downtown Atlanta and back uses zero gasoline. Because it charges in 1.5 to 2 hours in the middle of the night, there is a price break on the electricity it takes to charge the batteries. I’ve read lots of reviews on this car, and almost everyone calls it their “favorite car they’ve ever driven.” Probably, because this car seems to intuitively “understand” what the driver needs and wants, and then produces it without a lot of work on the part of the driver. So you are left enjoying the road and the drive for what it is, while the car takes care of the work of managing itself in traffic and on open road without a lot of range anxiety. Why don’t you see a lot of them on the road? Most are sold in California and Oregon. The few that are available for purchase in the rest of the country work exactly like the other Honda hybrids, so the technicians are capeable of servicing these cars. The thing is, the sales people don’t completely understand what they have in their possession, so the car sits on the lot “untouched” until someone comes looking for a Clarity. The MPG on the Honda Hybrid, Insight advertises 48MPG to the Clarity 41MPG gasoline engine, but they don’t understand that the electric motor of the Clarity is the predominant choice of this car’s motion. This changes the MPG average to 82-99MPG averages depending on where you are driving it. AND it’s a full sized sedan that is so agile, it feels like you are driving something completely different than a little rattle-trap economy hybrid.