Each week, I send a note to my editor indicating which model I intend to provide a review for. The response in this case was perhaps troubling: “Never heard of it!”
Some explanation is clearly needed.
The Clarity nameplate has been used by Honda for a little more than 10 years, and chances are you’ve never heard of it either. The reason for such is fairly simple: Honda generally attaches the badge to the sort of thing you can’t actually buy. The first Clarity was a fuel-cell electric vehicle, and subsequent models were only really available to small markets with hydrogen fuelling stations, including parts of California.
Fuel-cell vehicles make a great deal of sense – if there’s a hydrogen station on every corner, which there currently is not. But good news, this time the Clarity is coming to a Honda dealership near you as a plug-in hybrid. You’ll be able to charge it from your home outlet, and/or fill it up with regular grade gasoline.
As gasoline is hitting $1.50 locally, the timing of this thing could not be better for North Shore residents. You might not have heard of the Clarity before, but you’re going to want to learn all about it.
Design
The overall styling treatment of the Clarity may be best referred to as “weird Civic.” It’s about the same size as Honda’s mainstay compact sedan, with a touch of Honda Accord about the front end.
From the back and sides, however, the Clarity gets a few odd quirks like partial wheel covers and a lower cooling intake. These improve aerodynamics a bit, and help keep the battery cool.
However, especially in white, there’s a hint of Pontiac Aztec going on here, which is not really something you want. That’s like having a hint of boiled seagull in your breakfast cereal. No thanks.
Pick a darker, neutral colour and the Clarity is far more conventional.
Environment
Honda has struggled with ergonomic experimentation for the last few years, with split-level instrumentation and all sorts of other fun stuff. Possibly somebody bought the engineering team an aquarium, and they set about designing cars for octopi.
That’s mostly all sorted out by now, however, and the Clarity is as user-friendly as any conventional compact car. The centre console has a split-level design, which makes finding USB plugs a bit of a struggle, but once that’s dealt with, it’s just another useful space for you to fill with the detritus of everyday driving life.
Space and comfort is good, about on a par with a normal Civic hatchback. The central touchscreen is as easy to use as in a Civic, but is not quite as advanced as the one that’s now in the Accord. The lack of a volume and tuning knob is probably not a big deal for the driver, who has thumb controls, but it’s a little annoying if you’re the passenger.
The push-button gearshift takes a little getting used to, but becomes second nature after a while. And, since electricity is being used to power the car, it actually makes a great deal of sense – more on that later.
Rear trunk space is a little small at 439 litres – a Civic hatchback has 723 l – but is perfectly adequate for normal driving duties, including getting the weekly groceries. There’s also a handy little sub-floor pocket for storing the plug.
Again, everything is fairly conventional and unsurprising, but the Clarity’s main interior feature is that it’s very un-Prius. Materials are higher quality, there’s less use of hard plastic, and it doesn’t feel made of recycled material. It’s just about as nice in here as in the new Accord, which is a leader in its segment.
Performance
This is normally the bit where a modern Honda is measured against a yardstick like the mid-’90s Civic. Most of them come up wanting in the handling and fun department, but deliver far better comfort and lower road noise.
With the Clarity, handling and a fun to drive factor are purely secondary considerations. Efficiency is key here, and for the most part, the car impresses.
Being a plug-in hybrid, the Clarity effectively has two powertrains working together. The combustion engine is a weedy little 1.5-litre lawnmower of a thing which makes 103 horsepower at 5,500 r.p.m., and is a little noisy. The electric motor makes 181 h.p. at 5,000 r.p.m., and produces 232 foot-pounds of torque instantly.
Combined, they’re good for 212 h.p. at peak, but the electric motor is so quick to respond at the low end, you might never delve into the gasoline engine except on longer highway trips. For around-town driving, including to and from Richmond, I kept the Clarity in EV mode only, and used up what was in the battery first. Electricity is far cheaper than gasoline, so why not?
The Clarity’s 17 kWh lithium-ion battery provides a claimed 76 kilometres of range. It may be charged in about 2.5 hours using a 240-volt outlet, or 12 hours on a 120 V. That’s from completely dead, so if you’ve got a commute of around 40-50 km, you could easily plug it in before bed and wake up to a full battery.
The fuel tank is very small at 26 litres. On a longer highway trip, I thought the Clarity was simply sucking down the gas as the fuel gauge fell, but then it took less than two minutes to fill it. It felt like ibuprofen for pump pain.
The Clarity is quick at everything. Because there’s no transmission to shift gears and the shifter is a push-button, it may be the quickest three-point-turn vehicle I’ve ever driven. That’s a weird superpower to have, but there you go.
It’s also zippy off the line, extremely quiet, and even has a sprinkling of Honda fun about the handling. Because of the battery back, it’s fairly heavy, but the electric torque dispatches most of the inertia, and the Clarity overall drives like a big fat Accord. That’s, um, meant to be a compliment.
Features
The Clarity comes in two trims, with the base car starting at $39,900. The battery is large enough to qualify it for a $5,000 point-of-sale rebate, cutting the gap between it and the Prius PHEV. The higher-trim Clarity costs an additional $4,000 for navigation and leather seats – the base is the better value.
As far as delivering efficiency, the Clarity is claimed to deliver mixed-mileage of 2.1 Le/100 km. Le/100kms is a measure of gasoline equivalency – one litre of gasoline is about 8.9 kW. The Clarity will burn 5.6 l/100 km in mixed use if you run it on gasoline only.
My experience, which used only a regular household outlet and nightly plug-ins, is that I used about seven litres of fuel for a 200+ km there-and-back highway trip, and no other gasoline for the entire rest of the week’s commuting.
Green light
Efficient; relatively fun to drive; quiet and comfortable
Stop sign
Looks a bit weird; more costly than rivals
The checkered flag
Just the thing to ride out a trade war with Alberta.
Competition
Prius Prime ($32,990): The plug-in version of the Prius is about 15 per cent cheaper than the Clarity, as it gets a smaller rebate because of its battery size. In terms of overall ownership cycle cost, however, the fact is, everyone knows what a Prius is, and it should have good resale.
Aside from that, the Prius is a little weirder than the Clarity, and less well-finished inside. Its liftback is theoretically more useful than the Clarity’s trunk, but the latter is better for hauling four passengers around.
