With 2024 almost in the bag, it seems like the big winner of GM’s Ultium electric vehicle push is actually Honda. The Prologue battery-powered crossover is selling like bottled water in the desert, and the platform-sharing with GM almost makes you forget that it isn’t actually Honda’s first U.S. offering in the modern battery-electric vehicle era. Honda actually offered a previous EV in America as recently as 2019, and although it was most certainly a flop, it spawned a plug-in hybrid variant that makes an exceptionally compelling used car option today. I’m talking, of course, about the Honda Clarity.
The story of the Clarity name begins back in 2008, when Honda turned its 2006 FCX hydrogen fuel-cell concept car into a production model. Available for lease in select markets around the world, it was an experiment that seemingly went well. At the minimum, it went well enough for Honda to build a next-generation model, and for the Clarity’s second act, Honda would load as many alternative powertrain types into one cannon and light the fuse. We’re talking about a choice of fuel cell, battery electric, and plug-in hybrid propulsion.
Obviously, sales of the fuel cell model were limited. Not only was this option only initially available from just 12 Californian dealerships, the hydrogen fuelling network isn’t exactly tremendous right now. Liquid hydrogen is expensive, hard to find, and just not currently something the average person should be commuting on.
So what about battery power? Launched for the 2017 model year, the Clarity EV was only available for three model years, only initially available in California and Oregon, and only initially available to lease. Objectively, it kind of sucked, because it offered just 89 miles of range, yet it entered production around the same time that Tesla was ramping up Model 3 deliveries. By this point, a midsize sedan with a 25.5 kWh battery pack was thoroughly outdated, so it’s not a huge surprise the Clarity EV was largely forgotten — it didn’t stand a chance. Oh, and that’s before we even get to its deadly rival that even shared a bodystyle.
Launched one year after the battery-electric model, the Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid offered a whopping 47 miles of electric range, and you could order one in all 50 states. Better yet, once you exhausted the electric range, you still had a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine to get you where you needed to go, provided where you want to go is within 340 miles of wherever you started. It’s not a power-split hybrid setup, so it relies on a 180-horsepower electric motor to provide smooth propulsion the majority of the time, with a direct drive ratio engaging the engine when anything more than mere generator operation is necessary.
As Car And Driver found out, the Clarity PHEV didn’t exactly offer a sporty experience, but considering its Accord-adjacent size and efficient mission, it didn’t need to. Instead, it seemed to offer comfort in spades.
What the plug-in Clarity Touring does best is tour. The ride is cushy, and tire and wind noise is subdued even when there’s virtually no engine or motor noise competing with it. There’s a Sport mode, but it seems out of character for this easygoing machine. Regenerative braking triggered by paddles behind the steering wheel adds some engagement to the package, but that fascination seems to fade rapidly, and it’s easy to forget about the paddles altogether.
However, the other thing the Clarity offered in spades was weirdness, because my word, this thing didn’t look like any other Honda at the time. It had partial skirts covering up portions of its rear wheels, it has a weird blend of bubbliness and angularity, and even though it looks like it offers a convenient hatchback, it actually doesn’t. Let’s take a closer look at the rear end, because that’s where a lot of the weirdness is going on.
Is that just a black trim panel between the taillights? Nope, that’s a window that looks into the trunk. Obviously, this area’s pretty important for rearward visibility, so Honda installed another window in the bulkhead for the trunk, just behind the rear seats. When you look in the rearview mirror of a Honda Clarity, you’re actually looking through three panes of glass — the rear window, the smaller rear window, and the window for the smaller rear window. Obviously, this means there’s no way you’re hiding what’s in your trunk, so this isn’t the best car to transport anything suspicious in.
Still, you don’t drive a car from the trunk, and the cabin of the Clarity is actually pretty nice. Not only could you get woodgrain trim and soft textiles on the dashboard, you could also equip the Clarity Plug-in with a whole raft of toys. It came standard with dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a 180-watt eight-speaker sound system, an eight-inch touchscreen, and both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
While gently-used Hondas are usually fairly expensive, there’s good news here for bargain hunters. Whether out of weirdness, obscurity, or some combination of the two, used Clarity Plug-ins can be pretty reasonably priced. For instance, here’s a 2018 model with 82,280 miles on the clock, and it’s up for sale in California for $14,995. That’s not bad for a six-year-old plug-in hybrid with 47 miles of electric range.
Looking for something a little more loaded? How about another 2018 model, but this time, in the top-spec Touring trim? This one’s up for sale in Virginia for $15,700 with less than 76,000 miles on the clock, and it’s in the inspired choice of dark green paint with an off-white interior. That’s not too shabby.
So yeah, while everyone forgot about the last Honda EV offered in America for good reason, its plug-in hybrid cousin is very much worthy of your consideration. It’s depreciated to a sweet spot in the used car market, offers plenty of all-electric range, and is guaranteed to make your life a little bit weirder without the pains of most weird and obscure cars.
(Photo credits: Honda, Autotrader sellers)
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I looked at one of these new, but the dealer wanted more than MSRP so we walked out and ultimately bought a Niro PHEV instead.
I’ve put over 90,000 miles on my Clarity and I’m very fond of it.
On gas, it usually drives in series mode (like a BMW i3) and gets around 45 mpg. But if you’re driving between 45 and 55 mph, a single-speed gearbox clutches in and drives the wheels from the engine directly — this mode usually nets around 55 mpg. This selective series/parallel hybrid approach is now Honda’s standard. No planetaries here.
When running on electricity, it has liquid cooled/heated batteries, PTC cabin heat, preconditioning, and it’s easy to keep the engine from starting up unless temperatures hit 10°F or below.
Electric efficiency is meh. Around 2.75 mi/kWh. That includes charging losses at 110V, but even so a vehicle like this should easily top 3.75 mi/kWh. I’ve never figured out why, but I know I’m not alone there.
It weighs 4,100 lbs, heavier than an Ioniq 6 SR. It’s a chungus, but it corners flat, and with some good tires it takes the backroad doglegs and cracked pavement like a champ. The hilarious multilink rear suspension is to make room for a hydrogen tank, but it seems to work pretty well in its own right. The Clarity is packed with features, but I think the smoothness and confidence of the ride is what makes it a flagship.
I remember that when I started researching it, I found out that the PHEV sold in Japan (eiyh a ChaDeMo port) for around ¥5.6m Yen, which was around $53k USD at the time. But you could get them for $31k new here, and it was eligible for the $7.5k tax credit. There was no way Honda ever made a profit on these.
I had forgotten about it, which was a good thing, and now I can’t unsee it – again.
Funny thing – I rented a Civic last year – one of the models that sorta looked like this one. It took me four days to realise that the front bumper was crashed on the passenger side. The damn thing was so tortuous and ugly by design that the crashed part looked just different, not crashed.
When you can’t tell an ugly part from a crashed one, it speaks quite a bit about the underlying design.
Just saw this on Jon Wurster’s (excellent) Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDibYqJyaDN/?img_index=2
This has to be the Ugliest Honda ever, that’s why they are cheap.
Every time I see one I am fascinated on how ugly they are.
I looked at these, but the BMW i3 I went with offers the same amount of electric range and was $8k cheaper. As a second-car town runabout for my wife the i3 made way more sense.
We designed a hatchback but accidentally gave it a trunk.
Nope – zero interest in those ugly-ass things.
Thanks for the insight. It gave me clarity.
I thought this was going to be a prelude to a longer comment
Flashman was in his element on this one.
In this, we have reached an accord.
i.e. there seems to have once been a specific theme to Honda’s EV names, which has apparently now been abandoned with Prologue reverting to the familiar ‘bits of novels’ format.
Prologue sort of goes with Prelude though.
These are so delightfully weird.
Someone in my area owns a white Clarity that I see from time to time. I rather like the looks of these. There’s something rather Avant garde about it, like a modern interpretation of a Citroen CX.
I actually saw one yesterday and thought the wheel skirts and profile looked very cx to me too
I love mine! I got a 2018 Touring as a lease return back in 2021 with 24k miles on it for $19,000 because the dealer didn’t know what it was – WA state was also waiving sales tax on used PHEV/EVs so it was an even better deal. It’s now at 66k miles and has had no maintenance besides the yearly oil change. The trunk is huge and can fit carry-ons standing up. I drive mountain passes often for skiing and mountain biking and I am still averaging 92 MPG lifetime, it also easily charges overnight on Level 1. My favorite feature is the remote climate control from the fob or free app. Overall, it has significantly better ride quality than my mom’s BMW and has been dirt cheap to run.
You left out one of the best parts about this car, it’s mostly made of aluminum! If you live in the rust belt or any other salty, winter climate, you can have a car that won’t rust back to Earth!
On the downside, manufactured and assembled in Japan, and body panels are likely near unobtanium.
Gotta be easier to get than all of the Saabs and Pontiacs I see here in Ohio lol
Saab’s parts division was spun off and sold to the Swedish Crown. Other than for the NG9-5 and the handful of 9-4Xs, it’s not much of a problem.
“mostly” – do you have a source for that? I thought these were just aluminum closures and fenders – all of the frame/body should still be steel.
From Honda:
The Clarity Plug-In Hybrid has several unique engineering features designed to enhance performance and achieve lighter overall weight.
https://www.hondainfocenter.com/2020/Clarity-Plug-In-Hybrid/Feature-Guide/Engine-Chassis-Features/Advanced-Chassis-Features/
What do they mean by “rear shelf”? The parcel/package shelf?
Thanks for this. I hadn’t considered the front and rear sub-frames.
From my perspective, the floor is steel, the front comp is steel. The roof and side panels are steel. The same parts that often rust on other cars.
One thing about the EV version: it is not that it was a flop; Honda did not want to make it. I know because I tried really, really, really hard to lease one.
Short range and all, at $199/month with very little down, it was a good deal back then for an around-town EV. Banners advertising it were all over the main EV news sites.
So I approached multiple dealers. One told me that they had not received a single Clarity EV in over a year. There was a reservation list, but it was not guaranteed that another car would ever arrive (the 2018 model was sold out and only 600 units would be produced of the 2019 one, or so they told me). Other Honda dealers did not officially say that the car was not available, but took my info and just kept contacting me to let me know that my Clarity Plug-In Hybrid (not what I wanted) was “available for you!”
All of this while I still saw banners everywhere…
Finally, I got a call. And, unlike the last 10 calls, it was not a new salesperson not knowing the difference between Clarity Hybrid and EV. Somebody might have actually found a Clarity EV in the back of the factory somewhere… But these were the terms:
– No reservations in advance. If you need the car a couple of months from now, you have to get lucky that they do get a car by then and that they don’t happen to lease it to somebody else. “Don’t call us, we will call you” kind of attitude.
– No option to pick color; you get what they have, and you will like it.
– No looking at the car beforehand. The cars only get delivered to the dealer once the buyer signs the papers, which of course also means…
– No test drives. You can only “test drive” the car if you are the buyer and have already provided the down payment.
Despite all of this, I say yes.
Fast forward 6 months. I get an unexpected call from the Honda dealer. They have a Clarity EV available, and I must go to the dealer NOW. I am at work, so I tell them that I will get there as fast as I can as soon as I am out, in about three hours. Two hours after that, they leave me a message. The car is already gone.
So I think calling it a flop might not do justice. Clearly, Honda only really wanted to sell the plug-in version, and the EV was just for ads to get people through the door.
Yeah it is hard to call the EV version a flop. Honda lost money on each one so they weren’t interested in producing more than the number of ZEV credits they desired in any given year.
I had a similar experience but I lucked out and actually got one. I got called on a weekend and skipped out the last few innings of my son’s little league game to get to the dealer in time. I wouldn’t call it an engaging car to drive, but for a commute car (with charging at work) it was great. Super cheap to own and fairly comfortable on my commute.
Yes but given what we have seen between hybrids and EVs the best choice is hybrid or no bid.
I mistakenly thought the Clarity was just a hydrogen car. I see a couple around town where I live and always have thought “where the hell are they filling up?”
Still have mine. It’s now Rata Jr’s. whip. It’s been comfortable, reliable as an anvil, and total expense of an annual oil change and one set of tires in 55K miles.
Got it at a steal because hybrid Honda in Houston, ew. It’s a black Touring, and I was OTD at about $31K, before the $7500 tax credit, so it was about $24K net.
Don’t forget if you’re shopping used, these qualify for the full used electric rebate, at least for another five weeks, until the Orange Menace is back.
Just make sure the purchase price is $25k or less, you meet the income limits, and it’s bought from a dealer. It’s a little more restrictive than the new car EV rebate, but still very doable for Clarities and Volts.
Also make sure the used EV rebate has never been claimed before. The rebate is one per car.
One hell of a good value on a car with one of, if not the lowest, Total Cost of Operation, well assuming you actually plug it in regularly and your electric rates aren’t insane. I’m sure you regularly plug it in just like everyone else who bought it with their own money, because they wanted it.
Wall plug overnight gives a full charge. I think the longest I went between tanks of gas was just under 1100mi.
The one downside on the Clarity PHEV is that the fuel tank is only six gallons, but it does get about 250 miles out of that.
Funny thing is anvils? Not that reliable. It’s almost like they are a heavy piece of metal that doesn’t do anything.
They are frequently used to immobilize coyotes from a great height.
You can always rely on an anvil to be a heavy piece of metal that doesn’t do anything.
I came within about an hour of buying a 2019 after an overnight test drive/loaner in 2022.Dealbreakers? Well, I mistakenly thought it shared a platform with Accord or Civic, so shared parts and legendary Honda reliability would be a good thing? Nope — the Clarity came with a one-off, large defunct screen interface, in addition to a very strange and complex rear suspension that would have Audi engineers buying them a round of beers (and then laughing). It’s almost the very definition of “orphan” and not the good kind like Anne of Green Gables, or the singing and dancing ones like Annie or Oliver.Also, the center stack was annoyingly hard right where your knee touches. That sounds really nitpicky until you’ve driven a car for 20 minutes and it already feels like 8 hours of fatigue on your leg.All that aside, the world needed — and still needs — more cars like Clarity and Volt. And this one has an actual, adult-sized back seat (Volt is torture) but paid a very small penalty in range and dynamics. Granted, newer hybrids with 40+ mpg across the board can fill the niche nicely, but there’s something alluring about not having to buy gas for months at at time.
That knee thing is terrible. I was interested in one of these until I sat in it.
I do like catching one coming the other way on the highway, though. Looks like absolutely nothing else on the road at night.
Also, if you’re trying to chase down an around-town BEV sedan for cheap, don’t bother looking for the Clarity BEV. They were lease-only and Honda took them all back.
The center stack touching the knee is my #1 dealbreaker on a car. I turned down an Abarth 500 because of it and the salesman of the year I was stuck with tried to convince me I’d get used to it.
The wings on the top of the console are dumb and purely esthetic. I managed to live with mine, not a deal breaker, but it would be nicer if they weren’t there.
I test drove a 2nd gen 2018 Chevy Volt this fall and I was really shocked at how little room there was in the cabin.
And it was a dedicated 4 seater too, i.e. the rear had two independent seats with no option for a 3rd / bench seat (+ seatbelt), which I thought was supposed to be 1 of the largest improvements over the 1st gen Volt.
It did seem to drive nice and it was quiet, though the lack if cabin space ruled it out for our family.
Eh, I cross shopped these before I bought my Volt. They are uglier, more expensive, and lower range than the Volts are. Possibly more reliable though.
I have a Volt too, but I like that these exist as part of the “near 50 miles range class of hatch-sedans”. With the Clarity, Ioniq PHEV (not as long range) and Volt all gone, it’s left to just the latest Prius.
We need to keep these in mind too next time DT says that the i3 is the only worthwhile extended range EV out there.
Absolutely agreed. I did consider one of these, but the Volt won my dollar. At least the new Prius Prime is a damn good looking car. I did not consider an i3 during my search.