2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid. By creating an entire platform dedicated to clean cars, the Clarity trio is a step toward Honda’s target of electrified vehicles making up two-thirds of its global sales by 2030. Of those three Clarity cars — the Electric, Fuel Cell, and Plug-In Hybrid — the PHEV is going to be the volume model, shipping to all 50 states. With that in mind, we headed out to California’s wine country to test Honda’s successor to the Accord Plug-In Hybrid on the hilly roads surrounding Napa Valley.
Mm 18 honda clarity plug-in hybrid by creating an entire platform dedicated to clean cars the clarity trio is a step toward honda’s target of electrified vehicles making up two-thirds of its global sales by 2030 of those three clarity cars the electric fuel cell and plug-in hybrid the fev is going to be the volume model shipping to all 50 states with that in mind we
Headed out to california’s wine country to test honda’s successor to the accord plug-in hybrid on the hilly road surrounding napa valley the clarity fev comes in two trim levels the bass version starts at 34 thousand two hundred ninety dollars including destination charges it includes 18-inch wheels with michelin energy-saver tires led lighting multi-angle rear-view
Camera honda sensing suite of safety technology adaptive cruise control lane keeping assist heated front seats and an eight inch touchscreen display with apple carplay and android auto not too shabby tering trim is several grand more at thirty seven thousand four hundred ninety dollars this adds a leather wrapped steering wheel leather trimmed upholstery and ultra
Soui trim pieces eight-way power driver seat and four-way power passenger seat and satellite navigation system with voice recognition honda expects about a 50/50 sales mix between the two trim levels the clarity fence powertrain combines a 1.5 liter engine with two electric motors a high output 181 horsepower drive motor and a second motor that acts as a generator
In the starter the gasoline engine runs on the atkinson cycle and achieves an impressive thermal efficiency of 40% which is greater than any other engine we can think of and honda claims it’s a world beater for a production vehicle its lithium-ion battery pack has a capacity of 17 kilowatt hours the result is 200 twelve total system horsepower 232 pound-feet of
Torque 47 miles of electric driving range and a total range of 340 miles epa rates it at 110 jin f mode and 44 city / 40 highway / 42 combined overall this is the first time your author had actually seen any of the clarity series in person and it comes off as much more approachable than it does in photos indeed there are even subtle caching details that not only
Please the eye but serve a useful function the ducts that move air past the wheels are especially interesting they beg the eye to trace a path around the vehicle and the inlets and the rear doors are particularly fanciful our other favorite detail dealt not with aerodynamics but vision appearing into the massive trunk of the clarity feather we noticed a small strip
Of glass that allows one to see into the cabin from the driver’s seat this actually allows your line of sight from the rearview mirror to pass through the trunk into the road behind the car it provides a little extra confidence while allowing the clarity to achieve that very swoopy aerodynamic shape in the rear of the vehicle interesting looking sheetmetal and an
Advanced powertrain are compelling reasons enough to take note and maybe a test drive of the clarity but the really impressive thing here is the car’s interior particularly in the touring trim level the look and feel of the clarity’s cabin is perhaps the best we’ve seen in recent memory in the car bearing the honda badge the interior comes in ivory white or black
We preferred the white the design is conservative kept up by clever styling the touring combines a plastic that does a fine impression of wood grain with strips of ultra seaweed throughout including across the – the floating central touchscreen doesn’t feature any wacky surrounds and looks simple and uncluttered on the – the leather trim seats are comfortable and
The leather wrapped steering wheel is comfortable in hand over a long drive the shift buttons on the lower part of the center console are the only things that look a little out of place but open area below them makes for useful accessible storage just above that set of buttons are three more which select drive modes to cater to your deriving style or situation
The econ button reduces throttle response sport as the opposite the hv button will put the car into series hybrid mode to maintain charge in case you want to save it for when you get into the city likewise holding down the hv button will put it into charge mode which will bring the battery level back up to as much as about 58 percent charge while you drive
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2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid By AutoTrend
