2017 Honda Clarity Review

If we neglect Tesla, Japanese car manufacturers produce the best eco-friendly cars in the world. The majority of them are leaders in this field, Toyota, Honda, Nisan, etc. In fact, Honda is few steps behind Nissan and Toyota in terms of electric cars but this company has one concept that is getting more and more popular. Honda FCX Clarity is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle which was introduced in 2006. It was one of the very first hydrogen vehicles offered to retail customers. However, only few dozen came out of Honda factories since there are no many hydrogen filling stations. Next year a new generation is going to be launched – 2017 Honda Clarity.

COMPETENCE

Actually, two new variants will be added to the lineup, Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, and Clarity Electric, but we’ll focus on Clarity in general. Even though hybrids didn’t take advantage over diesel and petrol cars competence in this field is tough. Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Mirai, and FCEV are the biggest opponents and there are more of them on the market. Toyota and Hyundai offer three years’ worth of free hydrogen fuel. This is something new and it is not clear whether Honda will do the similar thing or not. It will be interesting to see how sales of Tesla cars impact the Clarity’s sales figures on the North American market.

POWERTRAIN

Offering free hydrogen fuel to its buyers would be a great move which would definitely attract more customers. However, the issue is whether Honda can financially support this idea. They will surely think about it and crunch the numbers and then they’ll see if they are going to go with this idea.

Powertrain doesn’t take much space and it can fit under the hood. There are two storage tanks for hydrogen which are located between rear wheels and the trunk, and under the rear seat. 2017 Honda Clarity is going to be powered by the motor that can deliver 174 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque. Estimated range is around 240 miles (390 km). The range hasn’t been officially published hence don’t take this to the bank. 240-mile range is quite decent and is very close to Model S. The Clarity will probably use regenerative braking. This means there is going to be a separate battery which will be used to store energy recovered during braking.
As most of the eco-friendly cars, it cannot brag with outstanding acceleration. It goes from 0-60 mph in nine seconds. If you didn’t get used to electric cars this would be too slow for you, but bear in mind that most of them still don’t have a decent acceleration.

DESIGN

2017 Honda Clarity is a four-door sedan with a large cargo space. Grill looks stylish and comes with chrome touches. Headlights are going to be equipped with LED technology and they will look stylish as well as taillights. According to some reviews, this sedan is coming in at least three different colors: white, dark and pink.
Safety first! Honda put safety in the spotlight and new sedan will be equipped with the latest safety features. All standard features should be there, such as blind-spot monitoring system and a rearview camera. Honda has never let us down when it comes to technology and this time, ti will be equipped with the latest features, as well. The cabin is one of the most elegant that has ever come out of the Honda factories. Upholstery is optional and we prefer black and white interior.

2017 HONDA CLARITY PRICE AND RELEASE DATE

There are no official statements about the price. However, in our expectation 2017, Honda Clarity won’t cost much more than the competent vehicles. Current Mirai costs $57,500 thus many believe Clarity’s price won’t exceed $60,000. It will be released sometime next year and, according to several sources, it will be presented in at the next North American Auto Show.