Did you consider the Honda Clarity before your Prius Prime?

That's exactly what I did haha

 

I did but cancelled, Wife said no. Same - Base for $26,650 for a 2018.

Could kick myself since I did't buy it.

Still love my Prime but wanted more EV range

Blue

 

I'll just leave this here: Clarity Issues | Page 26 | Inside EVS Forum

 

I participated in that long thread.

IMNSHO, the sky-is-falling posts there are by first time hybrid owners who A) don't understand how that powertrain works and B) the importance of having adequate battery reserve for climbing hills. Just ask any Prius owner who's started a mountain climb with a battery in the purple.

Because of that thread, I created a poll question on that same forum on # of previous hybrids owned and over 66% of the respondents voted first time owners. Growing pains for a new vehicle attracting mainstream buyers. As the saying goes, "That's a good problem".

 

The problem is power loss at highway speeds AND going into limp mode (I could be wrong, but that's what the post I linked to said, nothing about mountains). I've seen both sides of that argument. The problem is that there is an argument to be had at all. The risk of it happening might be low, granted, but the damage that could be done if it does happen is quite high. I commute 80 miles a day and I'm just not gonna entertain that particular risk, however low it may be.

And that is not the only reliability issue with the Clarity. It has other reliability problems, both anecdotally and according to Consumer Reports that I tend to trust. Meanwhile, Prius is one of the most reliable cars out there.

 

Nobody is perfect, and all will face issues at some time.

Toyota is conducting a safety recall involving certain Prius vehicles | Toyota USA Newsroom
"The involved vehicles were designed to enter a failsafe driving mode in response to certain hybrid system faults. Toyota has found that in rare situations, the vehicle may not enter a failsafe driving mode as intended. If this occurs, the vehicle could lose power and stall. While power steering and braking would remain operational, a vehicle stall while driving at higher speeds could increase the risk of a crash.
This recall provides a remedy to address a new condition in the vehicles involved in the previous recalls announced in February 2014 and July 2015. The previous recalls did not anticipate this new condition remedied with this recall."

Note that this the third recall over an issue that could lead to a Prius stalling at highway speeds.

The gen 4 Prius had a recall early on for the parking brake, and the Prime itself had its release delayed over supply issues with the hatch.
Toyota Prius Parking Brake Recall | 340,000 Priuses | Digital Trends

What is important is how the company handles the issue. Honda wrecked their hybrid reputation over the NiMH packs in Civics.

 

Absolutely, and part of what turned me off from the Clarity was then reading owners' experiences with dealing with Honda. Also, I tend to trust Consumer Reports because they do have a larger sample size and try to be methodical in their analysis. Their top 10 most reliable cars have 3 Prius models, including the Prime and #3.

 

Prius can leave drivers with sudden loss of power and/or stranded too and has been the subject of serious recalls some of which only came after class action lawsuits by owners. One can find issues on every forum and there are some real whoppers here too but that doesn't mean the Prius is a bad choice just like a thread on insideev's doesn't make the Clarity one either.

+1

 

That was a big problem on my 2004, which even with a full-green battery would quickly deplete it when climbing hills.

Not on my Prime.

I just drove over the Rockies with a totally full car and it didn't deplete the battery even 1% while climbing the biggest, steepest hills. The engine has the power to pull the completely full car up a 7% grade at 75mph without using the battery.

 

Yes and no. Some people choose their supplier, such as those that have local solar farms.

 

We've had our Clarity PHEV for over two years. I don't think we even considered a Prime when we were deciding. Happy with the car overall along with the 5 years of free navigation map updates.

moto g(7) power ?