Honda Clarity Flaws Revealed by Consumer Reports Review

The Clarity is, or rather was the first in a line of Honda green cars. It's available only in California as a lease with free hydrogen up to a cap of $15,000 for the life of the car. We've also heard that only about a dozen dealerships can sell you one too. An EV is also coming, but it will only be available in two states, California and Oregon. The plug-in hybrid shows a lot more promise.

But we talked about those two only recently; let's just focus on what Consumer Reports has to say about the regular Clarity FCV.

The concept might sound like something from The Jetsons, but the fuel cell has been around for many years. And considering hybrids have been around for many years, we shouldn't be surprised if something new came along. New, but not necessarily better, as CR says wind and tire noise is a problem at highway speeds.

Maybe if we spent long enough looking at George Jetson's car, we'd notice there are no cup holders or that the put-putting noise of the "engine" is annoying. Regardless, the Clarity's other flaws are concentrated inside.

The car of the future has an 8-inch infotainment system from the present, shared with other Honda models. Thankfully, the climate control functions are old-fashioned, but below that, we find push-button gear selector. You'll have seen it in the 2016 Pilot and a few Acura models. Consumer Reports says it increases the risk of not selecting park, which is old-fashioned of them.

Despite the quirks, we still think it's cool. The entire hydrogen powertrain takes up less space than a 3.5-liter V6 in the Accord. And while you don't get the instant power surge of a Tesla, the 174 available horsepower is not bad.