http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png http://jalopnik.com/tag/clarity http://jalopnik.com/tag/clarity

Honda's hoping to snag some love from the Hollywood hype machine for their new green machine, the hydrogen fuel-cell-powered FCX Clarity. Honda's producing 200 of the fuel cell vehicles for distribution to celebrities and other Hollywood luminaries to build buzz for the 73 MPG technological wonder. True, these drivers may not need the fuel efficiency as they drive around with their poodles to pick up their grande skim latte, but whatever, they're influential. Wait a second — why does this sound so similar? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=396608&view=rss&microfeed=true

Pardon me for being baffled, but something about this latest Honda FCX Clarity ad has me a little puzzled. Rubik's Cubes, geometric puzzles, traditional puzzles, Rube Goldberg machines and a hydrogen-powered Honda? I'll spoil the ending for you: I guess it's all about "solving problems," but until I can stick a garden hose into my car and drive across the state of Texas, Honda isn't solving any problem but confusing the hell out of me with artsy commercials. [YouTube] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=354401&view=rss&microfeed=true

A funny thing happened at the LA Auto Show. I ran into a bunch of folks from various OEMs that had spent the last few months in Washington DC lobbying against higher CAFE standards. The lone exception was Honda. Yeah, they had people bribing lobbying Congress, but the Honda folks were asking for higher CAFE standards. And sure, Honda is poised to benefit big time from a 35 mpg corporate average. Even including Acura they have no rear-wheel drive vehicles (though a new NSX would change that... Update: and I totally forgot about the S2000). Plus they got the Fit, hybrids, new clean-diesel technology and of course the hydrogen powered Clarity. Mr. Honda was fond of saying that an engineer is lucky when he encounters a problem, because he then gets to solve it. As such, we present today's winning Commenter. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=329919&view=rss&microfeed=true

OK, actually we talked about the new Honda FCX Clarity. I called Farago because I had absolutely swallowed the Clarity Kool Aid. [Like we didn't already know that. — Ed.] The weekend after driving the Clarity I wound up at a bunch of pre-Turkey Day parties. Old friends kept asking me what I'd been up to and telling me they got engaged, while like a recent UFO abductee I could only repeat, "I've driven... THE FUTURE!!" I needed a straighting. I knew my only hope would be to speak with the world's most hard-edged curmudgeon, the doubting Thomas who doubts Thomas, both the Devil's advocate and interior decorator, my mentor, Robert Farago. The result? "Needs a thermal butt sensor." Have a listen. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=325543&view=rss&microfeed=true

The most remarkable thing about driving Honda's FCX Clarity prototype isn't how it emits nothing but water, its torquey, 13,500 rpm electric motor, the hydrogen equivalent of 68 miles per gallon or the perverse pleasure that goes with driving a multimillion-dollar automobile. It's the air-conditioned seats. Notice I said driving, because other than the whirring buzz of the motor, the Clarity goes, brakes and turns just like any other car. I had to keep reminding myself I was indeed behind the wheel of a hydrogen fuel-cell powered feat of engineering. Frankly, the Clarity feels like a slightly larger Accord. Again, Honda's latest FCX uses no gasoline whatsoever and behaves just like — no, make that exactly like — a regular car. And those AC seats? They have built-in fans to blow thermoelectrically cooled air, so no ozone-killing chlorofluorocarbons are needed to chill your fat butt. Pretty neat.

More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=324064&view=rss&microfeed=true

You're looking at Honda's new hydrogen fuel cell powered FCX Clarity parked in front of the Malibu Presbyterian Church that was destroyed in the recent fires. As the Clarity emits water and achieves the gasoline consumption equivalent of 68 mpg, we thought it only fitting to shoot it parked in front of one of Global Warming's victims. The Clarity, of course, is supposed to help with all that — although we're still not real clear on the clarity of the environmental benefits of hydrogen created using currently readily available sources. But Honda claims they're working on that — and hey, it'll reduce your home's overall power bills. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Honda tossed us the keys to their multi-million dollar pre-production baby (LA Times Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic Dan Neil claims it's worth "like $10,000,000 or more") and let us cruise from Santa Monica through the toasted canyons of Malibu. Full review coming this Monday. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=323961&view=rss&microfeed=true