With gas prices increasing, we need options for vehicles that have better fuel economy. We recently had the opportunity to test drive the 2021 Honda Insight and the 2021 Honda Clarity. The Insight is a hybrid and the Clarity is a plug-in hybrid, but what’s the difference? Read on to find out.
A QUICK LOOK AT BOTH THE INSIGHT AND THE CLARITY
The 2021 Honda Insight will remind you of the Accord when it comes to the exterior shape. It’s going to remind you of a sedan. The Insight gives you have both fuel efficiency and good styling. The price point starts at $28,490 and there are two trim levels. There are 4 colour options, however, you only get the additional two options of Radiant Red or Cosmic Blue if you go with the Touring trim level. Right away, we would love to see more options for base models.
The 2021 Honda Clarity brought us right back to when we first test drove a Clarity. The price point starts at $44,505 with two trim levels as well. There are 3 colour options, but again you have to go to the Touring trim level for the option to get Crimson Pearl. Honda, can we please have more colour options at all levels for all vehicles?
WHAT STOOD OUT TO US
The look of the Insight was nice to see immediately with Honda’s typical tear drop appearance. It does not have the wheel cover like the Clarity. That amount of storage space and legroom in the Insight impessed us. At almost 6 feet tall, my husband and I could both sit in the back comfortably. The trunk fits our UPPAbaby Vista stroller no problem, to be honest, it fits better in here than in our Honda CRV we own. There are hooks on the side where we were able to hang our grocery bags to prevent items from rolling around in the back. The seats were incredibly comfortable in the Insight. We’ve found a few vehicles to be uncomfortable, or too shallow and small. Not an issue in this.
Unfortunately, the first thing that stood out to us for the Clarity was that we felt like it had not changed. Everything felt the same as the last time we had driven one. When we looked into this, we learned that the design had been carried over and there were no changes. This was what stood out to us. There was an opportunity to change things around and improve the interior and exterior design, but that did not happen. The faux woodwork and Alcantara detailing that runs throughout the interior just feels dated. That being said, maybe this was meant to appeal to a different age group than what we are in?
THE DRIVE AND PERFORMANCE
When driving a hybrid you want it to be able to get up and go like a conventionally powered vehicle would. This was definitely the case with the Insight. We drove it from through Surrey and out to Lions Bay, on the Sea to Sky Highway and it had no issue with the hills or any city and highway traffic. It has a combined total of 151 horsepower. It was able to go from zero and up to speed without hesitation and not feeling like it was slugging along. You do notice the vehicle switching from electric to the gasoline engine if you have to accelerate suddenly. Honda puts the Insight at 4.6/5.3/4.9 L/100KM. From our experience, we found this to be very accurate. At the end of a week of driving the Insight, we filled up for around $30. The overal range is roughly 885 kms. We liked the two motor, hybrid.
Driving the Clarity, it felt like it was just responding, but also like it was struggling to get up and go. Driving through the city and on the highway we found the charge to drain quickly. It really surprised us. We were expecting more from it after having used the Insight the week before. It is estimated to have a 76 km all-electric range. The Clarity does have a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle 4-cylinder engine to generate electricity and at times be the direct power source. This gives an overal range approximately 547km. ECON mode does help to try and maximize the range. To charge the Clarity you can plug it into a standard home outlet and it will take about 12 hours to full charge. If you need a full charge faster than that, you would need to go to a level 2 charging station. It would charge fully in about 2.5 hours.
ARE THESE FAMILY FRIENDLY
As a family of 5, with all 3 of our kids in car seats, we manage to get all 3 across in both the Insight and the Clarity. We do have more narrow carseats, but we got a booster, forward facing 5-point, and a rear facing 5-point in these. The one hiccup we did have was with the rear facing car seat being behind the passenger seat, it was a bit harder for a taller adult to sit there. Which brings us back to our main request to Honda to please do smaller/shorter dashboards if you can. Do they truly need to be so long? In both vehicles visually it looks like wasted space. Though we’re certain Honda has tried to use all the space efficiently.
2021 Honda Insight
2021 Honda Clarity
Our kids are all about music when we are in the car. Playing music is also what helps our youngest to settle when we have to drive somewhere. We did notice a sound quality difference between the Insight and the Clarity. We prefered the sound quality in the Insight with its 10 speakers and subwoofer. The Clarity has 8 speakers. For whatever reason, no matter how we tried to tune the audio things sounded off.
We mentioned this already for the Insight, but both vehicles have fantastic trunk space. We were ipressed with how both handled a large grocery shop as well as packing all the gear we need when going out as a family. We would love to see Honda add hooks in the back of all vehicles to hang grocery bags and other things from. This was so conveinent. It’s the little things that get our attention.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
If we were to pick between these two vehicles, which would we select? I’d be leaning to the Honda Insight for its looks and price point. That sticker shock between the two really makes us gravitate to the lower price point and then potential to get an Insight Touring for less than the base model Clarity. Overal, we were also more comfortable in the Honda Insight.
If you are looking for a sensible, cost-effective option, the Insight is it!
