Edmunds First Drive: 2009 FCX Clarity

[siegen]

Very positive review all around.

Full article.

The FCX's instrumentation glows an angry amber to signify poor economy during heavy acceleration, then shrinks a little and turns yellow during average fuel consumption periods, and finally shrinks a bit more and glows bright electric-blue to signify good economy.

[regfootball]

can i buy one?

[pow]

Awesome. This is basically a preview of the family sedan in 15 years.

[siegen]

can i buy one?

Did you read the article?

[Intrepidation]

It's awesome, and in my gd3 project it and the Equinox FCV will be focal points of the brochure I'm making

[regfootball]

sarcasm.

this article is PR fluff to try to portray this as a production vehicle.

Edmunds is edmunds though.

[PurdueGuy]

more impressive than I expected, looks like Honda will be a contender for many years to come. Hard to tell who's closer to a truely sellable product, GM or Honda. Infrastructure will be a huge issue still, but each step along the way seems to get a little bigger.

Home stations help - it'll be interesting to see if they stick around permanently (assuming fuel cell cars catch on), or if they'll just help until infrastructure catches on.

[frogger]

VERY cool

[Intrepidation]

sarcasm.

this article is PR fluff to try to portray this as a production vehicle.

Edmunds is edmunds though.

Not sure what you're smoking but they clearly state that they think their will be 100-200 of them, they can only be leased, and they are hand built. The point of the article is that this car is a huge leap forawrd for hydrogren technology, and that we're closer than ever to seeing productions models. The FCX is extremely practical and economical, and rides like a production vehicle. They only real issue is long term durability and getting the costs down so they will be affordable for Joe everyman.

[Z-06]

Hard to tell who's closer to a truely sellable product, GM or Honda.

Somebody here will blurt out the answer soon. Be patient.

[toesuf94]

B.M.W. - which means GM...as they are sharing the Hybrid Two mode systems that will be in the GMT-900s and the BMW Hybrids...it only makes sence that the fuel cell and hydrogen systems that BMW have been working on for close to 15 years now would be crossing back accross the pond...but this is an assumption.

[Intrepidation]

B.M.W. - which means GM...as they are sharing the Hybrid Two mode systems that will be in the GMT-900s and the BMW Hybrids...it only makes sence that the fuel cell and hydrogen systems that BMW have been working on for close to 15 years now would be crossing back accross the pond...but this is an assumption.

As I recall BMW's focus has been on adapting combustion engines to run on hydrogen, while GM is working on fuel cells. I would say in a sense BMW has an edge because you can by a Hydrogen 7 series, you can only lease an Equinox FCV or Honda FCX. Then again, the technology is different so it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. I think the the FCX has higher fuel range than the Equinox FCV though.

[regfootball]

i actually don't mind the styling on the exterior too much. the interior is quite a nightmare.

having identical dimensions to the accord makes me think they share some parts. actually, those seats sans headrest look very similar to the new accord as does the rear seat bottom and footspace.

perhaps this was to be the new accord's design and honda chickened out and had to design the new fat bottomed one last minute or something.

[siegen]

i actually don't mind the styling on the exterior too much. the interior is quite a nightmare.

having identical dimensions to the accord makes me think they share some parts. actually, those seats sans headrest look very similar to the new accord as does the rear seat bottom and footspace.

perhaps this was to be the new accord's design and honda chickened out and had to design the new fat bottomed one last minute or something.

The seats in the FCX are completely custom made of recyclable material. They are heated and cooled. I doubt this car shares anything with the Accord; it is built from scratch and needs to accommodate a completely different type of drivetrain. If Honda wanted, they could have built an Accord FCX, like GM did with the Equinox. But to get the most out of the packaging and space, they made a completely new vehicle built around their fuel cell drivetrain.

The interior is quite appropriate for this car.

[Robert Hall]

sarcasm.

this article is PR fluff to try to portray this as a production vehicle.

Edmunds is edmunds though.

It is a production vehicle...will be available for 3 yr leases in So Cal in '08..