Honda FCX Clarity

First Test: 2008 Honda FCX Clarity

Coast Is Clear: Our Nominee for the Nobel Prize in Cars

text size

By Kim Reynolds

Photography by William Walker

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

A glance at the clock: 12 p.m. The final night before having to return Honda's FCX Clarity to the company's headquarters in nearby Torrance, California. Midnight. Errr. In slow motion I straighten up off the couch, wobble over to the kitchen counter, and drop the Clarity's keys in my pocket. Understand, a dozen chimes from the grandfather clock isn't all that unusual a starting signal for strangely timed projects at Chez Reynolds. But this time I've actually got a reason for the nocturnal night ahead.

I'm off to do a coast-down test. Okay, sounds unusual. Most folks right about now are switching off Leno and dowsing the light. But as the GPS data-acquisition system starts powering up in the passenger seat and a growing sequence of blinking green lights signals satellites locking in, the old synapses north of the neck start blinking to life right along with them.

more..