Being a former resident of Malibu and an avid car enthusiast, I am naturally quite familiar with the many canyons and twisty bits that connect Malibu to the real world. And after hearing that the FCX Clarity incorporated a weight distribution far closer to 50/50 than other FWD Honda cars, along with a low center of gravity and right now torque, I was quite eager to put the car to the test on some familiar roads. Our first leg took us up Malibu Canyon to Mulholland Drive heading north. You may have seen this road in some of our TOV videos before. The initial part of the road is about 5 miles long and climbs about 500-600 feet with gentle switchbacks carved into the hills, before dipping deep into a valley and then flattening out before reaching a crossroads and stop sign. Most of the corners are relatively constant radius with slight cambering, so you get a good feel for grip while the switchbacks help diagnose transient behavior. Straightaway speeds can get quite high on this section of road too if one dares (over 100 mph easily), but we got out of the accelerator once we'd exited a corner to avoid any unnecessary law enforcement attention.

As I bent the FCX Clarity into the first left-hander, I was trying hard to get a feel for the motion adaptive EPS, but steering response was linear and weighty, if not particularly feelsome (hardly a rare complaint on FWD Hondas these days, but this isn't a sports car either). The promises made by the Clarity's firm highway ride were kept as the chassis stayed flat and balanced through the turn. Understeer, at least at this speed, was far less than I expected. The road quickly snaked back to the right and the front end responded obediently to the steering wheel. Despite the rather high weight of the Clarity, its ability to rotate about its vertical axis was quite impressive. I never felt like I was fighting the weight of the front end as I have in cars such as the last generation Accord V6 - due in no small part I'm sure to the compact and low mounted electric motor. Because the chassis seemed to have plenty of grip, I began to apply power early in this corner to measure the effect of throttle on the car's attitude. Going from about 30kW to 60 kW at mid-corner did little to upset the chassis. The cornering speed simply went up and understeer increased just a touch, but it was still less than what you'd find in your typical Accord of Civic. By the way, how cool is that power meter - "well, she had plenty of grip until I got to about 70 kW in that corner and then the front end began to wash out...". The story was pretty much the same for the remainder of the 5 miles. A grippy, balanced chassis with plenty of punch to pull out of corners and no surprises. I was a little worried that Sara, sitting in the back seat, might get a little car sick, but she was fine and noted that the controlled ride and lack of pitching and bobbing made the run quite tolerable.

The next section of Mulholland Drive that I was interested in was from the famous Rock Store all the way up to Kanann-Dume Road. To get there you have to drive _slowly_ through a mildly residential area before you begin a long and twisty climb through some very tight turns (average speed below 30 mph). On the transitional leg, I spent some more time getting a feel for the ride quality as the road surface, while not horrible, has plenty of graining and small bumps. The FCX Clarity handled the terrain well, with a firm, controlled ride that felt relatively long legged. Interestingly, I said virtually the same thing about the new Accord Coupe V6 6MT. Maybe there is a new suspension philosophy at Honda. However, I did think that maybe the ride was too firm for the average commuter. You can feel most of what is happening even if it isn't objectionable. Call it a BMW style ride if you like. I don't think any future owners (barring myself :) will drive as hard as we did and take advantage of the firm chassis, so a softer ride may be more widely accepted (see RDX for a chassis I love, but that maybe doesn't fit the target market as well as it could). When I told this to VP Ben Knight after the drive was over, he smirked and said he'd be sure to let it be known that Shawn Church was asking for a softer ride - my reputation will never be the same :).

After we passed the Rock Store we picked up the pace again. The tight turns in this section of road are notorious for generating understeer in virtually any car, no matter what the drivetrain configuration. Of course, the Clarity was no exception. Turn in was excellent, but in the end, the front end would begin to wash out, and could be made worse with extra throttle application - the excellent torque overwhelming traction and spinning up the inside wheel. However, in comparison to other cars we've taken through these roads, the FCX was no worse than a Civic Si (last two generations) and not much behind the AP2 S2000 - the only difference being the S2000 could rotate the rear in certain corners if you got it down into first gear. Again, the Clarity is no sports car, but the layout of the chassis and the firm suspension endow it with capabilities far beyond what most owners will ever need or use.

Once we made it to Kanan-Dume Road, we headed back down toward the beaches. This was a more leisurely section as it is heavily patrolled. The road has many long, steep downhills where an inattentive driver can quickly find themselves 15-20 mph over the speed limit with flashing lights in the rearview mirror. In light of this, I found it a useful place to test the durability of the FCX Clarity's brakes. And while tire grip limits peak braking force, the use of regenerative braking on the Clarity means that brake fade is unlikely to be an issue. Even hitting the brakes excessively and abusively on a long downhill never revealed any fade or overheating. It should also be noted that the Clarity's battery lasts a long time and recharges quite quickly. On our dash up Mulholland Drive we never depleted the battery and always had full assist, but by the top the battery was on its last two bars of charge. Yet, within 1 minute and a mild slope, it was almost fully recharged. A far superior performance to that of Honda's hybrids, and also a big step up from the FCX V4's ultra-capacitor (which surprised me). It appears that the decision to use a high output battery rather than a high energy density unit was a good one - Honda's claims of 57% renegeneration energy recovery (vs. 46% for the FCX V4 and around 30% for hybrids) seem reasonable in light of this.

With the more dynamic parts of the test drive now taken care of, I decided to stop at a local beach for some photos, as well as to see how the new car played to jaded California locals. We went to a relatively sparsely occupied area and parked the car for photos. Within a few minutes we were answering questions from a beach cleanup crew, including one very knowledgeable Honda enthusiast who already knew about bio-fabric and some other technologies - but he'd never been to TOV! I gave him a business card to correct that problem. Joggers and bicyclists also seemed to gravitate toward the Clarity, craning their necks to see what was under the open hood. I heard one gentleman tell his daughter that the car ran on water and that it was the future. In fact, while interest was commendably high, I was quite surprised by the level of awareness people had about the FCX Clarity and fuel cells. Maybe there'd been a news report from the auto show on a local TV station, or maybe Honda has better eco-recognition among savvy California car buyers than I thought. Soon enough though, we'd taken enough photos and our time was drawing short, so we began the 20 mile trip back to Santa Monica.

In the end, we drove about 80 miles in the FCX Clarity, consumed about a third tank of hydrogen according to the fuel gauge on the dash and learned a whole lot about what will be in your garage in the next decade. Simply put, I'm impressed. Would I want this to be my only car, even with improved range? No, there is still plenty of room for gasoline powered cars. But make no mistake, this is the future. For all the naysayers in the past (myself included) who didn't believe, and even the so called experts today who say it can't work, well, you've been proven wrong in a big way. Switching to hydrogen will combine the best of electric and gasoline cars. Instant torque, low pollution and high efficiency along with light weight, quick refueling and a distributed infrastructure - the last is particularly exciting to me - the idea of filling up at home using a HES IV, V or whatever, or perhaps solar cracked hydrogen almost makes me giddy. Furthermore, there will be no hardship for the driver - no new skill sets or learning curves, just get in and drive. No one has ever accused me of being particularly green when it comes to cars, probably because I've never believed sacrifice should be necessary with today's technology. Honda has finally made my beliefs a reality. With the FCX Clarity, being clean and efficient doesn't require a sacrifice, and if Honda can deliver this car at mainstream prices by the next decade as they plan, the world is going to be a lot nicer place. Bravo Honda, Bravo!