The HiHy's traction control is pretty agressive. It makes for a fairly safe and easy drive with one possible exception....sometimes you can't get enough power to get up a hill. If you could turn off the traction control, you could easily power up the hill with wheels spinning, but that isn't an option on the pre2008s & I don't think its an option for them. Having 4wd instead of front only probably would have been better, but when the worse weather strikes, we switch to the 4wd truck which normally only gets a few utility miles a week. I feel safer in the HiHy, but feel more secure that I won't get stuck in the truck. The same problem exists for the Prius and you can read a lot more about it there.

As far as the actual handeling...the HiHy is pretty smooth. It won't pull hard enough to get you in trouble, and the feeling when it reduces power is obvious along with the blinking lights on the dash. Feeling/seeing that, I know to keep my stops long and slow. I took the car into an empty parking lot filled with snow, punched it and slowly I gained speed. Turning sharply (low speed), the car accelerated even more gently and donuts were impossible. Not a lot of fun, but very controllable.