Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Hey all,

Just thought I'd toss this out there: how does the Prius handle in the winter? Although its front-wheel drive, it sits fairly low to the ground (from the look of it), and I wondered if that was a hinderence in the wintery months. How about snow tire usage? What brands do you use?

John

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

This coming winter will also be my first winter with the Prius but from what I've read it handles just like any other sedan.

Here is a link which discusses snow tires for the Prius.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

I live in Colorado and my experience has been the Prius handles remarkably well, even on ice.

Just like any other car, if the snow is higher than the bottom of the car, you're in trouble.

I have all-weather tires, no snow tires. But my Prius handled snow and ice very well with the factory tires. Than again, I have VSC and that most likely makes a big difference for me.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

We got chains for our Prius I but never had to use them, even with no VSC and stock tires because it has traction control.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

I acquired my '04 Package 6 Prius in 9/04 and went through a reasonably snowy winter with just the OEM tires. No problems, no complaints. But others are right that the Prius sits low, and if the snow depth is higher, you're in doo doo. You can't blaze 1st tracks down the unplowed street, but you certainly can go where [many] others (or the plow) have gone.

Mark
Portland, Maine

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

I have had my Prius II since 12/03, and the only problem I have ever had was when the snow managed get get up to the under-fascia of the bumper. I keep a small shovel in the back for just such occasions, as our city tends to try plowing people in, instead of directing the snowplow toward the 'no parking' side of the street.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

lol i never knew 01 priuses came with traction control HMMMMMMMMM

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

The Prius, like many front wheel drive cars, does very well in the winter. Exceptionally well actually. The OEM tires are nothing to get excited about, and they tend to break loose much more easily than I would expect any other m+s rated all season tire to do. I will be excited to let go of the OEM tires when they have served their useable life and move onto something much less likely to break loose and much better at grabbing the snow.

Other than the tires, the Prius is a very nice winter car. Just watch out for the ground clearance issue.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

I will be going into my second winter this year with my '04 Prius. Last year was great. I live in northern NJ which has a great deal of hill, valleys and mountains and I had no problem in the snow. The best time was seeing a H2 sliding going up a hill then stopping on the side while I went flying past him ;) .

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

There is winter in terms of temperature and there is winter in terms of snow.

a) It is fantastic having absolutely no concern about getting the car started in cold weather. Turn it, and it is running, almost like magic. I live in northern Illinois (Woodstock) and am going into my fourth winter. Regarding temperature, the worst thing is what it does to your mileage. It kills it. My all time worst tank was during a week of -15 to 0 degrees when I got 32.5 mpg out of a tank doing basically the same 60 mile round trip run that in summer I can get 60 mpg on.

b) Regarding snow, it handles just fine in anything under about 7 inches. There are, however, situations when I would much rather have a conventional drivetrain. Specifically, getting out of the end of my drive after the plows have pushed up 16 inches of heavy wet stuff right on the drive apron. You can't just bowl through it. And if you get stuck, it can be a real problem. You cannot rock the car at all well, you don't have the control. I have learned my lesson though; hopefully I can spare you the same one.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

does all priuses come with traction control?

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Yes, they all have a form of traction control, partly required to protect the electric motors from over-spinning because they are powerful enough to do so quite easily if left unchecked. The Prius II has optional vehicle stability control, and that helps in the snow too, but not for traction, it's more of a braking / steering compensation thing to keep you driving straight.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Thanks Tom, that was a really helpful post. Sounds like you have a driveway situation a lot like mine! I am thinking of parking my Prius (when I get it in January) up on the shoulder at the end of the driveway, so I won't have to go over the "hump" left by the plow. Of course, that will (1) increase risk of the car actually getting hit by the plow, and (2) make it more likely that the snow will be dumped ON or RIGHT AROUND the car, making for a digging-out scenario.

There is just no good answer (OK, garage the cars at the end of a VERY SHORT driveway that you can clear with a snow blower, or move to Hawaii... looking better and better...) when you get a foot or so of snow, and the plows come...

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

hajahha i was having so much fun with that simluation prius in your sig schawa, do you have any links to a civic hybrid powertrain or a updated prius one? lol you only get 4 percent battery back if you coast from max speed 85 miles! **** no wonder everyone hates regen when it comes to achiving maximum FE.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Hawaii... Hhhhmmmmm. We've had an 18 degree Thanksgiving here; Hawaii sounds pretty good. (don't get hit by the plow) T.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Unfortunately I haven't come across any newer Prius simulators or Civic sims. I wish it simulated the 2001-2003 model Prius, that would at least be useful.

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

Last winter I plowed my Prius into a deep snowy street parking spot. The traction control didn't let the car move, until I turned the tires left & then right, It grabbed the snow, and got me out of the spot with no problem. I have no problems with snow!

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

The only problem with the Pirus 2 in the winter is that if one tire is on ice and the other is on dry ground; you wont get anywhere. There is a slight hill up from where i park at work and if i get snow/ice under one tire i have to back all the way down on flat ground before i can get going up. Flooring it does not help.
It's otherwise a great car but it's bordering on dangerous not to have a proper traction control or a limited slip differential.
In the situation where you break on ice/dry then the tire with traction will get most of the braking power. Why doesn't the tire with the most traction get the power when you want to start? I haven't hear any good explanations for this.
It would be interesting to hear how they do it on some of the AWD hybrids: Do they shift the power over to the one tire that doesn't have traction too and then brake it down because it's slipping? That would be funny...

Lars T

Re: Experiences with Prius in Winter
 

I have been fairly impressed with the Prius' ability in snow. The other day, I got a couple of the wheels into some fairly deep (6-8") snow, when I accidentally drove off of a driveway that had so much snow blown across it that I couldn't tell where the pavement was. I thought I was going to have to call AAA (fairly embarassing for someone who is known to go anywhere and everywhere in her AWD FEH!), but with a bit of care, I was able to coax the Prius to "crawl out" of the snow and back onto the driveway. I haven't even gotten stuck in my own driveway yet, and it tends to be very icy and nasty in winter.

And the VSC seems to do a very good job of dealing with icy or slippery conditions while driving. I have made it down a couple of nasty hills, taking it slowly, when other vehicles were clearly having difficulty.