2500 mile road trip in Papa Prius and.......

[sl7vk]

Absolutely no problems. I took a Thanksgiving trip with the wife-

Salt Lake City----->Portland
Portland-------->Newport
Newport-------->Seaside
Seaside--------->Seattle
Seattle---------->Salt Lake City

Wet roads the entire way, with snow through all the passes from Seattle to Salt Lake City (Snoqualme Pass was particularly dicey). Did the entire thing on the Goodyear Integrities without a hitch, and god knows those tires were making me nervous prior to the trip (nervous enough to contemplate buying Michelin's with only 4k on the Integrities!).

Seattle to Salt Lake City was a bitch, about 13.5 hours. I had to carry chains through all the passes, but thank god they weren't enforcing on any passes.

Only bad news was getting towed in Seattle. Damned parking lanes with their 3-4pm no parking bus lanes. I got back to my car at 3:10 and it was gone, missing, poooooof.... Horrible feeling. Also got a scare after I went to the impound lot and the entire dash was lit up like a freaking Christmas tree. The ABS and brake light stayed on for a while, but while I was calling the local Toyota Service Department in Seattle, they all went off, and it was back to normality.

Aside from that, it's a great little car. I really thought about taking the Outback on this trip because of the passes, Snoqualme, and the passes between Pendelton Oregon and Baker City, but this car performs great in the snow. I think the fact that it's heavy, well balanced and has pizza cutter tires really helps. I would say the Outback only performs slightly better.

Good stuff.