1.5+ feet of snow...no problems!

[Renocat]

A week or so ago, I got stuck on some fine slippery snow on a slight upgrade. I could not go forward at all. Had to back down to a bare spot to get traction to make it up the slight grade very slowly. That sort of scared me for how the Prius would handle in some "real" snow.

Well, we had our Valentine's Day blizzard. I finally made it out tonight. And I am happy to say I was able to travel over snow covered roads with some minor slipping. Trac control worked the way I thought it should. I would feel some slipping and then it felt like the power alternated from one front tire to the other. I even made it out of a fairly long driveway packed with snow with no troubles.

I still plan to buy snow tires for next season, but I feel better about the trac control than I did a week or so ago.

[syncmaster]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Feb 15 2007, 11:09 PM) [snapback]391240[/snapback]</div>

Trac control worked the way I thought it should. I would feel some slipping and then it felt like the power alternated from one front tire to the other. I even made it out of a fairly long driveway packed with snow with no troubles.

I still plan to buy snow tires for next season, but I feel better about the trac control than I did a week or so ago.
[/b]

Yes, I feel the same way about the traction control as you.
Reading all the complaints about TC and snow, I purposly looked for very icey parking lots to try to get the prius stuck. Yesterday I found a parking lot that was a 1" thick sheet of ice (store was out of business).
Drove in there and did stop and go's and had no problem moving it on the ice.
Of course the tires did spin and alternate from side to side but it felt pretty normal to a car that was posi traction front wheel drive.
I just got rid of the OEM tires and now have goodyear triple treads which I am very happy with.
Of course a set of snow tires would be even better but here on Long Island, NY we don't get alot of snow.

[jimnjo]

We don't have the trac control business, but I did worry about our long, hilly driveway in the winter. No problems! Much better traction than I was accustomed to (with our ultra-light Geo Metro) and rarely even a spin going out.

Jim

[REHoch]

My experience in snow is that once the Prius gets going, it handles snowy roads quite well (in some ways better than the Ford Explorer that it replaced). I got to test this first-hand when Colorado was hit by back-to-back storms at Christmastime. My Prius got thru when many other cars couldn't.

That being said, starting on slippery roads can be a little tricky. Since the traction control tries really hard to keep the wheels from slipping sometimes you have a hard time getting started. I'm still on the original equipment tire, so this may improve when I switch them out, but for now I just try to be careful when pulling out from slippery side streets onto main road.

Stopping ability on slippery roads is very good (IMO) and a marked improvement from my Explorer days.

-Rob

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jimnjo @ Feb 16 2007, 09:35 AM) [snapback]391393[/snapback]</div>

We don't have the trac control business,
[/b]

All Prius have traction control. It keeps the high torque of MG2 from spinning the tires every time you touch the gas. VSC is an option; perhaps that's what you are thinking of.

Tom

[stanleyjohn]

Send the snow my way!here in Ct it has been a snowless winter .Its only white now because of a 3" sleet storm we had earlier in the week.The only real test of winter driving was done and ill give the prius an A.