Another positive Prius snow story

[qbee42]

We were at a small party last night. The host's driveway is a long turning downhill grade, covered with snow and ice. I could tell it was a little slippery as we headed down to their house, but it never occurred to me that there might be a problem getting up the hill. When the party broke up, the other couple climbed into their small front-wheel-drive rice burner and headed up the driveway. I backed our Prius around to get it pointed up the hill, but to my surprise I saw them backing down the driveway and past us to get a better running start. They gave it another try and went by us, snow spinning out from under the front wheels, climbing and slowing until they got about half way up and then came to a stop. Back they came; this time they waved us on, and all of the winter horror posts from PC were dancing in my head, painting a lovely image of public humiliation. Our Prius didn't even struggle. I got a few quick traction control flashes, but no loss of power or control; the car just walked up the hill as easy as anything. I don't know the state of our friend's tires, but I suspect they should get some new ones. Ours are new Michelin MXV4+ Energy in the stock size.

Tom

[jmccord]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Feb 18 2007, 09:31 AM) [snapback]392324[/snapback]</div>

Ours are new Michelin MXV4+ Energy in the stock size.
[/b]

Our BMW 325i came equipped from the factory with this tire. I can't speak to the winter traction, but can say they were well rated by Consumer Reports and have lasted over 60,000 miles on the Bimmer with tread to spare.
As for the Prius, we've taken ours to the Eastern Sierras twice this winter with the OEM Goodyear Integrity tires.
It snowed on us both times, once heavily. The car performed admirably and we had virtually no problems. I did throw some cable chains on the front a couple of times when appropriate, but actually felt I could have gotten by without them if needed. The only bit the Prius balked at was a steep road up the side of the mountain, covered with ice and topped with snow. She struggled up a 100 yards or so to the house with the traction light flashing on and off, and the tires with chains slipping - and while I had my doubts - she made it! Of course this is the same stretch that SUV's with chains, four wheel drives with snow tires and other "winter" vehicles were also having trouble with all night long. I didn't try it again the next day, but felt the car had "passed" the test.
Also happy to report that the Prius held four adults and their luggage comfortably for the 7-hour drive each way.

[Syclone]

The Long Island, New York area had a typical Snow/Ice/Rain/Slush storm Last Wednesday (Jan 14th). My Prius sat at the curb through the storm. On Thursday, after everything had frozen solid (14 degree temps) I went out to clean off and move the car. I was basically trapped in an area where the snow plow had created an ice ridge around the car.

When I attempted to move the car, I was able to back it up a foot or so, but the rear wheels were blocked by an ice ridge. The TC/VSC kicked in and the front wheels didn't seem to want to turn at all. When I tried to move forward, I found that the left front wheel was stuck behind a little block of ice about 6 inches square, and about 1.5 inches high. It might as well been a wall! I had to get into the garage, get a big steel shovel and hack away the ice block. After that I was able to get enough momentum rolling back and forth to escape into the street. I have a set of Michelin MXV4+ tires in 195/15/60. They seem to have good control over ice and snow.

The main problem is the calibration of the VSC/TC system. It's much too conservative to handle low speed Ice and snow conditions. I wish there was an easy way to turn it off or change its behavior on a temporary basis

[usbseawolf2000]

I used my Prius on that Wednesday night and I had no difficulty getting out with OEM tires. I only had to back up one time. I uploaded the video to google.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=80...24369&hl=en

Dennis

[Philmo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Feb 18 2007, 07:31 AM) [snapback]392324[/snapback]</div>

We were at a small party last night. The host's driveway is a long turning downhill grade, covered with snow and ice. I could tell it was a little slippery as we headed down to their house, but it never occurred to me that there might be a problem getting up the hill. [snip] Ours are new Michelin MXV4+ Energy in the stock size.

Tom
[/b]

Great to know for us here in the Rockies. Our Pruis is all of two months old so we don't need tires just yet, but the H-rated version of those Michelins are the ones I put our Volvo S60 which make the original Pirelli's look like ice skates. (I don't mean that in a good way.)

Phil