First time driving Prius in Chicago

Last night I had my first opprotunity to drive 450 miles to and in Chicago and back home. This was my first long trip with the Prius. I have driven lots of different car, vans, and pickups in various conditions and locations. Based upon what I have read about the Prius being a good car, but not being fun or handling the best I was prepared to be
disappointed when I went to Chicago with it. However I was very happy with how it drove in busy traffic when compared to other vehichles I have driven in similar driving conditions. The first thing I liked was the lack of lag when pressing the accelerator. Other vehichles without Synergy CVT need to downshift first then you get the delayed increase in speed. The same for taking your foot off the accelerator, the typical car will upshift which reduces engine braking unless you have downshifted from Overdrive to Drive. The problem with driving in Drive is a significant hit to MPG. With the Prius I looked down and after 10 miles of rapid up and down speed changes due to traffic and lane changes I was getting over 60 MPG!
I also thought the steering and braking response was good too. I am glad I had several months to learn how to compensate for the blindspots the Prius has before I tackled the challenges of driving in Chicago.
I have been driving for over 32 years and have driven likely over 30 different cars in big cities, including rental cars and I don't think there is any of them I would prefer over the Prius. My list of cars includes cars like a 1988 Ford Thunderbird with a 5.0L V8 and factory sports package, which would be my second choice.
So now that I can check off big city driving and extended distance as both being acceptable with the Prius I think the last challenge will be winter driving. In my 32 years of driving I have never needed to use anything but M & S tires for winter driving on snow and ice. I hope the Prius doesn't force me to get winter tires... I'm hoping a set of four ProContact with EcoPlus Technology tires will be good enough.

 

I hope so because I don't want a repeat of last winter. On the way home from work my fiancee and I got caught in blizzard conditions for about 10 miles of driving which took over an hour. It was so bad that several times when I thought we were at a full stop I looked at the GPS and realized we were still moving 10 MPH due to the wind. I had to pry my foot off the brake and drive like a sailboat with 2 movable rutters while my finacee called out my distance from the ditch on her side since there was zero visability all other directions. That worked until her window frosted over and she couldn't see.... We managed to make it home but that was the scariest storm I was ever in. I was driving my 1993 Escort wagon at the time. I had 2 new Brigstone M&S tires on the front and Goodyears with good tread on the back. Since the Escort didn't have ABS brakes I went against the typical belief that the best tread tires should be on the back.
There were 2 snow storms after that one which I chose to drive my Suburban in 4WD rather than trust the Escort. However I would rather not drive the Suburban in the winter because I want to save it for pulling our camper in the summer. The salt of winter driving is too hard on the body which has some rust starting.
I figure since I'm on pace to drive the Prius around 40K miles per year and it already has 83K on it that I will drive the wheels off it before the body rust away. That's kind of what happened with my 1st and 2nd 1993 Escort Wagons (both over 260K miles) and my 2000 Windstar with 170K miles.

 

Actually the winds were doing their best to force us off the road, into the ditch.

What threw us off was the first 25 miles of our 35 mile commute was completely uneventful with very little blowing snow. We even joked as we went past a motel that we were glad we didn't waste our time and money getting a motel room. Then once we got into the blowing snow we really had no where to go other than keep going. We litterly couldn't come to a complete stop because the wind would push us like a big sail. The one time we did come close to achieving a complete stop I realized the cars behind us couldn't stop so we kept going to keep from getting hit.

You are right, but mo
ney was tight and I was trying to save a buck. However the Prius will have a set of 4 new ProContact with EcoPlus


tires come this winter. If the new tires aren't good enough I will get 4 used rims and get snow tires like Blizzaks. But I figure the lack of clearance will become more of an issue in the winter than the tires.

While I agree with most of what you said, I did find when driving in deep rutty snow covered roads that the 4 wheel drive could pull through the snow better and make its own path. The snow was so deep that the Escort would have been dragging bottom. I found that with front wheel drive even with good tires that the back wheels may choose not to follow the same path as the front wheels, kind of like a dog dragging its back end. With all wheels pulling there is improved control. Also the Suburban has ABS brakes and like new aggressive tires so stopping with it was better than the Escort. The other thing that helped with the Suburban was several of the storm, even the blizzard we got caught in, was the blowing snow was worse next to the ground. We could see the tops of the light poles on the side of the road better than the road in front of us. With the Suburban sitting up higher we could see above the blowing snow rather than trying to see through it.
But yes, when it comes time to stop its 4 pieces of rubber on whatever surface is under them so respect of the conditions is always a must.

 

I am glad you brought this up since seat comfort is a big deal for me since I do suffer from lower back pain due to a childhood injury. I have actually been forced to trade off cars because the seat was incompatible with my back. Even though my 1988 Thunderbird remains my 2nd favorite car to drive in heavy traffic it was one of the worst when it came to my back. Even though it had the most seat adjustments of any car I have ever owned I could never get the seat to fit me. After 10K miles I had no choice but to trade it off. So a seat that fits me well is a big deal for me. The Prius seat fits me like a gloove. It provides me so much back support it feels like it was custom made for me. Now since comfort is subjective and dependent upon many things I should mention that I am only 5'7". I could see where taller drivers may not have the same comfort. However I do like that the Gen III steer wheel can be adjusted up and down along with in and out. That along with being able to adjust the seat height it works well for me.

As far as my recent trip goes, it actually was a short drive for me. On multiple occasions I have driven alone for 1100 miles, only stopping for food, fuel and bathroom breaks. I have done this trip with several different cars, including 1993 Escort wagon with over 200K miles, 2000 Windstar with over 150K miles and 1996 Suburban with over 130K miles. With those vehichles I would need to stop about every 2 hours to take a break. With the Prius I had no problem going 3 hours straight and could likely go 4 hours between breaks. I know many people complain about the lack of road feel with the Prius but I think "road feel" just wears out the driver adding to driver fatigue. I am very happy with visually watching were the car is driving and steering according vs. the car telling me where it wants to go forcing me to compensate. Also the lack the "typical" transmission hunting and seaking what gear to be in to compensate for how much power I need, I think, reduces driver fatigue. The throttle response is more predictable with the Synergy drive. The only thing I did when in heavy traffic was to turn off ECO Mode. Typically I drive with ECO Mode on. I think I only hit the PWR Mode button once on this trip.

 

Hey thanks! The one thing I wasn't sure how I was going to improve for longer drives was the back of my shirt was sweaty from seat being warm. I had seen back supports like those on office chairs where I work but I hadn't considered them for the car. I will look into getting one for my Prius.