Worried about upcoming MN winter season....

Ive had a couple of subarus and a couple of prii. Really dont miss the subarus.

 

The Prius has a lot of "always on " electronics that will totally kill the 12V battery in about 2 weeks if not driven .
Allowing the car to discharge the 12V battery to 50% charge or less is distructive to the battery. It causes battery sulfation that greatly reduces the life of the battery. I have a BatteryMINDer brand charger / maintainer / desulfator directly wired to the 12V battery in the rear of the car, with the batteryMINDer stored in the compartment on top of the spare tire. If I know my Prius will not be driven for a week or two, I connect the batteryMINDer run the battery cord out through the rear hatch( the hatch seal is soft enough so the cord does not get pinched when you close the hatch). I plug the BatteryMINDer to 120Volt power so it keeps the 12V battery healthy, fully charged and free of sulfation. Not all battery maintainers are safe for the Prius AGM type 12V battery, but this one is.
BatteryMINDer Charger/Maintainer/Desulfator System — Model# 1500 | Battery Maintainers| Northern Tool + Equipment

 

13 Winters of driving Prius in Minnesota.

No worries here.

 

My 2010 Prius drives just fine in the winter. Really, the only issue is clearance when there is a big snowfall. In town, that gets taken care of pretty quick. We have a CRV as well as the Prius and use that if the weather is truly bad. Put Michelin Defenders on my Prius last winter (OEM tires don't last) and it made a substantial difference. Depending on where you live, it wouldn't hurt to have an AWD car with clearance, but in town, it should rarely be a problem.

 

i have a 2001 honda civic that was terrible in the snow. i bought some $15 steel rims and a set of pre-balanced winter tires shipped to me from Tire Rack (bought the cheapest no-name tire i could find), mounted them myself, and now i look forward to the twice a year blizzards we get in denver where i can take my car out and slalom around other cars down the freeway. i also head up into the mountains regularly with no issues. have also driven it over Snoqualmie pass (in Washington) in zero visibility blizzard conditions as well. if my little Civic can do that, i'm sure if you throw some winter tires on the Prius it will do just fine.

 

Any tips? I love it so far!

 

Check the tread-depth on your tires now. If you know they will be too worn in March (when the deep & heavy snow falls), it's good to keep an eye out for pre-season sales.

Block your grille around Halloween. The $2 and 20 minutes you'll spend squishing foam pipe-insulation really pays for itself in the dead of winter when you want lots of heat and quickly.

 

I would appreciate if you take a couple of pictures of what you use to block the grill and how it is suppose to look after you do so. thanks.

 

I am planning to do grille blocking on our Prius for winter too. We did this to our Fusion Hybrid at the very end of last winter and it made a noticeable difference.

 

I block the bottom entirely and leave the top open. (Some owners partial or total block the top too, but carefully need to monitor temperature.) That works well for the 2010+. For the Iconic (2004-2009) model, you need to leave some of the bottom open but can block the top entirely, since the cooling components have a different internal arrangement.


Squeezing the foam in between the grille slots keeps it looking nice. The catch is, you have to notch the inside every foot to make it lay flat. But the process is quick & easy.



Keep in mind that the bottom grille gets pretty dirty from all the sand & salt. So, there really isn't much to consider cosmetically anyway.

It stays snuggly in place too, all winter long... even with multiple runs through the car wash.

 

I recommend doing this when it's warm out (the slotting and trimming - just remove the foam and insert the finished stuff when it gets cold). Last year I waited too long and got very cold putting it in, with all the fiddling I had to do.

There are two kinds of foam, the ethafoam used for water pipes and a "rubber type" of foam used in air conditioning. The rubber type is nicer, more flexible etc. but it's more prone to nicks if you're not careful. I used ethafoam on the GII (Pearl) and the air conditioning foam on the GIII (Pearl S). It's a little harder for me as I have mesh zip-tied to the back of the plastic grill, so the foam can't extend into the space. I'll be redoing it this week, as it didn't fit very well as I was in a hurry to warm up. I didn't slot it. It's so close to the ground most people didn't notice. Note that it's real fun behind the license plate (NOT)!

 

"Warm" is relative measure in Minnesota.

 

what do you gain by doing this?

 

I'm going on my 4th winter here in mid-Vermont and have been very pleased with the Prius with 4 dedicated winter tires. Ground clearlance is my only issue and I haven't had the traction control intervene much at all.

It's more then traction with winter tires, it's performance at low temps. I know the stock Yoko LLR tires on my Prius turned to rollers skate wheels below 40 degrees. A good, winter tire will stay pliable and doing it's grippy job at temps below freezing while also adding the millions of sipes and biting edges that the tread brings for increased snow and ice traction.

Why anyone who lives in a ccold and snowy climate would try to "get by" on LLR "all season" tires is beyond me. Penny wise, pound foolish in my opinion.

 

Thanks John, I appreciate the pics. I have saved another thread about this to reference in a few weeks. I also appreciate all the information on your website. Over on the Fusion Hybrid Forum we've pointed people to your website for general good information about hybrids.

 

You gain MPG and comfort. Blocking the grille helps slow down the flow of cold winter air across the radiator and engine. Since the Prius and other hybrids don't run their ICE 100% of the time they don't stay warm as well during the winter. Since hybrids are also highly dependent on reaching a certain coolant temp before shutting off the ICE and operating most efficiently you see a big MPG drop in the winter. Grille blocking helps the car warm up more quickly thus allowing you to go into the more efficient stages sooner.

 

Here's another place you can insulate, holds the engine heat in. This I leave in year 'round:



(the foam tubing, center of pic, seals gap between fender lip and hood)

 

Good idea Mendel. Is it wearing the paint on the underside of the hood?

 

I think it was this member who fielded the idea:

Ferls80 | PriusChat

As far as I can see, no wear. It's similar to having a sealing gasket (like door seals0 I guess: slight wear over the years, but not much. And it's not visible.

 

Thanks for the reminder. I had totally forgotten about having done that too.

With mine, I used a longer length and then secured it with a plastic pull-tie. Then, there was no chance of it coming loose, regardless of conditions when the hood was opened.