If a Prius can get me to work.

70 seems too fast. if you have the whole hwy to yourself and the snow is nice could be ok in my opinion but I would not drive 70 mph in the summer, let alone a snow coverd road, unless I was on the interstate.

 

I have run 75-85 down Interstates in rental Prii during the summer months. Prius handles excellent at any speed it is capable of.

Mike

 

I wouldn't expect the state hwy patrol to support driving 70 on snow no matter how well everything is working. I know these cars handle very well on snow. I just found out that it actually works better than my old subaru. that really impressed me. but 70 in the snow will dramatically increase the odds if you get in a accident that severe injury or death will occur. So as the above driver is going 70 I hope they don't kill a group of kids at a bus stop.

 

50 something with ice tires on a snow covered road is fine. Above that and a vehicle is running too loose. Now 80 plus on ice roads (lake ice) is a fun time

Mike

Mobile on my SGH-i717

 

How many of you have to drive up "hills" in the snow and ice?

SPH-L710 ?

 

Just regular hills on the roads from Minnesota to Missouri, Minnesota to Pennsylvania & Minnesota to Tennessee. That is in cars, SUV's, Prius & big Trucks (not pickup trucks, Class 8 big trucks )

Mike

 

Look, I'm from Massachusetts. No, the mountains on the East Coast != Mountains on the West Coast, but, essentially, all of Massachusetts is foothills.

So: Basic rules:

1. Don't slow down when you're approaching a hill. You'd be surprised at how many people think that slowing down to take a hill is a good idea. They're the people stuck at the bottom of the hill.
2. When you're going up the hill, Don't Slow Down. Again, you'd be surprised at the number of people who do, and they're the ones stuck on the middle of the hill.

The second year I was in New Jersey, we had a good, old-fashioned New England snowstorm: packed slippery snow on the ground and nary a snow plow in sight. (I later found that all the drivers hadl been fired in the five or six years previous - no snow, so why hire snow plow drivers? )

After getting out of work, rolled to the end of a line of cars at the bottom of the hill. There was a car about 40' up from the beginning of the hill, skizzing its tires madly and getting nowhere. Everybody else was waiting their turn. After watching this for a few minutes, I did what any other NE Yankee would do: Put the car in Park, got out, and started walking along the line of cars. Everybody's staring at me, like I was a man from Mars. I get up to the last three cars in line, knock on their windows. On each, the guy rolls his window down slowly like he's afraid I'm an axe murderer.
I asked, "Do you want to get out of here?"
He replied, cautiously, "Um.. Yeah?"
"So, get out of the car and follow me. We're going to push that car over there up the hill!"
I walked on and knocked on the next car, and the next one after that. The four of us walked up 20 yards. The chubby lady with the gas pedal mashed to the floor looked over at me, startled, and put on the brake. I motioned for her to roll her window down.
"Do you want to get out of here?"
"Umm.. Yes?"
"We're going to push you out of here. Go LIGHT on the gas, do NOT spin your wheels."
We get behind: New England Trick: One car with four pushers can go up a cliff. One pair of feet has more traction than two tires; four people have four times as much traction as a car. Bunches of us as teens used to make serious money pushing commuters up long hills that way. We got her up to the top, then walked back.
"Listen, guys: You can make it up this hill, but only if you back up a bit, make a run for it, and Don't Slow Down. I'll back up the line."
The success in getting one car out of there (I'm guessing that some of those people had been stuck in line for fifteen minutes or more) had gotten everybody else's attention. They were all watching me. And they rolled their windows down when I walked up, this time without the axe murderer look.
"We're backing up 50 feet so the first guy in line can make a run for it. When he gets up to the top of the hill, then you make a run for it, and not before. No creeping up."
Weirdly enough, people followed instructions; they all backed up, and with a longer and longer run at the hill, they all made it to the top, albeit with a little sliding around. With a hundred yards in front of me, my little Accord hatchback (smaller than today's Civics) made it up there as well.
As people here have mentioned: Skill will get you through times of low horsepower better that big horsepower will get you through times of low skill.

KBeck.

 

Agree 100% my dad drove a mercury Capri rear wheel drive with metric michelin sport low pro tires bald as hell and I never understood how he got around. He said he took his time and also when he taught me how to get up our very long steep driveway with a nice turn in it one winter, I understood how he did it.

cm_tenderloin ?

 

And the Prius still handles ice better than 90% of the other vehicles on the road.

 

90%? That's being pretty generous, methinks. The Prius is acceptable in snow, but it's far from great in my experience so far (living in a very hilly area with a decent amount of snow). Even equipped with Michelin x-ice 3's, it leaves a whole lot to be desired compared to my previous FWD Volvo. The primary issues I have are the steering feel, which is so artificial that it's nearly impossible to read the subtle changes in grip available while driving down the road. The brakes are very difficult to modulate gently when you are uncertain about how much braking traction you have because you can't control the exact transition point between regenerative and friction braking, and that transition can be rather abrupt which is fine in normal conditions, but can be quite problematic in snow and ice. Lastly the (essentially) non-defeatable traction control is far from ideal and the car spins its wheels far more than the Volvo ever did.

Are these issues going to stop me from driving it in even the worst of conditions? No way (and in the spirit of the original post of this thread - it drives my father in law crazy that I'd rather drive the Prius in the snow than borrow their Jeep on all-season tires!) but it's far from a great winter car.

 

This statement is false.

 

How would someone in Texas have any clue about how cars handle in winter driving?

 

Well I thought I deleted this quick enough, but ok. I have driven this vehicle and at least 10-12 other vehicles on ice many times as we do not really get snow like Nebraska, we get ice. I would put it better than 2 wheel drive pick-ups and Corvettes, but 90%, nope.

 

Where at in TX? I'm pretty familiar with Texas and there are only northern TX gets ice a few times a year. Not sure that is enough to have a good idea what a car's capabilities are.

That said, you are right that it probably isn't better than 90%. It obviously is going to pale in comparison to any 4WD and AWD vehicle, and probably some larger heavier FWD vehicles (like minivans). But the ability to fine tune the throttle and the long, regenerative braking make it pretty nice for slick conditions.

 

North Central TX. A drivers ability to survive ice covered roads plays a role, but there is no way 90%. The reason I quickly deleted my post was not to offend, but distributing false info to the un-knowing is more harmful. My apologies but post reinstated.

 

my prius c worked much better than our subaru legacy awd. we had no problems with the prius c, it handled and didn't slide arround like the legacy. I must say I never got stuck or had to spin my tires to get going. from what I hear if you get to that point the TC stops you from going anywhere. So I will drive my prius c unles the snow gets over 4" then I will dirve the 4x4 pickup. I hate driving the pickup unless I am towing, because it uses so much fuel

 

"And the Prius still handles ice better than 90% of the other vehicles on the road."

Snow is one thing, ice is an entirely different monster. YMMV