snow and ice driving

Hi Danny, welcome to Prius Chat. There is a search function in the top bar of the page toward the right of the page. I did this search and found 500 possible threads. How long have you got?

Short answer is some say good some say bad, enjoy reading.
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It's the best winter driving car I've ever owned, which includes a Jeep C-J5, Subaru, and a 4WD Ford Aerostar. The Prius is not 4WD, nor does it have a lot of ground clearance, so it can't wade through deep snow like the Jeep, but for sheer easy driving down a slippery road, I can't say enough good things about it. I have to remind myself that the roads are slippery, and just because the car is tracking without any problems doesn't mean that traction is good. I put good tires on our Prius, and we bought the VSC option, which I highly recommend.

Tom

 

My wife uses our Prius to do her job as a rural mail carrier, and feels as secure, as with other vehicles she has used. This year is the most snow she has had to drive in, in the last 8 years.

A few observations:
Traction control is a must in the snow, (Package #2 or higher) and does work well with the OEM tires. Snow tires will make ANY vehicle better.

Ground clearance is low. 5"+ of snow, or 3" of slush, you will be trying to plow.

It goes up snow coverd hills from a standing start, better than her the cars she was using. (Standard mid sized)

The car is more "Robust" than is looks.

Mileage is better than dbl. of the vehicles we had.

No Regrets

 

Just don't get stuck, or you'll have to get pulled out. There's not such thing (at least for me) as rocking the Prius out if the tires get rutted in.

In terms of driving in inclement weather, there's not a problem. I'm north of Chicago and drove in a very bad snow storm the other day. No worries there.

 

It's all a matter of getting Excellent Quality Winter Tires.
Below 50$ each doesn't quite cut it.

Since here in Montreal we get varied snow & ice, and south of Chicago is more ice than snow, there are tires optimized for icy roads and do well in snow.

A good way to recognize, is the price tag. Pricier usually means does better with icy roads, which is the real problem.


_

 

A point of clarification: All Prius come standard with Traction Control; in fact it is impossible to buy a Prius without Traction Control. I suspect the OP is referring to VSC, which is Vehicle Stability Control. VSC attempts to keep a vehicle going in the desired direction by playing with power and individual brakes. It works very well.

Tom

 

Hi Danny,
My poor baby gets abused like heck on Wisconsin rural mail routes too. I've done ok in the past with the factory tires, but this winter I've used "Blizzaks" and I HIGHLY recommend them. I've got them mounted on separate wheels which makes it easy to switch tire sets. It is possible to GENTLY rock yourself out of trouble at times, but no... you cannot spin/dig your way out. In a tuff spot, and no one around to help... try letting the tire pressure down to 20lbs or so and then crawl out. I refill air with a portable 12V compressor that I carry along at all times in addition to a shovel and kitty litter.
Timm

 

Timm, off topic, but how did you post those photos and have them show as thumbnails? I haven't figured out how to do that. I imagine I'm making it harder than it is, but any help will be appreciated.

Tom

 

Looks like you could use a 'winter front', timm. Or even just a front.

Did you figure out the pictures, qbee42? Selecting 'manage attachments', clicking 'choose file', then 'upload' seems to work for me.

 

Hey Tom,
Scroll down when you're in the "Reply to Thread" area and click on: "Manage Attachments". A "Manage Attachments" window should pop up. Then click "Browse" and go to the directory on your computer where the file is and double-click it. Then click the "upload" button. Next scroll to the bottom of the "Manage Attachments" window and click "Close this window". The file should then appear in the "Attach Files" section below in the "Additional Options" area. You're then ready to "Preview Post" or "Submit Reply". I don't know if there is a size limitation, but I always resize my stuff to about 800 x 600 before doing any of the above. You may also have a pop-up blocker that may need to be turned off first.

Good luck!

 

Yes, I got it, thanks to Timm. My problem was that I was using photos already uploaded. The manage attachments button only creates the thumbnails right after you upload the image. If you use the same image again later, I don't know how to get it to work again. That's not a big issue now that I can make it work on the first upload, as I can always upload a second time if necessary.

Tom