Caught in SW Snowstorm

Here in Minnesota, we called weather like that "Tuesday". In other words, seeing that on a regular basis is no big deal. And like you observed, it makes for good photo opportunities.
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Cool pics!
But this kind of snowy condition (1-3") is no big deal, Prius can see worst storms.
It's the cars surrounding you need to watch out for.

 

You really aren't going to get *any* sympathy from us northern PC members. We get this all winter long.

Tom

 

But whos fault is that Tom?
There is plenty of room further south.

 

Thanks for the pictures. I was wondering what snow looked like. We are looking "forward" to 5 days of rain in LA, but snow is something best experienced on post cards, or Priuschat photos.

 

True, but the South is full of southerners. I'll stay with the snow.

Tom

 

What kind of tires? OE Integritys?

 

Of course, we had that nasty ice storm on Monday. Mostly everything is back to normal now, except for the glare ice sideroads. If I had a choice of driving my Prius or my FJ on glare ice caused by an ice storm, I'd take the Prius as it has studded tires

 

SW = southwest. NV and AZ are in that part of the US.

A couple of weeks ago we spent time in Las Vegas and also ventured into UT, visited Bryce Canyon NP and got up to 9,100 ft altitude. It was snowing up there and the 2004 did well in that environment.

 

Your memory is getting worse, cut out the heavy drinking

 

As far as the Trac, last Spring I test drove a new 2008 Prius when there was still a wee bit of snow around. On factory tires, the TC behaviour was light years better than my '04.

So Toyota has clearly learned and applied changes to the TC system

 

Jayman, I did a little more scientific testing with our 2006 Trac. It allows for significant wheel spin, even at a dead stop. We had the Prius stopped uphill on ice, then we gave it gas while an observer watched from the outside. One or both of the drive wheels would spin fairly fast, depending on relative traction. Inside the Prius you could hardly tell that the wheels were spinning. HSD makes it hard to hear normal wheel spin on a slippery surface.

If I were less informed, I would subsequently post that Trac stopped me dead on a little bit of ice. I know I could have made it up that glare ice without Trac getting in the way. <this is sarcasm, just in case any new readers are even slightly confused by my sense of humor>.

Tom

 

I've had observers along for a ride when the TC intervened. According to them, the tire will rotate about 90 degrees, pause for 3-4 secs, rotate another 90 or so degrees, etc

When I testdrove the 2008 and purposely made the TC kick in, it seemed so fast as to deliver an almost continuous flow of power.

The TC on my FJ will not actually pause the wheel, at least if it does it's so fast as to be unnoticeable. The only time a wheel is halted on my FJ is if the brake is applied, as the TC thinks the other side has better traction

 

EZW1, you didn't mention that you saw any snow plows in your travels through the snow in Arizona. That 4 inch snow in Minnesota would have triggered the appearance of numerous big orange MNDOT snow plow/sanders in a hurry. Unless the roads had been declared closed by blizzard and white out conditions, travelers would have been joined by numerous dedicated plow drivers in a frantic effort to keep the highways open, overtime be dammed.

Snow tires are not usually necessary in most parts of Minnesota and my original Integrities served well for two winters until replaced. I haven't had a set of chains for 50 years, we have snow plows instead.

Glad you got through well in your Prius.

 

Whatchu sayin', boy?

 

Sorry Tom, I forgot about that.
I thought those Southern farm girls had a reputation to uphold though?