great in snow

You know, I was pleasantly surprised. My car backed right out of 7 inches onto the street. I did not shovel anything behind it. That's all I know about the C and snow.
Dan

 

I have had no issues with handling or complaints after our 18" of snow. You can hardly force it to slip or slide.

still wish gas mileage could be better in the cold.

 

We had a good size snowstorm here Christmas eve and yesterday, with a solid 6" of slushy wet snow. The Prius C did very well with the Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires I have on there. I often judge my cars' ability by how much everyone else is holding me up on the roads, and I can easily say that everyone else was dragging butt and in my way. The traction control light was almost always flashing but I was still able to pull everyone from stop lights and go faster with good confidence and stability.

I'm also very thankful to see that e-brake turning isn't met with Nazi-style stability control counter-measures. [pissed off glare towards VW's current lineup]. I'm able to position the car quite nicely with the e-brake and the stability control doesn't get in the way.

So far, the Prius C dominates the snow compared to my old VW Golf TDI. For the sake of full disclosure, I have yet to find a two-wheel drive car that owns the snow like the R53 & R56 MINI Cooper S.

 

Can not agree more with the e-brake turns, pretty much all month I have been driving with one hand on the wheel and the other on the e-brake, they did not plow quick enough in Iowa and everything except the main roads and highways are pretty much covered in a 2" thick sheet of solid ice, getting more snow as we speak.

 

Ditto to the good experiences above--tested my C last night on packed snow and ice, got zero slipping, sliding, or loss of power. Excellent traction and straight-ahead stopping every time, even though it's still wearing the stock Turanzas.

 

What's the "e-brake"?

 

Emergency brake aka hand-brake, which operates mechanically on the rear brakes only. I see how in an electric-car context it could be confusing.

Unfortunately, like the manual transmission, a proper hand brake is going the way of the do-do. Many new cars now have a servo-operated e-brake engaged by a switch on the dash or center console. You can't drift a car competently [or IMO save your hide in winter] without a proper hand/emergency brake.

 

I can jump on this bandwagon now. Just drove home in a pretty nasty snowstorm. Roads weren't plowed yet (not even the highway) and there was a significant amount of snow down on the ground already.

I was very pleased with the car! I saw the car ahead of me slip around quite a bit at least once but I had no issues. My biggest complaint was that all of the people ahead of me were going too slow, I could easily and safely gone another 5 mph or so.

I did slide backing out of a space in a parking lot, then accelerating up a hill to get out of the lot, but no big deal. I am very happy right now with my purchase!

 

I believe, if I ever get my snows on, I'm going to be satisfied as well. So far, on oem tires, I've been surprised at how it goes in snow. Stopping - no so good though.

 

I got in a little bit of snow 2 days ago (the left side) and couldn't do much about it. Had to be towed away.

 

Were you running on good snow tires?

 

While many readers probably realized that Ryephile's Michelin X-ice Xi3 are snow tires, it'e worth mentioning as, while I could be mistaken, I think most of those responding to this post were referring to their snow experience with OEM tires.

I too was pleasantly surprised yesterday as the Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 that came on my C performed adequately on packed snow and a mixture of snow and slush. The usual caution was necessary when driving on any all season tire, but I was expecting worse, even with only 17,000 miles on them. By the time next winter rolls around, I'll have over 40,000 miles on these tires, and will probably not risk another snow season with the Bridegstones. The Michelin X-ice Xi3's have gotten really good reviews, so that may be my next winter tire. Would be interested to hear about anyone's experience with these tires on dry roads (noise, gas mileage difference, etc.)

 

I have the X-Ice. They aren't any more noisy than the Turanzas.

I initial experience in the Turanza vs. Winter could have been about the worst to start with. Going out of our circle and turn left up the hill is a killer since there is NO momentum built up. That hill gets a lot of people stuck on it. It stuck the C first time. Had I had momentum I think it may not have stopped me. I backed back into our circle and took a right down the hill. I went to a nearby parking lot and was able to test the tires a bit more. They at least got me back up the road and into my driveway. I parked it and got the 4wd truck.

But I have the wide sporty tires. Do most/many of the successful forays into the snow/ice come due to the more narrow and less sporty tire combo? I think it would do better than the wider and more dry oriented sport tires.

 

have no idea...the car came with the tires, I suppose they are for driving, aren't they?

 

Then it's likely they were all season tires, which can have so-so to not good snow performance. Tire Search Results says Bridgestone Turanza El400-2 for the Prius c Three.

Some cars (like sports cars) come w/only "summer tires". Those actually be ok in the winter in rain but can be utter suicide and COMPLETELY USELESS in snow/ice in the snow. My former 350Z came w/Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires which are in that category (Bridgestone Potenza RE040 lists n/a for winter/snow under survey). When I lived in WA and it snowed, I would NOT drive that car in the snow, PERIOD. Rear-wheel drive car w/tires w/0 snow performance == very bad idea.

I took my other car w/all season tires (and was front-wheel drive).

My friend w/an RX-8 up in WA which also came w/those tires changed to snow tires when there was danger of snowing, since he had no 2nd car, at the time. I've never owned snow tires but did drive his RX-8 one time when he had his snow tires mounted when it wasn't snowing. Traction wasn't good and he explained to me that snow tires get crappy traction on dry pavement. And, I think they'd wear very quickly anyhow, so dismount them once snow seasin is over.

Sounds like you should get a set of snow tires. That along w/a set of cheap steel wheels (if you don't want to pay for mounting and dismounting snow/regular tires on 1 set of wheels) is likely cheaper than getting into an accident.

I just dug up this on Tirerack: All-Season vs. Winter / Snow Tires. Good video!

The other issue besides traction in snow is ground clearance... if there's not enough clearance, you'll have issues as well.

I don't know about chains in your area. Here in CA, if you drive up to snowy areas, from what I understand, they usually require chains, snow tires or 4WD (which can be useless w/summer tires). I don't drive there when it snows, so I don't know.

 

We had a good size snowstorm here Christmas eve and yesterday, with a solid 6" of slushy wet snow. The Prius C did very well with the Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires I have on there.

Read more: great in snow | PriusChat

I also installed Micheline xice3. We finally had our first real snow (8 inches). My C was spectacular in the snow and ice. Much better than my previous car (2009 Versa with cvt) and tons better than my Smart Car.

 

That's how I'd describe my 2012 Hatchback with the Xi3's. Completely dependable.