My first few experiences with winter driving.

I just wanted to post on this forum, since this is were i researched this car for about a year before even stepping on foot to a car dealership. After I read hundreds of post, and googling winter driving for Prius C. I have to say I'm moderately happy with its performance. I wanted to comment on my experience here to let other people know.. that might be wanting to buy a Prius C.

I live In Iowa, so far we have had 3 winter storms blow thru my area since I have owned this car. I have owned it for only 3 weeks now, and have not added snow tires, since it's March and I'm praying spring weather is just around the corner.

Right when my Prius C arrived at the dealership (dealer trade) we had a blizzard. Well that's a strong word.. it was a NWS Blizzard.. but a heavy wet snow the snow plows easily cleared off the roadway and the wind was not blowing anything around. The day after I picked it up road conditions were excellent (dry or wet pavement) handled great!

The next bad weather driving I did was a trip I had to make.. about 250 miles round trip. I made the decision to take back roads.. (well paved roads that are not on D.O.T. priority lists). I would say the roads were covered with ice/slush mix on all the roadway except one tire track with a little snow on top. With an added front & side cross wind at 40 mph wind gusts. This made handling a little rough. In my old car I could easily have gone up to 55mph and not have had a worry in the world.. The Prius C was more at 40-ish MPH speed without worries. I felt that the car was being pushed a bit due to the wind, the speed of the car, and the lack of traction. I do have to admit no snow tires were on the car and I'm sure the handling would be improved, and that it was a brand new car.. so I still was getting use to him. Take that with a grain of salt.

The next bad weather driving was not a snowy say but more of a day when you would be driving down some clear open road with wind around 25 MPH.. Then you get to a house, grove of trees, or any other object that would cover snow on the road. The Prius C handled great in those conditions. I do slow down a bit, but didn't have a problem at all.

Tomorrow is another test for my little car.. a 60% chance of ice. I'm sure I'll have another blog post for you then.