Where have you taken your C beyond the city? Crosswinds, steep winter mountain highways

My C1 has taken me to many different places. 4-5 hours on the highway is a killer on the MPG when you are going more than 65 mph. Every time I go up a hill with the C going around 65, the speed drops due to the weak power.
Crosswinds are also very bad. The car gets pushed around easily on the highway, but that can be fixed with some body and suspension braces.
The C is a perfect city car. I love that it saves gas but is nothing like taking a big suv on the highway.

 

Nothing real special here, but I drove down to my son's property to go shooting. The C holds AR's, M1A's, FAL's, lots of ammo, and targets.

I had to drive it through a field to get down to the target area. Nobody had been down that way for a while and the field grasses were grown high. Be advised, the floor pan for the C does NOT have a lot of sound deadening. I could hear almost every stick as it passed under the car. It sound much worse than it was, but the SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE of all the sticks passing down the side almost got to me.

The truck would have been a lot better, but the trip would have cost $175 just for gas!

 

This is where the Gen 3 hatchback model works better.
Gen 3 introduced the 1.8 L engine. That, in combination with a more aerodynamic (but less cute) shape makes the hatchback better for conditions like these.

 

Meh, not many places, I still like the "it's my new car" feeling too much to break it in that much. Though I've taken it up to some of the parking lots on either side of the base of Mount Washington (not the summit), it was nuts to see it would break even pedal to the floor at 30 mph and at 3000 rpm, I couldn't rev it harder even when I pushed down harder on the pedal. Maybe cause I had Eco on. I did so much driving back down in the B gear. Oh and of course I've driven around Acadia a few times.

 

C is great on level freeways, but was not intended for climbing any substantial grade, I have only done a few climbs with my C and have learned that its best to not use it on trips that require any grades. The engine just works too hard.

 

I frequently travel in winter to western NC and to WV via WV turnpike and have no probleems with traction, average speeds, or crosswinds. In winter I get low forties mpg but average speeds at least 65 mph and both trips involve some long, crooked, and steep climbs and descents. Could it your wheels and espedialy tires areat fault? I have 16 inch and 15 inch alloy wheels with 45mm offset and equipped with Conti or Michelin snow tires. Anything less is likely your problem especially if your alignment isn't correct or tire pressues not proper.
thats what we see most often from customers having troubles with winter driving.
PS high rpm iswhat te Prissy thrives on if you don't care what mpg yu get, long as it 40.

 

Well. I am surprised!

At the risk of sounding combative, I have only positive things to say about my new-to-me 2012 Prius C in the snow. While it is true I just got the car in Oct, and have only driven it through a grand total of two big New England snowstorms, I have been pleased to find that I am now that obnoxious one who smugly stops and glibly offers help, and who ruthlessly gives condolences to all the other hapless drivers immobilized on the side of the road. So far, the little car has driven like a tank- nothing stops it. I live in a mountainous region, and regularly drive on rural roads and freeways over high elevations. I also have a daily 15-mile commute across snow-swept fields in an area associated with heavier-than-the-norm regional snow accumulation and blustery drifts. Getting home involves the dreaded "last mile," a steep, narrow and windy dirt road that requires on-the-edge momentum and concentration, which in past seasons has defeated both of my previous Toyotas (Corolla and Camry) as well as a rental car (Ford Focus). Most people who live here own at least one four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Despite being a tiny front-wheel-drive car, my Prius C on Michellin X-ice X3 winter tires has yet to get stuck. Once I had to back up on the "last mile," but that was because my little tank was pushing 10 inches of fresh snow during a major storm, on our unplowed road (I get home at midnight most nights). The pushed snow flew up and flash-blanketed the windshield, blinding me and forcing me to come to a sudden stop in the middle of the road. I simply cleared off the windshield, backed up a hundred yards, then easily drove up and into my driveway, no drama, no fuss. I could see the precise outline of bottom of the car from the first try in the snow-covered road. The cut from the bottom was several inches down from the top of the snowline. The road looked like a snow plow had worked on it- and I must say, it impressed in me how flat-bottomed and low these cars are. I know the low clearance should be a hindrance to snow driving. Not for this car, it seems. It just plows it all out of the way.

I have a remote garage door, and I usually open it as I approach and drive directly into my garage, not stopping, because the driveway is never plowed until the day following a storm. I did the same this time. But when I got out of the car, I discovered to my amazement that I needed to shovel out my garage! The little tank had actually pushed several inches of snow into the garage! Took me twenty minutes to shovel it out.

I must say my experience with the Prius C in the snow has been the opposite of the others who posted here. In fact, I have chagrined fellow employees stuck in the parking lot by offering to pull them out. Wonderful fun!

 

I take mine everywhere. long trips on I40 thru mountainf, WV turnpike to WV and I77 to PA, not to mention flatlands to murtle beach.
no prob,em averaging 65 mph, avg not typical, and yes I get down to high 30's on ethanol contaminated gas, but thats because I drive it like my vette at 3 times better mpg. And my prissy is tracked too, prius at vir on utube so it sees 100 mph and crosswinds or rain is no problem.
tires, alignment and suspension setup do matter the same as any car.

 

from los angeles to monterey, and back, almost entirely on the pch
l.a. to vegas and back
l.a. to san diego and back

some pretty steep stuff on the pch around big sur, but no trouble at all. some strong cross winds in the grapevine, that's about it.

 

Gone up to Sonoma, and even onto some dirt/gravel roads with some rocks poking out here and there (for camping/hunting trips)

Gone up and down 99, 5, 101, 1, etc...from north to central to south Cali

Gone the length of i-80 from Cali to Iowa

C's mpg is not as advertised on the highway (when I'm pushing it 70mph+) and especially on those stretches of i-80 when it was really cold and I was pushing 80mph+...but whatever, what other car would not suffer MPG loss at those speeds or road conditions?

 

i feel like i should mention that it's exceptional at climbing hills. there's a stretch on the 10 west, uphill just after merging from the 57, where most cars seem to struggle to maintain 60 mph. my prius c can hit 100 mph before i reach the top.

 

Of all the cars I've ever driven, the Prius feels safer in a crosswind than any of them. Driving through the Crowsnest corridor in Alberta (where so many wind-farms are) my Prius hardly feels the wind blowing over it's aerodynamic surface.

 

...though that may be less the case for the c, which is what this thread is about.

 

Mayhap it does, mayhap it does...