How does the newer Prius do on slick roads.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ricky @ Jul 6 2007, 12:18 PM) [snapback]474043[/snapback]</div>

I too have heard mixed reviews on this, the Prius has a anti slip funtion to the front wheels I know on wet grass the car will cut off power to the front wheels when they start to slip. Should be interesting in snow.

 

Our 2006 works great in the winter. We did get rid of the crappy OEM tires (Goodyear Integrities) and put on some Michelin LLR all-season tires. Our Prius has VSC, and it tracks over snow and ice better than any car or truck I've owned. There are two limitations: 1) It's a front wheel drive car and not a Jeep, so don't expect to wade through deep drifts, and 2) The traction control system is touchy. You need good tires, and you have to get used to how it works, otherwise you can find yourself frustrated by not being able to spin the wheels up a hill.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ricky @ Jul 6 2007, 11:18 AM) [snapback]474043[/snapback]</div>

That's still the story. I've had no problems in snow in my 2006, compared to other FWD small cars, and I've deliberately tested it on snowy hills. Some people (perhaps 2005 and earlier models) swear up and down there's a significant problem.

 

I've got a 2005 what doesn't have VSC, just TRAC (all Prii have that). This last winter was very snowy and cold, so we had a nice layer of ice beneath the snow on side roads. I live on a hill and with so much snow and ice it was difficult to get up the hill because of slippage. So I just went down the hill. My car has OEM tyres in back and Toyo's upfront. I'll be replacing the remaining OEMs when they wear out, which will be soon. All in all, the car has done OK. I drive much more carefully in it than I do in the Outback, our other car. The outback does MUCH better in snow than the Prius, but that's not really surprising. I think that you'll find that the Prius does OK, it's not great and it's not gonna wade through loads of snow, but what car in that class does? I wouldn't worry about it too much. Putting better tyres on makes a difference, several people here on PC have attested to that.

 

I had been driving all-wheel drive Subaru Legacy in two cars over 13 years.

October 2006 we traded on an 07 Prius.

Being ony front wheel drive, I found, with the standard tires, that I was able to always get to where I was headed here in Erie. I found that if one is gentle with the throttle one gets very little wheel slip and it goes ok. All-wheel drive gives no advantage in stopping!

The origianal equipment tires do not give the best traction and I replaced them with a set of Goodrich traction T/A which are much better on ice, snow and in the wet.

Welcome to Priuschat!

 

And if you find yourself in a situation where the Traction Control is preventing you from moving forward in slippery conditions, you can temporarily turn it off


Taken from http://priuschat.com/Slippery-hills-vs-TRAC-t12883.html


to disable traction control on the prius:
1) Turn the car to ignition by pressing START twice without pressing the brake.
2) Floor the gas pedal two times (two full top to bottom pressings)
3) Make sure the Emergency brake is on now and put the car into NEUTRAL
4) Again press the gas pedal two times
5) Push PARK and press the gas pedal two more times
6) Now put your foot on the BRAKE and press START one time while holding the brake down.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(paulccullen @ Jul 7 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]474678[/snapback]</div>

Well, that is good to know, and thanks for posting it but holy cr=p, I sure hope there isn't any impatient driver hehind you trying to skid up the hill as well. If you need to do this more than once, you probably need to replace the worn out trottle linkage.

If people need to deal with this much, then we need an electronics wizzard to build a box that will send that sequence of signals with a single push of a button like Toyota should have provided. They don't give us any credit for having brains. If excessive use of this feature can cause damage, they could have just warned us that using it too much can cause problems and then guide us on how much would be too much.

 

We have had excellent results in the Prius, with the stock tires, on snow ice and hail.

The stock tires when worn enough we wanted to replace them, still did great on the '05. The traction control has worked very well for us, including situations where other cars were trying and losing their grip.

The '06 has been outstanding. The stock tires, with lots of tread, really do fine at keeping this thing on the road in most situations. No trouble getting going from a dead stop on ice/snow while at a 5% uphill slope and going onto an 8% uphill... the only hard part was driving around cars abandoned in the middle of the road by other drivers.

I've only ever found one spot that it did not make it up without resorting to the procedure described above: a private road (2-house driveway) of wet washed-out mud, where I had to come to a full stop at the base of a 22%-grade segment (the spot we stopped was about a 15% grade). We got about 15 feet up the 22% segment when traction-control cut us out completely.

We had a Saturn LW2 with ABS, traction-control, and upgraded tires chosen for their snow/ice handling. The Prius outperforms that car by a wide margin, and I thought that Saturn was pretty good.

 

This was my first experience....

and I am still quite satisfied .