Did Toyota get it all right in 2008?

While I was waiting for my 2008 Canadian SE with Premium Package to arrive, I started to get cold feet as I read thread after thread about Prii being blown off the road by trucks or crosswinds if they didn't have a BT plate, and TC grinding everything to a halt on snow or gravel.

My experience is limited, but I've now operated with 40 mph crosswinds and have drafted (at a safe distance) and been passed by speeding trucks. I have encountered no untoward buffeting or degradation of handling to date.

Winter arrived in Southern Ontario with a vengeance today. The steep upslope at the the bottom of our laneway was coated in snow over ice. The new Prius handled the conditions without any difficulty. I then found an empty and slippery cinema lot and tried to get it to misbehave. It was deadly boring, but as competent as any car I've driven. I managed to get the slip light to flicker a few times during hard acceleration, but that's about it. Granted, I'm running on Nokian WRs instead of the stock Bridgestones, but I did not encounter any of the handling difficulties reported on earlier vintage Prii.

Does anyone know if the gains for the TC have been adjusted for 2008? I understand the 2008 Canadian SE may have the Touring suspension. Has anyone with the US Touring model found that it fully addresses the buffeting/steering problems reported by others?

Cheers,

(a relieved) Geoff

 

I've read that the WRs are pretty good, but surely there is more going here than just a decent set of rubber. (If not, I think we may have found a cheap solution to all those handling concerns.)