First time in the snow....Prius found lacking. :(

1 Get snow tires or chain, prius will turn into a snow tank, your LRR tire will do no good in snow.
2 Wiper blades, have you change them recently? and what do u mean by missed a lot near the top of the windshield, if the blades are frozen just break the ice off them and it be good.

 

Concerning defrost; the Prius is very efficient and minimizes waste heat. Defrost (melting ice on the windshield) requires lots of waste heat.

Perhaps grill blocking would help a little with melting the ice from the windshield.

 

take it out of eco, and use power mode.

 

My Prius is stuck in my snow covered driveway - cockeyed. What was funny was spinning the tires trying to get out. Traction control is not your friend when you are trying to get your Prius out from a snowbank. I'll wait a few weeks for the snow to melt, or get some rugs and put them under the front wheels to increase traction. Right now the weapon of choice is the AWD Forester and VW Golf.

As per wiper blades - they seem fine. Just a little frozen at the tips.

 

the windshield in prius is huge due to its low angle of attack. i can see how it can cause problems with icing.

 

When you try, try cat litter under wheels may help.

 

but check for cat's before attempting extrication.

 

The Prius winter abilities are what they are.

I don't think the Prius is a particularly great winter vehicle. But I don't argue it with much passion as many people adapt and use the Prius in pretty extreme conditions.

I do however think that if driving in relatively extreme winter conditions is a priority of your driving? Then there are numerous vehicles that are designed with that in mind. The Prius is a hybrid, and it's priorities in design are aimed at efficiency, not getting you to the ski lodge or over the mountain pass in mid-winter. Even though, yes, I know it can do both.

 

+10C and sunny here. Highs of +12C to +15C for the last few weeks. The crocuses are coming up. Birties chirping, all is good.

Seriously, some messed up imbalances at work these days.

 

My Prius is 5 years old and counting. I have never found the Prius lacking in the Canadian prairies. About the windshield: Is that really a shortcoming? You can still drive with snow near the top. In fact, my whole "upper" rear window has been covered for the past 3 days and I've never bothered to clear it. Sure, I could get a ticket from the PoPo.......I use the lower rear window anyway.

 

I'm on my 4th winter with the Prius, always with dedicated winter tires and it's really very competent in the slippery stuff. I've taken a few trips I shouldn't have on snow covered, slippery, icy roads and it's always done well.

On stock tires? Never in winter, no way, no how. Those things turned hard as rocks when temps got below 40.

I have a hard time keeping the inside windshield glass fog-free. I have never noticed and extreme build up of snow on the OUTSIDE of the glass though.

 

Just drove through another blizzard in the Rockies coming back from a ski weekend and the Prius did fine. Up and down sharp grades, a nice layer of ice on the road covered by 6 inches of wet snow. There was an accident that closed the road for 2-3 hours and I "creeped" up a huge hill, which is essentially the worst case scenario. Stopping on a steep incline covered with snow and ice, and then moving a few inches to stop again and repeat for a couple hours. Basically as people gave up and turned around we just moved forwards. (The only alternate route was about a 300 mile detour, and Google showed it had 7 wrecks on the stretch of road we needed).

 

I thought I was the only one with the OP's problem. I find it difficult to keep the windshield clear when I am driving on a road with snow on it. When I try to use the windshield wipers, I wind up with a mess. Perhaps what I need to do is to change wiper blades regularly each Fall in anticipation of winter weather. Or will this not work?

 

I use the single blade wipers. I believe Rain-X brand but there are lots out there. They clear in one swish, leave no streak marks, and form perfectly to the curvature of the glass. I am actually about to replace the ones on my Leaf with the same style since the Leaf ones can't keep up with snow-fall.

 

Yep, I'm also happy with the OEM rubber inserts, so long as they are kept fresh. I've decided that means yearly for me, but that is probably a local climate thing. In the dry high desert SouthWest where I live, if it is not snowing then the sun is beating down

 

Ice winter tires a must ,, grill blocking a must

 

Try flipping down your sun visors closer to the window, that will capture more heat to stay at the top of your windshield