Icy Hills and Roads -Info needed

I live at the top of such a hill. As it is now covered with 6-7 inches of snow, I can recommend what has been successful for me. Slow and steady. No use of "B". Most experienced folks will recommend you never use "B", and I do too. I just keep a slow, consistent speed. On my hill, that means 8-10 mph and my foot on the brake all the way down. At that speed, i think I'm probably not using the regen that much as I think the regen is only used over 8 mph.

I think the slow, consistent and steady speed is good advice on the snow, whether in a Prius, or on a hill, or not. My Prius also made it all the way up that hill last night, much to the surprise of my wife and I. The snow plow man had not (and still has not) been here, so I was very pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to finish the week with a 1/2 mile uphill walk. The traction control light came on frequently, but the slow steady speed got us home!!

 

david, you made it because you have an 06 like me. but i also had an 04 and i bet you would not have made it with one of those.

last year we had a major ice storm (you would have seen it on Monday Night football for game in Seattle) and i spent the day after driving around the sound with no issues at all, including the hills of Tacoma. (like any Pacific Coastal Region, its all hills) on glare ice, the VCS and traction worked like a charm... (i past over 100 disabled vehicles... abandoned on the freeway because they simply could not navigate the hills, and ya.... plenty of 4 wheel drives)

in my 04, going up any hill was impossible simply because the power would cut off for too long of an interval, like 2 seconds...in the 06, the power cut off like before but only for fraction of a second. so the VSC flashed 3-4 times a second, but the power was consistent enough to get me up any hills.

 

ok thats nice to now about the 2004-2005 models
only the 20076 and up have this?

 

Snow tires. Snow tires. Snow tires.

 

You got it. Explain to me how a person can "afford" +$20,000 for a car, but can't afford decent traction tires? I worked it out, for my Prius the studded Goodyear Nordic winter tires from Canadian Tire, plus 4 of their cheap multifit steel rims, is about 1/43 the purchase price

For my FJ Cruiser, a Toyo tire dealer sold me 4 studless Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus winter tires, plus 4 cheap steel wheels to fit. Around 1/32 the cost of my FJ

With either vehicle, by running proper tires for severe winter conditions, I have peace of mind about staying out of a ditch or oncoming traffic. Now that I think about it, I'm not really "wasting" money as the total miles are split among two sets of tires, the "all season" for Spring-Fall, the winter for winter conditions.

If I lived in a mild climate, I probably wouldn't bother with dedicated snow tires. For up here, it should be a no brainer

Oh, I forgot to mention winter wiper blades. It really bugs me how many cars and trucks are driving around with smeared windshields, their wiper blades iced up and useless.

The winter blades for my Prius cost $25 for both at the dealership. My FJ takes 3 wiper blades for the windshield, all 3 came to $32 at Canadian Tire. Even at -40, I can squirt washer fluid and clean the windshield. Try that trick with regular wiper blades