snow tires necessary for 2014 prius or not?

Yes

 

If you are going to be driving in serious winter weather I would recommend dedicated winter tires. My 2011 Prius Four is riding on Michelin X-Ice and I am very pleased with them. They provide a comfortable and quiet ride and negligible difference in fuel economy. They have low rolling resistance, are rated green and eco, and come with a 40,000 mile tread warranty. Could you get though a New England winter with your regular tires? Probably. Is it worth the chance? Not to me.....

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I live in Maine. We use studded winter tires on most of our vehicles.

 

We rock blizacks (sp) on our mazda5 and it outperforms most 4x4, especially on ice. these new "studless" snow tires are way better than studded tires in every way. get a set on steel rims, you will not regret it.

 

On any normal winter day, I routinely see people driving without winter tires. When the light turns green they spin their tires madly and throw snow/slush around before their vehicles even start to move. Why? Because their tires do not grip.

When these people pull out onto the roadway, every time their vehicles will fishtail. They do not have control of their vehicles. They fishtail back and forth a while slowly gaining momentum in the direction of the road. Wide fishtails that take up both lanes present a dangerous situation to everyone on the road.

I kind of feel that if you operate a vehicle in a condition that you will lose control every time to put it in motion, you should get a ticket.

Winter came early this year. In our town no pavement is visible, it is covered in ice / snow. We do not expect to see pavement again until next Spring. Sometimes we will get a brief mid-winter thaw for 5 or 6 days, but otherwise it usually stays like this.

Depending on where you live in the NorthEast you may be driving across water [rivers, lakes, ponds] My property has 1/4 mile of river frontage. To drive straight across saves me 30-minutes from having to drive to the nearest bridge to cross. I would not trust driving on river ice with summer tires.

 

Spinning wheels and skidding can also be caused by poor driving skills obviously, tyres are important but not the only factor.

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So I want to expand a bit more on my "yes" answer. I say yes, you need winter tires, however I do not have winter tires and my initial plan was to just use the stock meh seasons. My logic is that I have a Jeep that is fitted with all terrains that bear the mountain snowflake symbol (not the M+S you often see) as my all year tire.That tire combined with the 4x4 and height means I can get through pretty much any snow condition assuming traffic stays out of my way. I am a driver for Denver's Four wheel Emergency Assistance Team (FEAT) that falls under Denver's office of emergency management to provide transportation to critical city employees in times of extreme weather giving me authority to drive that rig on official business when the roads are closed. So I have a back up plan for the snow days. My other concern was I bought the Prius for the MPGs, I didn't want to fit snow tires on it bringing my MPG down at all. The situation is in Denver it probably averages about 5 days a year where snow tires are useful. I wouldn't be taking my Prius up the mountain this time of year anyways, so it's a bit hard to justify snow tires.

All that said, I'm already considering snow tires on the Prius because the stock tires suck so badly that I don't want to drive it even when there is the possibility of snow.

 

There is a lot to be said of skill. Among our neighbors we know a number of life-long Mainers who do not use winter tires. These are good drivers, they stay to the thick ice and they have a lot of driving experience. They normally expect to slide off into snowbanks or spin-out on ice 3 or 4 times each year. It is just a normal part of their life, and nobody gets terribly excited about it.

I am a Californian who has only lived here for 15 years. I do not have the length of experience that our neighbors have with winter driving. Once we shifted to winter tires, the difference was like night / day. In 8 years of using winter tires, neither of us have slid into a snowbank or spun on ice. It simply does not happen anymore to us.

Having winter tires is not the complete end of the story. There are other factors. But winter tires do make up at least 95% of winter driving safety.

 

My choice was to buy more weather capable all year round tyres. In UK they are called Michelin CrossClimate. V v good independent test reports, better than summer tyres in the wet, almost as good in the dry, and almost as good as snows in snow.

Ride really well in my experience but insanely warm winters here 10 C for the past week(!) mean I'm still waiting for snow to try them out properly!

It's a few years ago since I looked forward to snow, but I kinda am at the moment. I may well not get my wish . . .

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Yes get snow tires, on dedicated rims is the most practical, and: use common sense and caution. If at all possible, stay off the roads immediately following a major snow dump, slow down, keep an extra generous following distance, keep out of deep snow due to the car's low clearance, and above all: don't think snow tires make you invincible.

 

for me it's tequilla that makes me bullet proof

 

From my 5 minutes on the google machine, that's a good looking tire! Looks like it would be something I should throw on the charger or what not. Did it impact your fuel economy at all? Seems they don't sell it or anything similar in the US under the Michelin brand but I'll keep hunting for info.

 

I'd say yes. We only get about 30 inches of snow a year, but the with snow tires, my Prius feels very secure. Between the snow tires nad winter fuel mixture, my mileage takes about a 20 per cent hit, but it's worth it.

 

I don't keep mpg records but haven't noticed any downside.

They are also nitrogen filled and do seem to hold pressure far more consistently than my prev Goodyear tyres. So that helps with mpg although on the other hand I just use handbook pressures to maximize ride quality whereas with the last set I tended to over inflate for economy. So too many variables to be sure.

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The "low rolling resistance" tires on most Priuses are optimized, like the whole car, for maximum fuel economy at the expense of ordinary performance in many other regards -- including snow traction. If you intend to keep these tires, the only viable alternative is to swap them seasonally each winter for dedicated winter tires, as suggested above. In fact, experts say winter tires are the best thing you can do for safer roadholding in snow and ice, including four-wheel drive.

If you don't want to hassle of twice-yearly wheel/tire swapping, the other alternative is to choose a set of all-season tires that has above-average snow traction and is NOT engineered with the performance compromise of low rolling resistance. I made that choice recently with a set of General Altimax. Of course, understand that even the best-handing all-season tire cannot match the snow-and-ice performance of dedicated winter tires. Also understand you're making a different compromise, that being a trade where you get somewhat better foul-weather traction at the cost of slightly decreased gas mileage. All engineering is inescapably a tradeoff of some sort.

 

I would add to your sage advice but saying try to avoid driving until after the second or third snow-storm (by which time most other drivers have re-learned how to drive in snow (…yes, it's oh, so very different!) - My 2009 Gen II wears Blizzaks on 15" steelies in the winter, and Antares Ingens A1s on the 16" OEM alloy rims in the summer.

 

According to Auto Express Uk, the Michelin Cross Climate tyre has v good poor weather performance but low rolling resistance.

Michelin CrossClimate tyre review | All-season tyres test 2016/2017: top all-weather tyres tested | Auto Express

Also their Winter Tyre Review shows a large variation between winter tyres as to rolling resistance.

All tyres are a compromise and appropriateness of winter tyres obviously depends on the weather. So in the Uk and similar climates much of the time winter tyres are not justified. Snowless winters. Especially when we are getting wild fluctuations of temperature now between as low as minus 8 and up to plus 10 C within a few days.

So new technology, truly all season- tyres are a great compromise.

See
Michelin CrossClimate is the first ‘summer’ tyre that can safely be left on all winter. | Motoring News | Honest John

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