Worried about upcoming MN winter season....

The Prius is also a mid-size car. In fact it has more -usable- space than the Camry.
It would be much less expensive to just get -real- winter tyres for the Prius. Even an extra set of wheels to go with the tyres. With the traction control and the other systems, Pearl was better on slippery surfaces than my FJ Cruiser. It just didn't have the ground clearance needed when we started getting -deep- snow.

 

we have hycam and prius, neither is a suburu in winter, but we're not in minnersoter.

 

hybrid camry.

 

well, i've never been to minnie, so i'm not sure. we get our share of ice and snow. plowing and and sanding is pretty good here. i don't have to go out with more than a few inches on the ground so i've never bothered with snow tyres. either way, i don't think you can compete with all wheel drive.

 

I think lot of people name their cars.

 

I had a mitsubishi outlander sport 25mpg with hills and loved it went great in the snow

SPH-L710 ? 2

 

Prior to the Prius, I had an '07 Outback. Aside from the lack of ground clearance, my biggest complaint about a winter-tire equipped Prius is the intense traction control that immediately removes most all power upon detecting any tire slippage. (Done to prevent damage to the electric motors.) If, when turning from a slippery side street onto a busy road, you carefully modulate your right foot to prevent tire spin, you'll do OK. If you're old school (like me) and like to mash your right foot until the tires find pavement, you'll be left hanging halfway into the busy road with no power to get out of the way of oncoming traffic.

After one winter of mainly driving my Prius, last summer I picked up a Honda Ridgeline for my winter driver.

 

im concerned about the snow here in UT as well. i will just have to find out

 

Be afraid, very afraid of people who name their cars !

 

From a couple old just retired farmer bachelor Brothers (65 and 68) We call our Prius the "silver bullet", and / or the "chick magnet", for the way the young gals at Mom's nursing home gush over it .

We love that great riding reliable little car that averages better than 50 mpg. Being newly retired, we are doing mostly 1 day trips to visit all the things we did not have time for when we were activly farming. For that we call it the "freedom machine." Drive all day, rack up 500+ miles and have the gas pump click off at 9.6 gallons, Whata deal

When winter snow gets deep enough and we start having to deal with hard drifted snow, the Prius gets parked in its bay with a maintainer on the 12V, usually waiting about 2 months for the end of winter.

For the worst part of the winter, we run the thirsty 6400 pound,21 mpg, 4wd Ecoboost Ford pickup.

rumor is the 15 Prius may have an AWD option.

 

AWD or 4WD is fine getting going, but it leaves so many over-confident! See them all the time upside down in the ditch! For stopping they do nothing. My Prius (Pearl S) feels much more stable than my FJ Cruiser (Bruiser) on slippery surfaces. Possibly because of the low CG, possibly because Pearl S weights 2000 lbs less.
Anyway, in deep snow the FJ is better, but on freezing rain Pearl S is better. But when some moron is about to hit me I prefer the FJ. The damage is less expensive to fix (aftermarket -real- metal bumpers and sidestep rails)!

Bruiser burns about 3X as much fuel as Pearl S. Pearl S has about 1000 km cruising range on a 40 l tank. Bruiser is lucky to go 350 km with the 70 l tank.

And yes, stay away from me. I'm certifiably crazy!

 

Hi there- just bought my prius and what is a maintainer??
I am in Minnesota and nervous about winter driving I drive a hour one way to work. I have other cars as backups too.
Us farm people collect cars.

 

Maintainer is a battery tender/charger

Battery Tender Plus - Batterytender.com

I have had very good luck with this one on my sports car which spends six months in winter sleep.

The Prius is pretty good in the snow!