Well Iv'e had my first snow drive in my 2014 Prius three and the car sucks in snow

We have Michelin X-ice Xi3 winter tires and they work well for us.

 

You should take a look at installing a set of Nokian WRG3's.

Since it is a lease, and you can drive with the Nokians year round, keep them on and save the change over costs, put the factory tires back on at the end of the lease when you change the car. This assumes you would accumulate enough miles over the lease to wear down the Nokians.

Roland

 

it's the factory tyres. if you must drive in snow, get snow tyres.

 

It's been snowing off and on here in Chicago since Nov. I got new Prius in mid Dec and I feel like it handles better than my old Jeep Liberty >.<. Handles great in my hr commute.

But since its basically Feb next week, I say hold off on snow tires until next winter. Just my 2 cents.

On a side note, I grew up in NJ and feel like they suck at plowing and salting. Its like as if the paving and salting companies is ran by the mob or something there... Used to commute from Pennington to West Orange down Rt1 and the Parkway!

 

If you're looking for steel rims for snows, these older Corolla rims will work. It's worthwhile getting the extra (cheapie, galvanized) lug nuts too:

Corolla 15" black steel rims p/n: 42611-02471
With lug nuts p/n: 90942-01007

Right now I'm kinda wondering why the hell we've got snow tires on. Currently 8C, with high of 14C expected today.

 

That's my observation about The Prius as well.
I live in an area where winters have been mild. And with all my recent previous vehicles I felt I could make it through winter with just "good" all season tires.

Not with The Prius.

IMO it just doesn't do well in snow or ice. Even very slight amounts.
And I also think the Traction Control or Vehicle Stability Control is overly aggressive.

I'd recommend and do recommend to everyone driving a Prius in any winter environment, even pretty mild ones, that they get good winter tires. IMO it's a necessity with a Prius.

Next winter I'm definitely going to buy snow tires.

What's your MPG hit running these?

 

I even had snow tires on my 1994 Four Runner when new, much better control and traction, especially when turning. The Prius is certainly at the lower end of my winter car rides in terms of bad weather ability. Our Camry hybrid is much more capable. The worst part is the traction control in ice, or near-icy conditions. My old Camry had a button to turn it off, not so with this car.

The low ground clearance is limiting as well. Not bad if all you have is packed snow.

 

Phillip, I'm in Cinnaminson so I know you are talking about snow that isn't deep enough to cover the grass. I suspect the problem isn't the tires, it's the tire pressure. I don't know when you took delivery of the car so you probably lost a few pounds just because the temperature dropped to freezing. If the dealer checked the tp they probably delivered the car at the factory spec.

Look on the tire's sidewall. Do you believe a tire rated for 51 (or 44) psi is properly inflated at the factory spec? For you to get traction the tread needs to contact the ground. Inflate the tires to the max sidewall or at least close. You'll feel the difference. If you don't like how the car handles then adjust the pressure until you find your spot.

My 2010 experienced problems in the snow twice. One was at the old Exxon gas station in Willingboro (the one with the new convenience store) before the apron was cleared of several inches of snow. I got stuck on the apron, backed out, went on my way & bought gas elsewhere.

The other time was in the company parking lot. The subcontractor didn't have the entire lot plowed and I couldn't make it to "my" parking space. Again, several inches of untouched snow.

I've driven through a lot worse without incident. My attitude is if the Prius can't handle the conditions then I don't need to be on the roads.

 

I've had no issues with the stock all seasons on my persona thus far.

I'm just outside philly.

Granted I made it through last winter with my charger RT, non AWD with the stock 20's the charger has a great traction control system.

Had a 2013 prius liftback 3 a couple yrs ago and the wife ended up driving it most the winter on the stock 15" tires and she had the option of taking one of my parents 4wd suv's whenever needed but she always took the prius and I recall her commenting of how good it was in the snow. I have to concur as I do recall taking it out during one of the bigger storms to see how it did and I didn't have any issues.

Granted if your in the snow belt and consistently get 8+" storms I' say get snow tires...

 

1. Snow tyres
2. Proper inflation
3. Careful driving

Success!

 

Did you use the 'PWR' mode? It makes a big difference when pushing through piles of slush.

We drive in snow nearly everyday all winter, and most days we make trips across ice [frozen rivers, lakes, ponds]. We use studded-tires all winter also.

Take it slow, but you need to drive a bit more aggressively in snow. Power through turns, ect.

When the car is beeping and flashing that slippery road icon, especially when climbing inclines you may need to use the traction button.

 

The what?

Of course weather changes obscure this--I doubt we lose more than 2 mpg on average. Nicer ride quality too.

I bought them in a tire/wheel package a year ago last September for $102 per tire + $79 per MSW Type 14 wheel.

 

Ooops, my bad. I was thinking of a different car.

On the Prius, when climbing an incline and the traction control does not let you climb. You need to park the vehicle and go through the process [less than a minute] to disable the traction control feature.

Sorry about the confusion.

 

You must be Holding the Prius wrong lol

Yeah, the TC is a pain in the real world butt sometimes.

 

A number of times, I have been climbing a hill that was a sheet of ice, when the Traction Control has kept me from getting to the top. Thankfully it can be turned off.

On regular level ice or slush the Prius is great, in PWR mode.

 

PWR mode makes a little more sense if you're using studs but I've found ECO to make more sense in wet snow with studless tires.

 

Im am a happy traveler using Michelin X-ice snows here in tropical Buffalo NY.

 

My previous X-ice 2 snows were amongst the worst snow tires I've ever had, and I've had a lot of them. From the comments, I suspect they changed them a great deal. They were fantastic for normal conditions, in terms of handling and road driving.

Sometimes using ECO does work better, particularly when finesse works better than power. It calms the pedal so to speak. Just normal works best for me in most conditions. This Prius is the worst car ever for ice I've ever had. But to get a handle on how those comments have been received, last year after our ice storm the Prius faithful told us that nobody should be out on the roads if it's icy anyway. Never mind the millions that successfully, and safely got to where they were going, albeit slowly. I got stuck in my driveway while my 80-something neighbor laughed at me while she left. Prius hatchback down the street was stuck as well.