We have no deep snow yet, but the small hilly road (not enough I know, but I was not able to find better) was quite slippery. You can see how easy car started to move. Just small steering wheel correction was needed.
We had 14 inches last week and no one could get to work except 4wds. I cleared my driveway and then waited 10 hours for the plow to finally clear the street. This was my first experience with the 2010 Prius in heavy snow. I have now dubbed it the "goat". In ECO mode it delivers the power so slowly and evenly that I haven't spun yet. Heck, in snow I can win drag races with standard front wheel drives. It takes a lot to impress me, my last car was a Subaru. This car is amazing even with the stock Yokohamas. Tony Renier Green Bay, WI
I know you all are saying the traction is good, but are you sure that applies when the car is non-moving & on a slope? For example on my driveway with packed snow on it and perhaps slight ice, which has only a slight incline (if I were to hazard a guess, perhaps 5 degrees), the tires either don't move or spin even when in eco mode. This is a new 2010 Prius I just purchased a few days ago with the Yokohama tires. Therefore I have to back up and get a "running" start in order to get into my garage sometimes. This is a situation that is also important, since not always is there great traction when the light turns green. Any thoughts?
Yeah, invest in some good snows. My wife is doing as well on this past week's ice-covered surfaces as she used to do with her Forester. I'm very impressed (and, anyway, having grown up on the North Shore, I wouldn't even consider relying on all-seasons). We're using Michelin x-ice.
The Prius will do well in the snow as long as the snow does not drag under the under carriage of the car...then things get difficult and almost impossible to move even with good traction on the wheels. Last Saturday's snow storm in our area kept me inside just like the majority of the people in our neighborhood. It is important to remember to keep your speeds down and keep a distance. Our Prius can not take any hard bumps on the front and rear. Drive Safe everyone.
Actually, the same thing was true of my Subaru and years ago of my Jeep CJ5. I've never gotten "more stuck" than in my Jeep when I ran on a snow drift that gradually got up to about 25". Merry Christmas to all. Tony Renier
Driving down the Strezelecki Track after heavy rain and 2 out of 3 Nissan Patrols locked the back right wheel with caked in mud in the wheel well. Yours truely was the only driver to not lock a wheel or get a puncture on that trip. It was so slippery that I was doing 30km/h according to the speedo and passed Colin who was doing 40km/h according to his speedo, and it was a constant battle to stay on the road. Is that what driving in snow is like? Picture is "my" car on my front "lawn" after we got back. Pretty clean considering.
Any reason it was only the rear right wheel, and not the left or both? Yes, at least on slushy snow or snow over ice.
Didn't take the LC out for a drive? haha. That is pretty clean considering what you described. Yeah or 15cm of loose snow that looks like frozen cappuccino. (i.e. not quite ice but it's kinda mushy. It's really hard to describe cause it's not freshly fallen snow but snow that's been there for a while and changed to brown because of all the road crud and partially "melted" to form this weird consistency. Hope someone knows what I'm talking about and can give a better description.
