So my car is just over a week old. Got some of the white stuff today on the ground and headed out to work. It was just enough snow to make the plows come out and throw salt down, but not enough to actually plow. The car did just fine. Given traffic was creeping along (30-40mph on 40-50mph roads), I got a CONST of 63mpg. Now, having filled the tank up once already I know that that reading is bogus - I probably got 59-60 in reality for that trip. Of course, now my car is covered w/ road grime and salt. I'll be taking it to the car wash soon ... and also optiing for the undercarriage wash while I'm there. Oh, and hill assist on a steep incline w/ that slop under my car? Priceless.
You're experiencing what many have found re: the MFD mpg error. I always calculate mine and have discovered a constant 2.1 mpg error, weird that it's not a constant percentage. The Speedo is also 2 MPH generous. I have a Scangauge II and also GPS on my phone, both confirm the error in computation displayed. Still, 59-60 mpg certainly not something to complain about. A hint when it gets icy, use ECO mode, you won't be slipping and sliding from stop lights like other FWDs, nice even power. Have a good day.
Oh I'm not complaining at all !!! I do wish the gauge was accurate though. My first fill up netted me 54.1 MPG - it was sweet filling up w/ 5 gallons and change for like 18 bucks. Had a smile on my face the whole way home !
I find it overestimates by about 5% in mpg also. I like this car in the snow, it's really pretty decent. traction + stability control are sweet.
Also new to Prius and I've noticed I slip less in ECO mode. Why is that? Lower Gear? Since switching to snow tires in early December, the traction control hasn't engaged once. The Prius does much better in the snow now.
I agree whole hearty with the OP......driving my 2010 III in the snow was really nice.......better then my previous 2003 Olds Aurora. :cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:
Prius newbie here feeling cautious in the snow and missing my mid suv with Michelins. I'm not feeling the safe-solid grip and similar feeling of control while driving the Prius.
I took ours out in the snow last year and put through its paces in our quiet neighborhood on semi-hard packed snow. Easy acceleration, hard acceleration, acceleration while turning, easy braking, hard braking, braking while turning, etc. I did it all in Normal mode. I was pleasantly surprised by its performance. Was getting traction control and ABS to kick but had to force it. This was done on the OEM Yokohama Avid A/S's. Heck, I thought it was better than our RX400h AWD on the OEM Michelin Energy MXV4 tires (those tires sucked). The RX now has Yokohama Paradas on it. They are way better in the wet and I'm confident they'll be better in the snow.
I'm in the snow belt of NE Ohio and I can say that since I got my Michelin X-Ice snow tires, I'm having no problems now. It's better than my 2001 Camry.
This comment tends to support my "winter boot theory" of Prius winter driving problems I have made over the years, and recently in another thread about winter driving difficulties. In ECO you have to press the peddle further to get going. In a winter boot, you can feel the peddle at that much travel, but not at the level of travel for the standard operation. So, in standard operation people with winter boots on tend to press the peddle much to far, and cause the wheels to slip....
It actually simulates a higher gear. On a standard shift car those with experience driving in snow will often start off in second or even third gear instead of first. It allows you to push down a bit more on the accelerator without spinning the tires.
When we walked into our local toyota dealer and said we were interested in the Prius first thing he said is that if you get stuck in the snow or on an icy hill the car wont go and you need to get towed! I later saw it mentioned in the newbie forum also. Is this really what happens? You can't go forward as the drive wheels lock up. Will the car go in reverse? Don't have our Prius yet but this is worrisome especially if the wife is driving alone. I do believe in dedicated snows but worry this could happen before I can get them on the car. I'm gonna try to find the thread on winter driving difficulties.
I'd find another dealer! Clearly their salespeople don't know much about the vehicle. You can operate the Prius much like any other regular family sedan. You can reverse and rock the vehicle if you wanted to. The traction control is much better on the 2010. It's there to protect the electric motor (so it doesn't overspin) but it's much better at letting some wheel spin on the 2010, operating much closer to the traction control found on other Toyota vehicles.
Thanks, Tideland. The salesman we had wasn't very knowledgable about the Prius. In fact I knew more about other aspects of the car than he did! Thanks to the knowledge on this site. Still hoping to get ours before the months over. Gas prices are rising now so I should hurry.
Not at all. I know our 2005 has left me stuck on a snowy hill (it was within university grounds so it wasn't that big of a deal) but to be honest, I probably shouldn't have attempted that hill in the first place and I didn't have winter tyres at that time. So far, the only time I got stuck with my 2010 was when there was over 5 inches of fresh, loose snow (ground clearance is 5.5 inches) so it was mostly getting high grounded and not enough weight over the front wheels to get some traction.
