Prius worst car in history in winter

NJ is not a cold climate. I happen to live in the same climate, and all of your points are false in my experience.

 

And here we go again - round and round.

Try WINTER tires and see if that improves things. Many members are from Canada where it is cold and they don't have problems in the snow.

 

I live in eastern Mass and everytime it snows I need to jumpstart my '08 prius. Not when it's cold, just when it snows.

 

my 1980 VW rabbit was much worse. so was my dodge dart and fiat 124 sedan. chevy wagon? couldn't keep it in a straight line on wet roads. i could go on and on. you must have come from a suburu or some other 4 wheel drive vehicle.

 

Your points are bunk.

1.You lose MPG in the winter for lots of reasons.

2. "car is way to heavy and WILL NOT STOP." Whatever you're smoking, I want some because it clearly works. If your car is not wearing winter tires, that's your fault. Blame the crappy all-season tires, not the weight of the car. Actually, heavier cars puts more friction on tires.

3. It heats up like every car I have owned (Accord, Camry, Altima) or any other car I've sat in.


Try living up here in Winnipeg and we'll show you cold. Granted the East Coast is getting hammered with snow this winter but NJ is not cold.

 

This has not been my experience.

Although NJ has collected its share of snow recently, I live in NewEngland and both my 04 and 2010 Prius perform quite well in winter conditions.

Yes, the heater does cause the engine to run more often. I experience a total loss from winter to summer of about 6-7mpg but I can't blame most of it on the heater. I can see an immediate 3-4 loss when the gas stations switch to the winter mix. I also lose a bit more when I put the snow tires on. Cold temperatures don't help either and I'm sure the heater causing the engine to run more takes another bit. Even with all those losses, I'm still doing far better than any other car around.

Snow tires are also key to winter driving (regardless of the car). The Prius stock tires do not perform well in winter (or summer) conditions. I have Toyo G02 on my 2004 and Hankook iPike on my 2010. Both give the car excellent snow traction and stopping. I think I give the edge to the Toyo tires but I have less experience with the Hankook tires as the 2010 is only a month old.

 

you show an 04 prius, you claim to have an 08 and you joined in 2010 with 2 posts? nice:rockon:

 

probably one of the best winter cars going. too bad they don't have a hybrid. unfortunately, you're going to have to adjust your driving style after coming off the sube. or trade back?

 

It is 19 deg in Cleveland. I drove 35 miles this morning to work. I got 54 MPG from start to end.

I run Michelin ICEX tires on the Prius and it handles very well in the snow and ICE. It does better than my 4 wheel drive Toyota 4Runner.

 

Nonesense. My 2010 V with Avid 15-inchers did quite well in the snow we have had here in TN for the last few days. My road is not cleared, and I never had any problem stopping, even abruptly in order that I could test the ABS and see how it function on the road. With a thin layer of ice and then some loose snow on top of the ice, the car stopped straight and quickly. I could feel the ABS modulate braking and the ability to steer remained. I note that the engine runs longer on the cold days...so what. I have never had a car heat-up the interior or defrost aq windshield as fast as this car does. All in all, pretty darn amazing considering the car is operated within a large number of compromises all of which were needed to make the car balanced between driveability, economy, creature comforts, and design.

If there is a gripe, it is that the car is so aerodynamic that when I finally stopped during a light snow, it looked as if though it had been sprayed with a layer of slush and snow. The absence of heat from the headlights and tail lights cause them to be slushed over pretty badly. That was the only drawback. Toyota needs to install some strip heaters in the headlight housing to generate some heat to melt the accumulated slush. The little deicer squirters arent cutting it. That is my only complaint.

 

Greetings!

I know it's not as cold down here on the Redneck Riviera as it is up there in the 'Garden State', but I didn't notice the 10-MPG drop last night when I was driving around in 22-degree temps, so I would expect that your mileage drop is probably more driver than weather---I still get 55-56mpg.
Do you warm your car up before you drive away?
If so, that's causing a lot of your drop. If your engine is running and your car is not moving---then your mileage at that time is....(wait for it!)...... Zero MPG.
This will have a somewhat negative effect on your overall mileage---as indicated by that goofy display you're looking at. Any car you replace your Prius with will get precisely the same mileage while it's idling in your garage. You also may want to check your tire pressures. You don't strike me as an expert in automobiles, and so you may not have done so in a month or two. If they're low, that will effect your mileages as well.

In your second point you mentioned that: "... ice or snow [sic]conditions the Prius WILL NOT
stop when you apply the brakes,the car is way to heavy and WILL NOT STOP."
The Prius tips the scales at a little over 3060 lbs...only 200 pounds more than your Corolla. To put this into perspective, and Accord is 250 pounds heavier, the Altima is about the same 250 pounds beefier (depending on options), and so on.
I hate to break it to you (no pun intended) but if you can't stop your Prius on snowy or icy roads----this may also be more because of your driving than some flaw in the car.

You see a pattern developing here?

As far as it taking "forever to warm up"....when I was tooling around in my company car last night, I didn't notice that it took significantly longer for it to warm up than my pickemup truck does, but it was a balmy 22-degrees out, and so you may have something there.

If your Prius is that much of a disappointment to you...then sell it, and get on with your life. Priuses have a decent enough resale value, and gas prices are rising. You'll be able to get out from underneath yours and get that dream car that gets good mileage, drives well in the snow and ice, and warms up more quickly.
If you find such a car....lemme know what kind it is and where to get one for myself please.

I hope this helps.

 

Mtns of NC...4 degrees this am...keep your tires well inflated, use grill block, and dress warmly...you'll get about 5 mpg less than your summer driving...my experience.

 

Ok, I'm confused. You say that you own a 2008 but your personal info says you own a 2004

Have you ever replaced the 12 volt battery ??? May be that time. !!

 

Boy, you should really think about what you are saying before making sweeping statements like that

Have you driven a rear-wheel drive car in the snow with stock tyres?

As for your points (and I'm not going to bother repeating them), they either apply to all cars or are simply untrue.

I'm sure the Corolla makes more sense to certain people under certain circumstances and yes it is a lot cheaper...then why did you buy a Prius?

 

My Prius MPG doesn't seem to suffer too bad during the awful cold, icy spell we've had here in Carolina. I dropped from 52.7 to 52.5 in MPG. I'm very satsified with icy/show traction. Of course, I know not to spin tires, exceed warm up speeds, or drive faster then my guardian angel.

The only problem I have is that the Prius IS NOT the worse car ever. That honor definitely goes to the 60's VW Bug and the Corvair. I remember when those cars were modern, and by god, I'm here to tell you those cars were winter time thriller chillers.

Happy Motoring,

Tom

 

What makes you think he owns a Prius? The simplest reason for the symptoms he claims is that he just wandered into Prius chat and started making stupid posts.