Gen II & Gen III in snow

I have no idea about the Gen II..but I do know that our 2010 III has no problem in the snow. Just a few days ago had to drive on unplowed roads with heavy wet snow for 45 miles, snow was all ruts. Car was great.....never broke traction, never had any traction lights come on.

 

Do a quick search here and you will find an overwhelming number of people who complement the Gen III in snow, me included. I can't speak to the Gen II, but you'll also find several posts where people point out that the tires and driving method determine if a 'car' is good in snow or not. Some people seem to want to spin their wheels in slippery conditions (not a good idea), and apparently the Gen II limits this ability.

 

7 winters with an Iconic model (2004)
2 winters with a 2010

There's no contest, the 2010 handles snowy driving better. Of course, I did upgrade the Iconic to high-traction tires, which pretty much compensated.
.

 

I haven't driven a GenIII but poor drivers have issues with the GenII in the snow.

My GenII goes up and down the Rocky Mountains in all weather, no issues yet. I carry a set of chains in the trunk with the spare tire for emergencies and have not had to use them yet.

When you absolutely must spin the tires, you can disable the traction control. But there are very very few times when it is needed.

 

Here's a few links...
Some claim it's fixed others not.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ng-in-snow-prius-really-good.html#post1250775
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-car-in-history-in-winter-19.html#post1272741

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-say-about-their-stupid-traction-control.html

From the last link, the OP received a response from Toyota.
quote: Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

We apologize for the concerns you are having the traction control in your 2010 Prius.

There may be times when you attempt to accelerate from a stop on snow or ice where the throttle will not respond. The reason for this is that our hybrid vehicles have 100% of the electric engine's torque available at 0-1,500 RPM unlike our gas-only vehicles, where maximum torque is available around 4,000 rpm. If the Traction Control System detects wheel spin it will inhibit the throttle because if the tires were to spin and then suddenly gain traction, the torque would be so great that damage could occur to the transaxle.

We have documented your dissatisfaction with the Traction Control here at our National Headquarters under file , where they remain available for review to the appropriate departments

 

Ahh yes, another "holier than thou" post. 2k1Toaster, you see, is a self proclaimed "good driver". And yet another insinuation I am a bad one! LOVE these posts (yes, sarcasm).

The TRUTH is the Gen 2 TC does NOT handle certain conditions well AT ALL. 2k1Toaster hasn't driven in such conditions yet and, therefore, believes himself a "good" driver. This conditions are rather specific, but if you do find yourself in them, you too will find yourself cursing the TC.

If you drive in typical snowy conditions, you'll find the Prius (Gen 2 AND Gen 3) to be quite capable in snow. Good snow tires are a must. (frankly, I believe that to be true for all cars in the snow belt.)

That's it for me, you can see my posts in the other threads

Now then, 2k1, how about you leave the personal insults to my Private mailbox, or are you just trying to push my buttons again????

Zhe Wiz

 

My complaint about the Prius in the snow has nothing to do with traction control systems. . I got study once, when the plowed road after a 2' storm suddenly wasn't plowed. With toyotas's ground clearance, you are screwed.

The real problem is te vehicle stability control and abs, which tries to out all of the breaking power to the wheels with traction. In my case, I had one wheel with decent traction and three on ice. I was breaking to avoid an accident, and the right front tire had traction, the others did not. So the the breaking force was not alligned with the center of gravity, and the car started to spin, ended up going off the road and up the embankment and rolling....oh I was going 5-10 mph.

Car was totaled, but I found out someone purchased it.

 

My Gen III is fantastic in snow, with 2 caveats. 1. Don't go deeper than the front spoiler; it's not a good snow plow. 2. I've repeated this over and over, put it in ECO mode for slow power delivery to avoid all that wheel spinning you see in other FWD cars.
Good Luck

 

I was hating big on the Gen3's lumbar support, so I'm not a blind fanboy, but I really think the traction control in the Gen3 is absolutely fine. Neither of us had problems this winter with us, in NY, on all-seasons.

 

I am curious why you think my post was directed at you...

But seriously you think that New York gets worse winter weather than the Rocky Mountains between 7000ft and 11000ft elevations?

We get typical snow. We also get hail snow. We have ice that covers the road a few mm's deep. We get snow that is too tall to open your front door, but then you aren't going anywhere anyways.

GenII (2006) has done just fine in all of the above. It has traversed most of the passes, including I-70 in blizzards where the road was closed to commercial traffic and chain laws were in effect. The Prius does just fine.

 

I have the same Michelin X-ice snow tires on my new Gen 3 as I had on the Gen 2 that was totaled.
No contest the Gen 3 is much better in the slippery stuff, around here it's ice not so much snow. The Gen 2 was not awful, but the Gen 3 is better.

 

Because I am one of MANY who have had trouble with the Prius' TC. You completely discount the problem, or try to, by stating that only "bad drivers" have a problem with the Prius' TC. An insult that was completely unnecessary, but I'm sure intentional, if not directed solely at me.

You know what? NONE of that is AT ALL relevant! Why? Because TEXAS gets weather bad enough to stall a Prius. The Prius' TC left me unable to proceed in perfect, sunny conditions. I'm sure you've read this, and are just ignoring it, but here it is again: It was a beautiful sunny day on a gravel road. I was unable to traverse a hill because the Prius would not spin it's wheels at all. It was completely paralyzed. Heavy throttle, light throttle, car would not move. The instant ONE wheel slipped, the Prius TC system COMPLETELY shut down the car.

So why is that relevant to snow? Because spinning on snow is not always bad, just like spinning in gravel is not always bad. SOMETIMES it is better to spin (a LITTLE, not wildly) and maintain momentum than to shut everything down and lose it. Traversing a steep hill at slow speeds is often about momentum, lose it and you're screwed. The Prius' TC kills momentum and you can't always avoid it.

You are very, very unlikely to run into the TC issue out on the road, no matter how bad they are. You are far more likely to run into the problem at low speeds, in a driveway, or when starting from a stop. And that's not to say you will ALWAYS run into the problem when trying to replicate it. If it were that easy, I'm sure Toyota would have fixed it before releasing it. The conditions are very specific and very limited, but they clearly exist.

2K1, try reading my other posts some time, so I don't have to write it all over again. Stop saying it's the driver's fault or the tire's fault. There are certain situations the Prius' TC does not handle well. Not everyone ever runs into those situations, but some do and it is a problem.

What would have happened if I had gone DOWN that gravel road, run into a dead end, and then had to go back UP it? I was in a place with no cell phone service, in the middle of nowhere, alone. Sure would have ruined my day. I NEVER would have looked at the hill and thought "my car will never make that hill." It looked like one of many hills I've easily traversed with other cars, including rear wheel drive pickups back in the 80's.

I guess we've finally come to the point in auto technology where a person's ability to drive well WITH traction control is used as justification for their superior driving skills. When I saw TC coming into common use, it was just the opposite. Interesting.

Zhe Wiz

 

Very difficult to say the Gen 2 was worse than the Saturn unless they had the exact same tires. Tires are WAY more important in snow than the difference in cars. I'd take a Gen 2 Prius over an AWD Subaru if the Prius had snow tires and the Subaru did not. And, in fact, if I weren't going off pavement and there were no slow, steep hills, I'd rather have the Prius with snow tires than almost any car I've ever driven, even if they had snow tires too. Excepting, of course, the AWD's I've had.

Your slightly sloped driveway is the exact condition the Gen 2 does not like. Low speed hills it's not good at if you can't gain any momentum, and snow tires are a must.

Zhe Wiz

 

The TC in the 2006-2009 Prius is somewhat less aggressive than it is in the 2004-2005 models. My 2004, even with very good tires, suffers from hesitation while turning into traffic which can be quite unnerving. It also has trouble on slippery uphill cases (as in my driveway) which often requires me to spread sand/salt to get up the hill.

Real TC (applying the friction Brake to the slipping wheel) would be a much better solution than shutting down the motive force.

JeffD

 

So a driver experiencing traction problems in middle of heavy traffic is supposed to take a hand off the wheel to enable the ECO mode.

 

This is my first Prius and I have no complaints about how it handles in snow, rain, gravel, etc. This winter has been one of the worst winters in the Northeast in a very long time. I was very concerned about my Prius when the winter arrived from all of the "troubled" issues that others have experienced with their Prius.

I can tell you that our first snow storm we received a Blizzard with record snow fall. and in the height of the snow storm my daughter had to be rushed to the ER and here was my chance to "test" the Prius. I saw SUV's stuck, I saw AWD stuck, I saw front wheel drive stuck but my Prius made it there and back home. I also have a home in the woods with a partial gravel driveway and half dirt with a incline. In the snow it goes, in the mud it goes, on the ice it goes. Oh and I don't have snow tires or any other special tires besides the stock tire. The moral is every car has its moment when (Like our Audi Q7 when it got stuck because I wanted to stop on a hill 12 inch snow) but when driven accordingly it does fine.

 

All true. However my attacker has a 2008 according to the profile. And there were no changes between 06 and 09 for the TC as far as I know.

It is relevant for snow/ice conditions. Those who drive in it frequently know how to finesse the cars properly. When Texas gets a light ice cover the entire road system is blocked and they're declaring an emergency because people are spinning out of control.

There is a large population of military around here, and most come from southern states and bring with them their gigantic pickup trucks. Some 4wd some not. When they have to drive in it for the first time, they slide everywhere. It is a running joke around here to stay clear of the military bases in bad weather shortly after new transfers because they always take out other cars in their idiocy.

And really I do not expect a Floridian to drive well in the snow. But to blame it on the vehicle instead of general lack of skill is inexcusable. Holiday Inn Express doesn't help you in these situations.

I live on a gravel drive actually. But yes, gravel is no friend of the Prius TC. If you are on a steep enough hill or the gravel is not well packed then spinning the tires wildly is the best solution. It is what the rally drivers do even. And if you re-read my post you will see that I do say there are times when disabling the TC is necessary. It is rare, but not unheard of. This sounds like one of those times. I was playing around in a field that had some hills and valleys on a slick day where the grass was basically mud and there were a couple points where I am sure the TC would have stopped me. But to the majority of people gravel and non-pavement driving is not normal. But when you need it, there is a 10 second procedure to get rid of TC, do your thing, stop and put it back on.

Again true. But with the correct feathering you can alleviate most of the TC. It is basically driving to never engage the TC system. It is much harder on the Prius because of it is complete lack of feedback for pedal/throttle relations. But you can figure it out easily enough and with enough practice.

You wouldnt have a problem if you disabled TC before going back up the hill. Or perhaps go in reverse?

Actually, I don't think I have ever had TC kick in while reversing... I wonder if it self disables in reverse? Seems like time to experiment when I get home.