What is your snow driving experience?

So far so good. I've had 2 winters and I've never been stuck or lost control. I have a great set of Nokian winter tires so that definitely helps. I live in the coldest city on earth over 500,000 people so I know what winter is like. And I say the need for SUV/truck and 4WD to combat winter is overrated. I have been stuck 2x in the past 10 years and that's only because the apartment I used to live in was tardy in shovelling. I suppose it depends your city and how quickly they clean the streets and also whether you live rural or urban. Winter in Winnipeg is part of life so our infrastructure is setup to clean our major routes relatively quick.

Long time ago I compiled a list of popular cars and their ground clearance and the Prius is just a shade under the avg. If the Prius is no good for winter than everybody else is screwed too and it's certainly not the case.

 

The OEM tires that came with my Prius were horrible on anything but clean dry pavement. I have since gotten for winter four of these: General Altimax Arctic 195/60R15. They are "studabble", but I did not go for the studs. General Altimax Arctic They do a very good job of offsetting the very aggressive traction control. It is fun to be at a red light and on green I look in my rear view and see SUV's fishtailing and I am pulling away. But there are times when the traction control, or the depth of snow slow you down. Just the way it is.

I got Altimax HP(Grand Touring All-Season) General Altimax HP for the other three seasons. I swear these are as good on wet pavement as my GY Triple Treads were on my old Subaru AWD Outback.

 

I've driven my Prius in those storms the last two winters. I know up here in NCC, they tend to keep the roads more clear than they do in the lower 2 counties from what I've seen/heard. I've also run Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires each winter as well. They were worlds better than the Yokohama Avid S33D tires that came on the car in the snow. I only drove in the snow with those stock tires once, and that convinced me that by no means were they going to make me feel good driving in those conditions.

I don't think 5" would pose too much of a concern for you. What you have to determine, is how soon and often does the roads getting you to a main road get plowed. As long as you're comfortable with them being drivable, you'll do just fine. I do recommend using ECO mode when driving in the snow, as it gives you finer control over the accelerator pedal, so you are less likely to spin your tires unless you mash it to the ground right away.

 

Do you think a set of OEM tires that are only a couple months old would at least work for the first winter? Just bought the new car and really can't afford a new set of snow tires right now.

 

If the snow gets to deep the car will ride up on it and the wheels will not be able to contact anything solid. All those under body and under engine covers don't help. If the snow is more than 4 or 5 inches deep I drive my 4X4 pickup. But if you don't have a lot of loose snow the car seems as good as any other small car. I have never used winter tires, just my all season tires, but I think they would help quite a bit in ice and hard packed snow.

 

Chances are they will not handle snow and ice...
But, you don't know till ya try.

Prii have stability control and abs, if the tire has no grip the car won't move an inch from a stop,(ABS and Stability control won't let the wheels spin, ever) if it's moving, the wheels won't spin, so inertia will keep the car moving until gravity takes over.
Clearance is plenty good, if the car bogs down because of the amount of snow, where exactly are you going, think it over and park the car...

All in all the car is as good or better than any other front wheel drive car, if you have good rubber you will have a good chance of driving in snow, if on the other hand you install snow tires with studs you'll have an excellent chance of being able to drive in snow.
Studs will start and stop you, the oem tires get good enough mileage, handle wet and snow good enough, sorta like the 12v battery, it's good enough to start the car, for awhile...

 

I drive in ECO mode and at stop lights or signs the slow power delivery starts me out smooth and even, while other front wheel drives are spinning like crazy. I'll be on my third winter with the original Yokohamas so I'm hoping I won't have to buy new tires this winter.
The only problem I've ever had in snow is the fact that the car is SO low that it can act like a plow and that will bring me to a fast halt.
Good Luck

 

Contrary to what others may say, you can spin the wheels on a Prius. Traction control will keep them from racing, but they can spin. This was true for the 2006 and newer Gen II, and even more so with the Gen III.

In snow a Prius will do as well as most front-wheel-drive cars. Traction control can be an issue in deep slippery stuff, in mud, and on loose gravel. In these situations you must keep some forward momentum. Uphill makes it worse. Good winter tires makes a big difference.

VSC, ABS, and TC make winter control a breeze. I have to remind myself that the roads are slippery. The car does such a good job compensating that I often don't realize how slippery the roads have become. This is both good and bad.

My Jeep can go through much deeper snow and far worse conditions, but it is harder to control. In all but the worse weather I prefer driving my Prius.

Tom

 

Nothing but praise for the Prius up here in Alaska. It does just as good as any other front wheel-drive car I have had. I don't push it either... well maybe a little. I do have studded Altimax as mention above also. I would never run around with A/S tires in the winter.

 

You might be able to get by with the oem tires, but the narrow grooves in the tread tend to get packed with snow and turn the tire into a slick. The more aggressive tread on snow tires will usually not get snow packed. I always run dedicated wheels with studded tires like the Altimax Arctics and never have any problems.

 

I would do the same if Michigan would let us run studded tires.

Tom

 

The Camry hybrid I recently traded had a way to turn off the traction control to allow tires to move when on slippery surfaces. I don't recall what it was (there was no switch) but am sure it was on that forum. Is there a way to turn off the traction control on the 2010-2011 Prius. I haven't seen a switch and have not checked the owner's manual if it is covered there.

 

We live in Santa Fe, NM, 7000ft. w/snow falling every year up to 10-24". After driving several 4 wheelers over the 30 years that we have lived here, the Prius w/Bridgestone Blizzaks is clearly the best for getting up the dirt hill to our house. It's amazing, just mash the accelerator down, and the traction control and treads take care of the rest. We have become accustomed to seeing 4 wheel drives off the road, and we wonder what they must think as we go flying by.

 

This will be our first winter with a Prius.

We live along side a river, which generates a lot of fog. When the pavement is below freezing, fog will settle on it and form a clear invisible layer of ice. Locally known as 'black ice'.

Once a good base of snow is packed down it tends to fill in the potholes and smooth out the road surface; so we prefer to drive in snow as compared to warmer winter driving conditions.

Overall we find Front Wheel Drive vehicles handle much better than Rear Wheel Drive vehicles [4X4 is better for off-road] and the best overall are track-crawler vehicles. Trucks and 4X4s are better for their higher clearance, but they instill a false confidence among their operators, which gets them stuck in snow banks more often [due to fish-tailing].

Very good post.

It is no where near as cold here as what you see. The principles you state apply just as well here.

If you do not have high clearance, then wait for the snow plow.

Exactly.

Deep snow will lift the vehicle up high enough that the tires no longer apply weight onto the road. This happens equally among all low clearance vehicles.

We shift to studded winter tires every fall and back to summer tires in the spring.

I suspect that any snow fall of greater than 8inches [20cm] will be reason enough to sit by the woodstove and wait for the plow to go by.

 

I live at 7000 feet, and today there is a foot of snow on the ground. I bought an extra set of rims for my Prius and use Continental ExtremeWinterContact Studless Ice & Snow tires from late November through March. The Prius will not plow through deep snow (I have a Jeep for that), but once the road are plowed, it is my ride of choice.

 

I found my 2010 Prius to be as good as any other front wheel drive car I've owned here in Vermont. I run snow tires at all 4 corners.

I run into issues with the low front spoiler so watch the depth of snow and those random chunks of ice in the road and driveways. I did miss my 4runner some days last year, but only because of ground clearance, not grip.

 

I run Nokian WR and now WRGII tyres on Pearl. They are called "all season" but are really winter tyres that can be run in summer. They have the snowflake symbol on the sidewalls. I threw away the stock tyres after four months of summer driving, knowing they would be useless in winter, and had the Nokians installed.

Last winter we had a record snowfall, and because of that I purchased an FJ Cruiser (that's my excuse, though I'll admit I wanted one anyway ). Like those above, I prefer to drive the Prius. It's much more stable, even on icy roads. The FJ also has VSC, but it turns off when you select 4WD. Except in deep snow the Prius is superior on slippery roads.

Even if you think you can't afford proper tyres, think carefully about it. The tyres will cost around $500 - $600. If you slide into something the -minimum- it will cost is around $1000. It -could- cost you your life!

 

I am of the opinion that the stock LLR tires (Yokos on my car) have a hard enough time dealing with heavy rain in the warm. Tread depth is minimal.

When the temps get cold, they are hard as rocks. Even if I didn't get snow here, just cold, I'd run winter tires for their cold weather pliability alone.

A set of four, 15" snow tires is cheap... cheaper then your insurance deductible, and you'll get 4 winters easy out of them, and extend the life of your other tires the same amount.

I've said in other threads that I think the Prius's "bad rap" as a "poor winter car" has everything to do with the stock, LLR tires.

 

Deductibles vary depending upon policy. Mine is $500, so I've never been a big fan of that particular comparison.

I agree, that it's a small price to pay for the stability and the security they offer in that weather. Having driven the Prius here in snow on both the OEM tires and with the winter tires, there's almost no way I'd run without them. Unless there's an all season tire that's rated almost on par with most winter tires in snow/ice/etc conditions.

The 4 winters "easy" isn't as probable here as it is where you are. We easily get days in the 50s, sometimes up to the 60s in winter, and that wears out the tread on most snow tires a lot faster. I'm coming up on winter #3 with my Blizzaks, and it's going to probably be the last one I get on them.

I absolutely agree with you that the stock LRR tires seem to be a big cause behind the poor handling in winter.