It's that time of the year where I have to get ready for the winter. Can I get away with skipping snow tires on this car (since it's a lease, I don't want to invest too much)? For the real fun snow driving, I'll use my 4WD RAV4 with snowtires, but mostly curious as to how the car/tires handle with a snow dusting and in cold weather. Is there anything else I should do? I noticed there is a block heater for sale in the PriusChat store, does this make a big difference? I assume I need to pop the hood for this? Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Have Block heaters on my 2 Gen 2's, not on my Gen 3. With block heater you will get better MPG during the 1st 10-15 miniuts of operation due to heat of the i.c.e. It will turn off and the car will run on EV when possible. Without block heater i.c.e will run till it gets warm before EV will operate. I always run 4 dedicated snows on this car in winter, but I'll drive it right up to 6" of fresh snow then you have to park it.
And after last years winter we in CNY are going to get rocked this year. :-( I have a 4x4 Tacoma for lake effect days.
Last winter was very strange, even my snowblower had a Wth look. Definitely not planning on driving this car when there is more than a dusting on the ground (unless it's an emergency), mostly concerned about very cold days, since that affects battery, tire performance, etc.
I agree with you, but this vehicles it's not as bad as you think. I had no majors winter ill effects in the last 6 7 years at all.
I just started to look for a set of rims for snow tires and I cannot believe what people on eBay want for a set, especially when the cheap alloys are $79 per wheel on tire rack. A friend of mine has a set of general arctic altimax tires on his and he said that they worked well. I am prob going to go with conti winter contacts. I used a set on the jeep last winter and they were the first snow tire that didn't feel squishy.
Ah, the days of winters past… don't miss them for a moment. It will be interesting to see how the PHEV fares for those in the colder climes.
Had to trade the garage Queen. She was sitting or going to get wrecked at the track. Daughters needed cars that get great MPG. Still have the Tundra for the big work. Call these rigs "Jap minivans"
See my post on Prius-V regarding block heater (yours will be no difference). Engine (preheating) block heater | PriusChat
