Just picked my PIP a week and a half ago and absolutely love the car.. but living in New England I know that in the not too distant future the snow will be here. I plan on getting snow tires for it.. that's the easy part. But how does traction control and all that stuff work in the snow with these things? Particularly in EV mode. I know in my 11 Camry gassed it worked well. And in my wife's 11 Rav it does too. Been lurking for a bit.. learned a ton here on PC.. thnx LG-MS870 ? 4 Beta
i haven't had any issues in 3-4", but i haven't been forced to go out in more than that before the plows come through. it's not that hilly around here either.
No issues here, but I will try to wait for plows to go through, or follow others tracks. Normal winter driving use caution! I have been out in 6-8" but see above statement
On my 2005 Prius, living in both Minnesota and Colorado, I got snow tires after 2 seasons and the difference was huge. Especially in Colo where we often have deep snows (I live at 10000 ft) and/or icy surfaces. I just got a PiP and will get snow tires in December. The stab control in the 2005 Prius was useful, and I don't anticipate anything different in the PiP, but no direct experience yet.
Last year, here in Minnesota, was no big deal with mine. It worked just like my 2010, which got me through winters just fine with the factory tires.
The traction-control (accelerating) and stability-control (cornering) features work well when driving through a variety of different kinds of snow... for the newest generation Prius. The one prior to that was rather temperamental when using just the factory tires.
If you're really worried,try a good set of good quality quick-on/quick-off snow chains. I've used German brand Rudd snow chains since the early '90s on all my cars, including three generations of Prii. The trick is to keep them in the car year-round and not/not in the basement etc where you can never find them when you need them, hence a lightweight & small-volume design is a key factor. IMHO, much less of a hassle than snow tires.
