I've owned my 2013 Prius for about 3 months. With winter knocking on my doorstep, there's a small itch of me wanting to take my Prius to the snow. I live in California and I'm planning a short jaunt to Yosemite for a few days. Any special tips or care I should be aware of before I embark on this journey? I've done snow a few times in rear-wheel drive cars, but never a Hybrid. Probably a stupid question, but at least now I know whether or not it was stupid to ask, right?? Oh and snow-chains: check. They'll be in my trunk before I set out. Thanks for your time and any advice that you can share with this newbie Prius owner.
I grew up in the northeast, drove in snow every year. Now in CA. I've taken my Prius up to Tahoe in the winter several times. Drives just as well in snow as any other front wheel drive car that I've driven. Just take it easy and leave plenty of time for breaking and you'll be fine.
I grew-up just outside of Yosemite, I do miss it. I live in Maine now. The Prius handles great in snow. Somewhere in the 6" to 8" range you will begin to high-center, snow underneath will be taking the weight of the Prius so less weight is on the tires. By 8" you pretty much lose ability to move the vehicle. So long as you stay away from deep snow, you will be fine. Yesterday began our first storm of the season. We drove by a number of vehicles that had slid off the road. Mostly older and Rear-Wheel-Drive vehicles that fishtailed and spun-out. Enjoy your trip
Front wheel drive and stability control, the gen2's can be problematic, need studs to get them moving, then they go anywhere, well, if you drive off in 8" of snow you get karma The gen3 is much better without studs, it will get itself moving, it's stopping that matters. I prefer studs, I want to stop!!! On icy days I'll take the studded gen3 before the 4 wheel drive Ford without studs.
ECO mode makes it particularly difficult to spin the wheels by accident. Perfectly good snow car, allowing for low ground clearance. As others have mentioned, allow plenty of braking distance and try to avoid braking while changing direction.
Thank you all! I'm very excited! Yeah, I've taken a 1997 BMW 328is and a 1988 735i into the snow... and yes, it's great fun with the counter-steering with the tail hanging out... but those days of driving alone are long gone. Now, need to worry about friends and family IN my car, and setting a better example! And yes, braking and turning is no bueno... I do a bit of go-karting and that's a big no-no! Thanks for all your input!
I live in the North East and never have put snow tires on any of my vehicles (definitely not chains), they have all been front wheel drive. We've had a couple of inches of snow this year (my first winter with the Prius) and it seems fine, maybe slightly better than most FWD cars I've driven. By far the best car I've had for snow was a 2003 Corolla that was a 5 speed, so much more control with the manual. No specific instructions from me other than the obvious, leave room to stop and slow down before corners or turns and not during.
I put on an aggressive set of snow tires last year and noticed that my little C was just as much of a tank as the BMW 325XI I greatly enjoyed during winter.
Chicago winters, no problem. As long as the road is plowed in front of you, all is good. I don't even change out to snow tires. That said, be careful of big clumpy ice balls in the road that might have detached from other vehicles. Those can take out the front spoiler.
Try a chunk of concrete falling off of the dump truck just ahead of you, rattled my steering wheel controls and turned on the phone.
Nannies will keep you from rocking car our of trouble due to possibility of frying electric moter. Chains or good snow tires will prove there value.
I live just north of Dallas and we had a big Ice storm just come through, my previous experience comes from a 2010 Ford Focus with the best tires I could buy (Highest Tire Rack Consumer Ratings for tires) versus my 2012 Prius with stock tires. I had heard the stores about how badly the Prius did in Ice and snow so I was worried when I had to drive 20 miles to work over city streets. With the Prius the only problem I had was simply with how low it rides and the ridges of Ice/Snow that build up in the middle of the road. That being said my Prius was significantly better for traction than the Focus with the great all-season tires. Stopping was even between them on Ice/Snow, but with traction the Prius was hands down the winner. The Focus would cut power in slippery conditions but the Prius modulated power for traction, I'm not sure if this was due to the HSD versus all gas but I never had a problem driving over Ice. A good example was earlier when I tried to get out of a parking lot today, RWD Caddy spun his tires and got stuck just getting out of the back entrance of a parking lot and turned around, I drove right past him on a sheet of ice with little difficulty. Traction was kept in check and the car did exactly what it needed to do to get it going. This wasn't the first time, I had no problem with Ice/Snow at all. I can see where on a steep slippery incline the TC might be a hindrance, but spinning your tires for traction means that you should look at better tires or chains. I can honestly say that my next buy will be a new Prius, if what they say is true and it's a 4wd car at low speeds I'll be trading mine in for an upgrade.
I've been holding my "tongue" up to now. If you are planning to take the Prius to snow areas get yourself good snow tyres on separate wheels. Yes, you may be able to "get by" with the stock tyres, but it's likely you will eventually have trouble. Think about it. A set of good snow tyres with wheels will cost in the range of $800. ONE slide into anything will cost a minimum of $2000 if done at low speed. Much more at high speed, possibly including injuries or worse!
just drive normal, dont break and turn at the same time and give yourself some room to stop... you should be just fine.
To the OP, I assume you really don't need separate snows around town, ie: in San Fransisco. Which makes for a bit of a dilemna: you'll be heading into steep terrain, a lot colder, with lots of snow. Snow tires are the way to go, but not sure what to do in your situation. Up here I just put on snows around mid-November, and take them off towards the end of March.
