Prius C in the snow?

I'm pretty happy with the Michelin X-Ice XI3 tires I put on my Prius C a couple of weeks ago. I bought them because they received a good rating from Consumer Reports.

Vancouver has recently had one of it's rather rare snow events, and I've been out in the evening in just-below-zero weather shooting photos of Christmas lights. The Prius C with the Michelins went up roads with probably about 6% grades that were covered with compacted ice-ish snow without missing a beat. They've also proven to be quite quiet on wet or dry pavement, which I appreciate. The only downside is that Consumer Reports rated them less than average for wet traction, which is important here in the rainforest.

 

just be careful with the pedal, HSD introduces a lot of torque steer.

 

If you're driving in the snow or on ice and you're being affected by torque steer then you're not driving properly. Easy does it is the way to go, both for accelerating and decelerating.

 

Small amount of snow this morning, stock tires and first time with the C in the snow, it handled it great. The others drivers are the issue. Might get another 4 to 8 inches tommorrow, will try it again then.

 

Yeah, when traffic on the arterial streets seizes up I find that it's a lot faster to take the side streets, even if they're not cleared. I've yet to find a street that the C with snow tires can't handle.

 

Yeah, it was nice to have a more-or-less white Christmas for a change.

Purely editorial: I hate that term the weather officials have: "snow events". Similarly there's "rain events", "arctic outflow events", and others. "Vancouver had some snow" works too. We've gotta fight back against officialdom verbosity, lol.

 

I have the same car. I am one terrible scaredy cat, and haven't driven mine yet since purchase of 4/2016. i let it sit and let someone else do the driving. what am i doing wrong. i need the right tires i think.

 

Drove mine in the last 2 storms, stock tires, slow and easy, car handles better than my 2015 4wd silverado. I never felt like I wasn't in control.

 

I traveled all over Northern BC and a bit of Alberta with my Prius C and studded tires. Never was stuck, never ended up in a ditch. A bit of snow os fine, although cannot get through a thick layer of snow. This was never a necessity though. While it snows a lot up here, roads are always clear enough for my Prius.

 

Thought I’d add to this old thread.

Simply put, im pleasantly surprised at my C’s performance tonight. 5” on the roads now and not yet plowed with snow still coming down fast. Add to that a layer of ice underneath.

While it took me almost an hour to get home at a distance of only 8 miles (I couldn’t see more than 25ft max it’s snowing that hard) the C performed excellent on stock all weather tires.

I passed a total of 6 vehicles and 1 snowplow in the ditch. Even found myself in the oncoming lane when I reached a lit portion of the road! (As I said, I couldn’t see). I guess you could call it white out conditions at night.

Maybe I will keep this thing once the mfg’s Warranty is out who knows. lol

 

Snow tires?

 

No - still has the OE Bridgestone's on her. We get snow like this once, maybe twice a year in my area. Snow tires wouldn't be worth the purchase.

 

It handles ok for short wheelbase but I would definitely avoid older model without disable ESP button. Toyota has one of the worse ESPs in industry easy to get stuck.

 

I have a '13 C (without "disable ESP button"). I believe traction control tuning for all years of the C is less restrictive than the Gen 3 Prius. (And definitely better than Gen 2.) Although the traction control light has flashed at me many times in the snow, it has yet to cut power in a way that interferes with my uphill charge.

 

There's a way to disable ESP on pre-15 which involves turning car off and it makes big difference if you get stuck look it up.

As far as software goes the Toyota's ESP in general vastly inferior. I had an opportunity to drive side by side C and son's Mitsu Mirage in freezing rain huge difference even if he had worse tires. Didn't even have to turn ESP off just right amount of slip.

I live in state where studs/chains are illegal and with as often as we have snow hard to justify snow tires with second set of wheels, so drive on all-seasons.. makes big difference.

 

Yes, I have that procedure in my glove box and have confirmed it works. I haven't needed to use it on the road (yet), but I do use snow tires in season.

 

Extra Sensory Perception ???

 

Sort of.. Electronic (in)Stability Program.

I have tripped it a few times in dry coming around curve very unpleasant experience. Very intrusive almost caused crash by applying brake/retarding engine.

 

Iv never had any problem with skidding, I just leave the ESP on all the time. In Brake position the car will always slow down, if your foot is off the go pedal. Should inertial forces throw your body to a hard left or hard right, you may be taking the turn too fast. I drive on a very slippery, dangerous and mountainous road with a
altitude of 1000 feet. People often cross the double yellow line coming toward me, that’s frightening.

 

Iv never had any problem with skidding, I just leave the ESP on all the time. In Brake position the car will always slow down, if your foot is off the go pedal. Should inertial forces throw your body to a hard left or hard right, you may be taking the turn too fast. I drive on a very slippery, dangerous and mountainous road with a
altitude of 1000 feet. People often cross the double yellow line coming toward me, that’s frightening.