Reno Tahoe, we got slammed with snow this week, my little 08 was cutting through thick wet slushy snow and ice like a champ. We were laughing hard as I was going up hill around a suburu forester that was sliding slowly backwards. I absolutely love the traction, of the Michelin defender T+H tires. We’re literally following people who are slipping in sliding in brand new SUV’s like Toyota rav 4 and they slip, and the Prius just tracks true, it’s crazy I tell ya.
That's exactly how I drive in Western Massachusetts when I live there My little old Corollas would blast past Subaru yamayagi's like it was rolling backwards those are the original little all-wheel drive wagons yama yagi.
If a front wheel drive car can move where an AWD drive cannot it is usually due to traction differences in the tires (or the absence of chains or snow tires on one), or possibly the use of different default gears by the cars. The car with the "highest" low gear will spin the tires less on a slippery surface, everything else being equal.
Humm??? I live in colorado, but don't trust my Prius in snow and use my old faithful 96 subaru legacy 5 speed wagon for winter and plug my prius in till I know I can get up my graveled 200ft long driveway on an icy incline. But I have never really tested the prius on snow after getting instantly stuck in deep beach sand on the Oregon coast in 2019 when I was looking for a place to camp. Just 5 ft from leaving the pavement the prius computer just shut off all the traction control to my prius when it detected the traction was slipping in the sand. So I had zero traction, nothing at all, just stuck at a stand still at 10pm in the dark. I had to use my heel to dig out under all my tires for 20 minutes so I could get enough traction to rock it and back up in reverse back to the pavement. Can someone explain why this would be different on snow? I thought the issue was the prius tranny does not do well with slipping so the computer will shut off traction? Now maybe the OP tires are specialized snow tires/studs so they are not slipping?
Because the Prius traction control uses the go pedal as an input to its algorithm, it is possible for different behavior to be seen with different drivers. The best results happen when the driver is giving a steady go-pedal input that is pretty well matched to the actual available traction; the car's traction control will then fine-tune it. Giving a larger go-pedal input doesn't work better; it'll make the car take big ol' digs and then react with big back-offs. The way you want to look is like one of these guys. They clearly were giving a steady moderate input gauged to what the traction would allow, and letting the car fine-tune:
If you keep pushing it eventually you’ll encounter your traction limit. It’s not a game. Also, consider getting snow tires for winter.
Snow tires have a bigger effect than wheel drive. I went through almost a foot of fresh snow with a rear wheel drive volvo years ago. Had brand new blizzaks all around. But given the same quality and condition tires a suby will kill a prius in the snow. I have seen SUVs in ditches and motored right by, not the car it is the driver and tire. So have fun in your prius in the snow but don't feel invincible. Sooner or later physics and traction control could ruin your day.
Prius’ 4~5” ground clearance is something to keep in mind, with deeper snow. And edges of some of those under panels may snag and tear off.
And even when you've practiced how to drive so the traction control helps you, there can still be a day when physics wins. Tires are about all you can do about physics.
This fits my experience. I have surprisingly decent but cheap all seasons that I found myself running on snow. Since they worked well (I've driven cars on snow tires before so have a sense), I kept going on a snowy mountain road. The return trip had a good curved up hill section I made it up by keeping speed and some unintentional drifting. Stomping the gas did make the TC cut power back but luckily I had momentum and the road had flattened out some. Some replies are throwing cold water on OP but he's right, a gen 2 does surprisingly well on snow. I'd hope later generations are at least as good. With a lift and snow tires it would be killer.
I’ve had the same experience as the OP. In lighter snow, and especially on ice, the Prius is always my go to. I like the very conservative traction/stability control on the Prius. In heavier snow, my Tundra gets the call. But even the Tundra in 4WD or my wife’s GX470 can sometimes fishtail in snow and ice, where the Prius doesn’t. And if I’m being honest, at 18 years old and 279,000 miles, the Prius is my “expendable” car if someone else hits me.
Yes, this ^^^, many many years of driving my service trucks around up in Tahoe, the trick is to know when to keep the throttle mashed and when to back off a bit. But yeah, I don’t plan on always driving in deep snow, I have a Jeep on 40 “ tires for that LOL.
