Prius SUCKS in the snow...

don't forget to lower your tire presure to normal as 40 to 44 psi is not good in the snow!

 

I've had no problems with the stock tires so far (in the moderate snow we've had). I was quite worried that I wasn't even going to be able to get out of my driveway, but I really had no problems.

I actually wonder what causes our different experiences. I think it has to be one or more of the following:

1. Driving style
2. Road Care in the area
3. Differences between our cars

I believe you when you say that #1 probably isn't it, and I don't think it's possible to take worse care of the roads than they do in New Haven, so that leaves only some difference between our cars. Is it possible that there is that much variation between cars? One thing I was wondering about is if it's possible that it's something with level of tire inflation. . . I haven't carefully checked my tire pressure since the weather got cold and I wonder if I have slightly less inflated tires than you, so they are getting slightly better grip (i.e. because more of the tire is touching the road). Just an idea, but maybe it's a good idea to back off from the 42/40 inflation when there's a big snow storm?

Of course, I'm perfectly willing to be told that I'm wrong (and someone will, if I am )

 

Ah! Beat me to it! Maybe I'm not crazy after all! (at least about this)

 

Can you imagine the stock tires at say 50 psi, its a wonder he could even get started out no offence.

 

So if one planned to buy new tires, snow tires that is, what are the recommendations from folks who have had a winter already? (I am a new prius owner).

 

I am convinced I will buy Snow tires before winter after I take delivery of my Prius next year.


And to Mary do a search on winter tires or snow tires you will see this has been a realy hot topic. (seems many like Nokians, Mich Ice X and a few others... lots of good reviews in past threads)

 

consumer reports says michelin x-ice is the best for ice and snow at 84 average a piece. Next I see the bridgestone blizzak ws-50. Nov 2005 issue page 61. I personally run Michelin hydroedge great tire if you dont mind noise.

 

I guess this may be an obvious question... but considering the very slick, very wet, snow-bally kind of snow that fell today, how do you know what would have been an acceptable speed for you to climb any kind of incline?

It is possible that under more optimal snowfall conditions, the Prius's traction control would have allowed for faster speeds...

Today I had a similar experience, though.

 

Just curious, what is wrong with the antilock brakes? I have never had them engage, so I don't know what the issue would be.

I guess I have had TRAC engage, not in snow, but on a wet pavement when accelerating hard from a stop. I noticed a hesitation, so I assume that is the ocndition you were having. (No snow in Southern California.)

 

Im guessing since you get such good summer mileage, that your tires don't have a heck of alot of traction.

If tires have no traction, it doesn't matter what technology you have... they will spin.
all the technology will do is let you zero in on the narrow non slippage range of your tires. If you give them just a little bit of traction to work with, I bet the technology of the car will really help out.

I'm not sure what tires jayman uses?

Do you feel if the car was not trying to drive for you, that you could do a better job?

If thats true, then the car is not doing its job... otherwise no technique nor technology can create traction that doesn't exist.

 

Like a previous poster, I drove 4.5 hours in the recent Chicago snow storm (4-9") and had no problems. In fact, going uphill, I was passing rear wheel and other front wheel drive vehicles that were getting stuck. I just take my time and let the technology work for me. I have the OEM tires on and about 27,000 miles on them.

I am very happy with how the Prius handles in the snow.

 

well I drove 50 miles from work, I drove on 95 and 93 and some back roads. I haven't had any issues. I did have the light showing on the dashboard once in a while, but it would only show up for a second or so and would go away. I didn't have any problems at all. Perhaps '04 performs different than '05 in the snow? I have OEM tires. The tire pressure was recommended 35/30. The anti-lock breaks didn't kick in even once. I was going faster than most. I was in the fast moving lane all the time and sometimes the snow on the left side was piled more than on the rest of the road. The roads were not plowed. I haven't experienced any of the problems you described, Squid. Maybe next time you see the plow coming, you should move out of the way right away, so then you don't have to do any drastic manoeuvers the last minute.

 

Hmmm...very interesting, IMHYBRID. I have a year-old set of Blizzak WS-50s on my 2002 Mazda Protege 5 that I'm turning in on the '06 Prius (silver, Package 5). They are size 195/55R15 850.

Do you (or anyone else) know if they will fit on the '06 Prius??

Thanks

 

Yesterday was the first real snow we've driven in with the Prius. The most challenging part was getting out of the parking lot at school. (We got over a foot of snow in the six hours we were there). After spending an hour helping to push four other cars out of their parking spaces, a few others stuck around to see if we needed any help. Nope! No problems at all. I heard these comments, "Can't believe it started right up," "I'm trading my Saturn in for that car," and "What kind of car is that?" as my husband backed up out of our spot. Driving home was just fine as well.

 

No problem with my Prius in the snow. Ditch the Integrity tires. They are SLOCKS. No wonder you couldn't move. I have Nokians and could NOT make the damn car drift or f**k up when driving yesterday (snowed here). Love the Prius in the snow!!!

 

S/W Ohio just had the 3-5" on Thursday evening. My wife drove the Prius and she said it was a little worse that the Sebring. I don't know yet, I havene't been in iot in the snaw. Knowing how much she might complain, I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't.

Her commute is about 5 miles city roads and 8 miles county up and down, poorly plowed.

 

I found the snow pretty bad around Boston yesterday. My 20 minute commute home took about 2 1/2 hours. 128 had an accident so I stayed off it. Rt 38 was well cleared and I saw pavement. Rt 3A was like 8 inches of snow packed down to 1-2 inches with ice starting to form on top. Much of the trip was moving 1 car length at a time and stopping with a top speed of 3 mph. When we were able to really move I got up to 20 to 25 mph.

Some of the way was plowed maybe 4 hours previously so the snow in the road just scraped the bottom of the car.

My only concerns were the traffic stopping me on a steep hill and not being able to start up again on the grade, or hitting a small side street that was plowed so long ago the snow would lift the wheels up off the road.

I came to my street and went up a really steep part, that I avoided with my old car in storms. I could not start up on the hill but with a good start I made it no problem. I saw a big American car that had to back down and turn around on the same hill.

I felt the traction control delay my start up at most intersections but the car moved forward reasonably.

Getting out of the parking lot at work wihch had a mound of snow plowed up in front of each car, I had to shovel it down to like 5 inches deep and then had to rock the car to get out of the parking space. I was glad I had backed in.

My tires are Michelin Xice.

Car performed better than my prev Mercedes which had studded tires. Not quite as well as a Volvo 164 I once had which also had studded tires.

I had my spikes spiders in the back of the car. I would have had to put them on if we had had a layer of sleet and ice on top of the snow layer. There was no sand on the roads anywhere. As long as the packed snow could crunch a bit under the tires I seemed to have adequate traction.

My biggest commuting problem in winter is the traffic and the fact that 128 is my only way home that avoids a steep hill somewhere. So I love the spikes spiders even if I never have to actually use them.

 

I get my 06 mid-January. Where I live we rarely have snow but I do occasionally cross the mountains to go to central Oregon.

Can chains be put on a Prius?

Thanks

Oregon-Mica

 

We just had our first snow of the season. Maybe 2-4 inches.

The traction control can be dangerous.

There are times when you need to be able to accelerate the vehicle even though traction is not 100%. The prius traction control will not allow you to spin the tires so you can stomp on the accelartor but will go nowhere.

With other vehicles if you had to turn quickly or accelarate in slick situations you could pulse the accelartor and the vehicle would turn about. My most recent vehicle was a 1995 Ford Bronco with 4wd. Normal driving was just rear wheel driving and it is orders of magnitude better than the prius in the snow.

Another traction control story. A few weeks ago I was making a left turn while braking and hit a deep pot hole, the traction control kicked in and lost brakes for a moment and then had to hit them hard to avoid the car in front of me.

 

Your language concerning an auto leaves something to be desired. What grade school did you graduate from? :angry: