The C - A Gutless Snow Machine

I hear you on this. I had read about the oem tires and their ultra low rolling resistance. The harder oem tire compound makes for a slippery drive. Bought Blizzaks in Nov for the C and couldn't be happier. While changing the tires for the season will be inconvenient, the Blizzaks make it comfortable to push through our 14" of snow. I also hear very good things about Michelin X Ice tires.

 

I love my C, but it be the most worthless thing I've ever driven in a Pittsburgh winter.

 

I got some Arctic Claw tires without studs. They were a quarter inch over the 15" rim on each side, the smallest snow tire Big o Tires had that could work on my car. They are fantastic in the snow, but im getting 25-35 MPG! Its awful.

 

I got to finally experience my first drive on snow with the prius. I drove down an unplowed state highway with approximately 8" of snow. There was basically one travel lane and everytime I met a vehicle, I had to pull into deeper snow and come to almost a complete stop to safely pass without sideswiping the other vehicle. It was a long 10 mile stretch with my top speed of around 14 mph. I was impressed with the performance of the Prius. I was actually pushing snow with the front end of the car. A couple of times I had to come to a complete stop. I was able to take off without any wheel spin and plow my way back into the traveled area of the roadway. On the Interstate, I did have issues keeping the car straight. This was largely due to difference in the roadway because of thick ice and some areas showing pavement. The vehicle is narrower than the travel grooves were in the ice, this caused the tires to catch on the ice and want to move the vehicle from side to side. I may have a different oppinion as time goes on, but for now I am very pleased.

 

I'm running Nokian "haka.... (too hard to spell), and they are studded. What's even better, they are the same size as the stock tires. I don't think you can do better than these. Only downside: they are not cheap, and you will probably need to order them on the net.

 

I find my car spins the tires at-will. After that, the TCS kicks in and manages forward progress reasonably well. So far, I find the cars' snow performance better than average.

Yikes, please don't lower your bar any more! The stock tires have nebulous steering feel and meager lateral grip. Even my snow tires have markedly more lateral grip in the dry than the stockers.

 

We had snow on Christmas Eve - maybe an inch or two. Roads were covered and slippery. Had the snow tires on and the car did fine. Had more snow yesterday. Car did fine. Nothing really deep yet but am glad I have the snows on.

 

Can't answer for the C but 2012 Prius with Michelin X-Ice 3's is unstoppable. 65 mile drive up to the mountain as conditions go from rain to the evil road grabbing slush to snow, totally dependable. Parking lot had 9" of overnight snow. Crunched along in line to my parking spot, four wheelers to the right of me, four wheelers to the left. Blizzard conditions. Come back four hours and 7" of snow later, car is buried. Warm it up, clear snow out from in front of the tires and give it a go. Out she goes. We have momentum! Then an F 150 four wheeler gets stuck in front of me. Spinning all four wheels. Some boarders push him out. They start coming for me figuring the Prius is stuck. I wave them off, back up a few feet in my tracks and go for it. Out we go! Boarders laughing. Had to push the big rig out and the Prius makes it.

About worst conditions I'll see all year. The Michelins are just killers. The traction control flicked off and on in the deep snow and sometimes crossing the slush piles lower down. But can say Prius and Michelins and it's now a proven Snow Prius.

 

The only caution I'd make: keep in mind the 4 wheelers will have much better ground clearance. With 9" of snow you're still ok, but somewhere around 12~14", uh oh: wheels aren't touching the ground much. Even with the suspension travel.

 

The Prii have about 5" of ground clearance. Any more snow than that and you need good snow-plowing ability, which means excellent grip in snow and the luxury of not stopping. Snow deeper than your ground clearance and having to stop on it runs a big risk of beaching the car. The underside of the car is a lot of surface area to take the weight of the car versus 4 tiny contact patches.

 

Works fine in the snow for people who know how to drive in the snow... If you can not tell by my avator I am an avid and dedicated snowsports enthusiast. The minute the snow starts falling, I am headed to the nearest resort, usually the one I work at. In a recent 14" heavy snowfall I managed a 45 mile drive on unplowed country roads to the ski area, I have been driving on snow and ice covered roads since mid december this year, on christmas eve I made it up an icy 8% grade. Using the e-brake I can easily micro-drift to straighten out my turn, traction control does the rest. Never been stuck yet, never had any close calls yet, I live on a hill, never had any trouble getting up it yet. I am on the OEM Goodyear Assurance tires. In my liftback i did all of the same stuff on all of the same tires - never an issue, even going up/down steep and snow covered Berthould Pass and Loveland Pass multiple times. I dont think its the car as much as the driver.

 

Works fine in the snow for people who know how to drive in the snow... If you can not tell by my avator I am an avid and dedicated snowsports enthusiast. The minute the snow starts falling, I am headed to the nearest resort, usually the one I work at. In a recent 14" heavy snowfall I managed a 45 mile drive on unplowed country roads to the ski area, I have been driving on snow and ice since mid december, on christmas eve I made it up an icy 8% grade. Using the e-brake I can easily micro-drift to straighten out my turn, traction control does the rest. Never been stuck yet, never had any close calls yet, I live on a hill, never had any trouble getting up it yet. I am on the OEM Goodyear Assurance tires. In my liftback i did all of the same stuff on all of the same tires - never an issue, even going up/down steep and snow covered Berthould Pass and Loveland Pass multiple times. I dont think its the car as much as the driver.

 

Tested my C last night on packed snow & ice, flooring it for a bit and then braking hard enough to slide. It accelerated briskly with zero loss of power, though it was to tell whether or not there was any wheel spin. The braking was superb, with what felt like a series of intermittent micro-slides alternating with grip, and with absolutely straight-ahead travel, continued steering, and no lateral skidding at all. All this on the stock Turanzas, so miserably reviewed for snow & ice among other conditions!

 

I was definitely hitting bottom.

I went with 205's vs standard 195's so I've got about 6" ground clearance vs std. 5.4. The Michelin's get great mileage also. Off the mountain, gassed up for a flatland drive to the house (20 miles) and got 60 mpg on cruise control at 50 mph.

 

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Guys, the OP is correct. This car is gutless in snow with the standard 3 season tires.