Toyota Prius on snow
 

To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,

I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
like to get some of your opinions here.

1. Do you have any problem driving your 2004/2005 Prius on snow.

In particular, the following complaint kinda scares me. I'm just
wondering if this is a general problem.

http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews

"it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some reason
does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes such
a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull over
a highway"


2. How about the cross-wind on the highway? Is it a major problem to
you?

3. Do you have any other problems with your Toyota Prius?

Thanks for your time and comments!
Dom

> To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
>
> http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews
>
> "it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
> accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some reason
> does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
> can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes such
> a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull over
> a highway"
>

I don't drive in snow / ice but there was (is) some talk on edmunds.com
townhall
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef28f96!make=CATS&model=Hybrid&ed_makeindex=.ef28 f96
about the OEM tires, traction control and the Prius in snow ...


--
Rob Fruth - Houston, Tx
http://www.rfruth.net

1981 Raleigh for errands & fun ____ __o
1997 Trek 2300 for real fun ! ____ _ \ | _)
2000 Civic hatchback (_)/ (_)

On 2005-03-09 10:45:02 -0800, said:

> To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
>
> I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
> candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
> like to get some of your opinions here.


I recommend you visit the Prius Chat web site: http://www.priuschat.com

The site provides a tremendous amount of Prius information, including
discussions of the issues you cited in your post.

wrote:

> To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
>
> I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
> candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
> like to get some of your opinions here.
>
> 1. Do you have any problem driving your 2004/2005 Prius on snow.
>
> In particular, the following complaint kinda scares me. I'm just
> wondering if this is a general problem.
>
> http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews
>
> "it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
> accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some reason
> does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
> can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes such
> a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull over
> a highway"

Sounds like a traction problem is causing the transition between the
electric motor and ICE to go batty. There are winter tires available
in the 185/65-R15 size. The stock all-seasons are likely less grippy
than a real set of winter tires. Tire Rack lists 5 winter tires in
that size.

someone wrote:

> I don't drive in snow / ice but there was (is) some talk on edmunds.com
> townhall
> http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef28f96!make=CATS&model=Hybrid&ed_makeindex=.ef28 f96
> about the OEM tires, traction control and the Prius in snow ...

Yesterday, my uncle dropped by to show me his recently purchased Prius. I
noticed that the tires are the same Goodyear Integritys that are also on
the Corolla and other cars. Those particular tires are definitely crappy
in winter.

wrote:
> To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
>
> I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
> candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
> like to get some of your opinions here.
>
> 1. Do you have any problem driving your 2004/2005 Prius on snow.
>
> In particular, the following complaint kinda scares me. I'm just
> wondering if this is a general problem.
>
>
http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews
>
> "it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
> accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some
reason
> does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
> can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes
such
> a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull
over
> a highway"
>
>
> 2. How about the cross-wind on the highway? Is it a major problem to
> you?
>
> 3. Do you have any other problems with your Toyota Prius?
>
> Thanks for your time and comments!
> Dom


Don't know about snow but here in Texas it works great...

In alt.autos.toyota wrote:
> To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
>
> I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
> candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
> like to get some of your opinions here.
>
> 1. Do you have any problem driving your 2004/2005 Prius on snow.
>
> In particular, the following complaint kinda scares me. I'm just
> wondering if this is a general problem.
>
> http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews
>
> "it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
> accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some reason
> does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
> can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes such
> a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull over
> a highway"
>


I recently (a few months ago) drove through snow country in northern
California and Oregon. We hit snow a few minor storms while on highway 1.
The Prius did a great job.

The experience described above is not normal.

The traction control and CVT (continuously variable transmission) worked
great when we drove with an inch of snow sticking to the roadway.
The CVT means there's no gear changes (and associated lurching) as
the car tackles the up and down hill stretches. I found that it was
extremely sure footed.

I did not drive it in deeper snow, since I'm a central California kid.

> wrote in message
...
> In alt.autos.toyota wrote:
> > To owners of 2004/2005 Toyota Prius,
> >
> > I'm shopping for a new car, and 2005 Toyota Prius is one of the
> > candidates. So far, there are many good reviews about this car. I'd
> > like to get some of your opinions here.
> >
> > 1. Do you have any problem driving your 2004/2005 Prius on snow.
> >
> > In particular, the following complaint kinda scares me. I'm just
> > wondering if this is a general problem.
> >
> >
http://www.autoweb.com/content/resea...Action/Reviews
> >
> > "it hesitates so bad, that it becomes even dangerous. when you
> > accelerate (in snow), it looks like the electric motor for some reason
> > does not allow the gas engine to kick in and hesitates really bad, I
> > can't emphasized enough how bad it is. To the point that it takes such
> > a long time to pick up speed, that is literally dangerous to pull over
> > a highway"
> >
>
>
> I recently (a few months ago) drove through snow country in northern
> California and Oregon. We hit snow a few minor storms while on highway 1.
> The Prius did a great job.
>
> The experience described above is not normal.
>
> The traction control and CVT (continuously variable transmission) worked
> great when we drove with an inch of snow sticking to the roadway.
> The CVT means there's no gear changes (and associated lurching) as
> the car tackles the up and down hill stretches. I found that it was
> extremely sure footed.
>
> I did not drive it in deeper snow, since I'm a central California kid.

I can add to this as well. Drove to Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon from CA in
winter. The car handled the snow (1-2") and the elevation without any
problems (loaded with 4 people). Returned over 45 mpg on the 2000+ mile
trip. The traction, vehicle skid control and lack of a shifting transmission
gives it a sure footing in slippery/icy conditions. I have read that it is
better to gun the accelerator than gently accelerate if traction is a
problem, the car will pull itself out of such conditions. This is from
people who live in the midwest who are used to seeing much more snow than I
do.

"Dbu^" > wrote in message
...
> In article <1115159199.708f48b0a730d43e3fddb20ac4f524f0@teran ews>,
> "S Narayan" > wrote:
>
> >I have read that it is
> >better to gun the accelerator than gently accelerate if traction is a
> > problem, the car will pull itself out of such conditions. This is from
> > people who live in the midwest who are used to seeing much more snow
than I
> > do.
>
> This is true with any front wheel drive vehicle. It takes a special
> driver skill to maintain control in glare ice conditions and try to stop
> at the same time with a front wheel drive. The only thing that will
> save the average driver is anti lock brakes.

The original poster was talking about accelerating from a stop. The
(T)raction (C)ontrol and (V)ehicle (S)kid (C)ontrol will not allow the car
to spin its tyres under such slippery conditions. If I tried this in my non
TC, non VSC FWD Integra, I would be spinning my tyres, going nowhere.