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.