Prius??? Save your money!

Maybe you should get snow tires instead of another helping of red whine.

Thanks for the reply and thoughts! Second set of tires are Pirelli Cinturatos, seem to be 'somewhat" better for wet traction, but I get the idea no tire will help during ice and snow such as we have here right now! We have started driving our other cars as we do not trust the Prius in bad weather. I am wondering though, why we experience problems in ice/snow that other "claim" they do not? On probably no more than a 5-7 degree incline, on snow/ice, this car simply would not move! At all! Needed pushed!

Something I have not mentioned before is the silly instrument cluster with the screen and such! Only way to read it is to take your eyes off the road! And then play with the various buttons/pads and such! And you cannot do this with gloves on, everything gets changed then!!

Hello from snowy Albany, NY. I have an '05 Prius that I commute between the Mid-Hudson Valley and Albany (75 miles each way, three round trips per week) with 58,000 miles on it. I will have had it 2 years on Wednesday. OE tires are worthless. I run Dunlop A2 Sports on it in the summer and Toyo snows on separate rims on all four corners in the winter. While it is no match for my wife's Subaru Forester in some snow conditions, I am comfortable most of the time with it - and I have averaged about 47 mpg over the life of the car (miles / actual gallons of gas pumped into it). And other than reducing the transmission fluid flush/replacement and tranny filter replacement intervals to 20k on my mechanic's recommendation, maintenance costs has been minimal. I do my own oil and filter changes every 4k miles, religiously. The wandering sounds like bad alignment. Hope you find a good mechanic outside the dealership, cause it sounds like the dealers are taking you big time.

Fair enough, I grew up near Chicago and just never wore gloves once I got in the car but that was back in the day when the only thing I had to adjust was the radio...turning it up :)

I "TOTALLY" disagree that if we keep buying Hybrids that we would have an impact on the environment! This is a pipe dream for folks buying these expensive cars!

The thought is nice! But look at it realistically: WITH ALL THE FACTORIES RUNNING, ALL THE WAR PLANES FLYING, ALL THE POWER PLANTS RUNNING, ALL BURNING FOSSIL FUELS, do you really think a few Hybrids on the road are going to make a difference??

Only in the minds of the owners!

I also blame the general public that think their status symbol is a big SUV! How very sad!

If the govenment would tax, and increase MPG numbers for these large useless beasts, then maybe by the numbers small cars could possibly make an impact on the environment!

Right now it is like spitting in the wind!

Drive one (Hybrid) if you may (we do, my wife bought it), but the cost penalties for doing so are significant with no real impact on our environmental problems, these problems are much larger than having a few Hybrids running the streets!

I guess that I don't understand the point about the cost penalties. If I wasn't driving a Prius, my car of choice would be a Subaru Legacy. I need the interior space that Prius has, and I was willing to give up the AWD of the Legacy (remember, I live in the somewhat snowy Mid-Hudson Valley of New York) for doubling of the mpg and the $2,000 or so less that I had to pay for the Prius. Granted I could have bought a Honda Fit to get equivalent mileage for $8,000 less than the Prius, but - if you will excuse the pun - the stuff I need to carry won't "fit" in a Fit! 'Nuff said.

I have 43,000 miles in two years. My mpg for that is 46. I followed scheduled maintenance with one warranty fix done quickly with rental car furnished. No problem on highway driving in west Texas flat and windy. Check if your state has an effective lemon law.

Some of the things mentioned in this discussion go along with the "one person can't make a difference" mentality. It's true...one person buying a hybrid won't even make a dent. Bump that number up to 10,000, 100,000 or 1,000,000 and suddenly there's a difference. Not just in the environment, but proof that hybrid technology is catching on. Also as more people buy them, it will drive the costs down and increase the rate of hybrid technology improvements. Remember the cost of plasma TVs 5 years ago? All it took was the initial gradual accumulation of plasma purchases to slowly drive the cost down.

Those who purchased hybrids have the distinction of being the first owners to assist and aid in the progression of the hybrid automobile (r)evolution. Regardless of what people think, the facts are that hybrid technology has caught on and is making tremendous progress. At the very least, its progress will force auto manufacturers to stay honest and make their gasoline engine vehicles more efficient. So suddenly that one hybrid back in 2000-something did make a difference..

Sounds like the same logic as why vote? What difference does it make? It's only one vote......

When I first got my Prius 3 years ago, it was the only one in my neighborhood. People at the farmers' market often asked me about it. Now there are Priuses everywhere, and I have a running game where I count them while running errands. I almost never see fewer than 5.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I like to think at least a few folks bought them because I started the trend in my area. People think they're "cool" and start buying them.

If every single person does a couple things to help the environment -- recycle, turn off lights, drive a hybrid -- it WILL make a difference.

Back to the topic of this thread -- I have friends in Boston, MA who bought their first Prius last fall, after listening to me rave about mine for years. They reported no problems whatsoever with driving on ice and snow, and seemed quite happy with how it handled.

So what? Do nothing at all? That kind of ridiculous cynicism is exactly why the environment is in trouble. Okay, so according to you, we should all sit and wait until the big corporations change everything before we even make an effort to change. I'll admit, I don't own a prius. I'm merely looking into buying one because i feel that change is something that we all have to take part in. The more we show that fuel efficiency is important to us, the more these corporate industries will realize that it is marketable. It seems that as far as a lot of you are concerned, the car manufacturers are just supposed to psychically intuit that you are all really caring, energy conserving people, without you making any concessions or compromises to your delicate sensibilities. Go get the Hummer you seem to need in order to feel powerful and let those of us who want to change our habits and make whatever difference we can discuss this like adults.

I am in outside sales and drive about 30,000 miles per year. I live in Connecticut, where winters are not severe, like Michigan, but also are not non-existent like California. I bought a 2005 Prius in April 2005. I averaged 45 mpg driving in mixed conditions of 70-80 mph on the highway, rush hour, and city driving. Mileage was down to around 42 mpg in the winter, even below that when daytime highs went below 20 degrees. In the spring and Fall mileage went to 48 to 50 without heat or air conditioning. During the 2 years I owned it, the only maintenance besides oil changes, that needed to be done was a warranty replacement of the steering shaft -- per a recall notice. The replacement was painless, took only a couple of hours, and a replacement car was offered, but I didn't need it.

I put 45,000 miles on my Prius, and my original tires were still on the car, although the front set was in need of replacement and had just hit the wear markers. The only reasons I traded my Prius in for a Camry Hybrid were that they gave me such a good trade value, and the Prius was just a bit small when it came to hauling two or three customers around, which I frequently have to do. For those occaisions I had purchased a used Mercedes, but it only got 17 mpg, and used premium. So I sold the Mercedes, traded in my Prius and now own a 2007 Camry Hybrid, which I love.

For my situation, the economics just make sense. I drive 30 K miles per year, and the price of gas just continues to climb, especially here in Connecticut where it has not been below $3.25 for longer than a week or so in the last year. My Camry Hybrid gets 37 mpg, which is better than my Harley, and is more than adequete for hauling as many as three customers around. In fact two of my customers have now gone out and bought Camrys after riding in mine. It is also nice to know that, in my own way, I am doing the right thing environmentally speaking.

Hybrid technology simply makes sense, regardless of the type of fuel it is used with. Why shouldn't you reclaim energy whenever you coast, go down a hill or apply your brakes? Railroad engines, the most fuel efficient -- in terms of lb/miles per calorie of energy -- motorized transportation, have been using the hybrid concept for decades. I give Toyota a lot of credit for making the commitment they made with the Prius back in 1997, when all other car companies were focusing on SUVs or high performance sports cars. I believe that if it were not for Toyota, there would not be all the different Hybrid cars on the road today, and because of Toyota, nearly all car makes and models will be available with Hybrid technology by 2012.

The guy that wrote the original post is close to right in my experience. After only $1700 in OEM wheels, pressure sensor valve stems, and snow tires my Prius will go with the best of them in snow.

The dealership service manager said I was the first person who had told him of Prius problems in snow. I reported my problem and the solution I implemented to Toyota. I told them this disappointed me and the vehicle should not have been sold where it snows and ices. This seemed to anger the dealership service manager. He contended that I read about the problem on blogs and then made up my scenario. Right I enjoy blowing $1700 anytime I can. It is so difficult to get rid of money these days.

I've been driving Toyota products since 1979. The company spoiled me to a very high expectation. I like this car a lot in fair weather but 3 months out of each year I need a car that can go in the snow.

Hello, I am just now replacing the Michelin Hydroedge tires that we put on our 2005 Prius. At the time of purchase I told the dealer that I really did not like the OEM tires, and he asked what tire would make me happy. So I told him I liked the Hydroedge and he put those on instead.
Now, those tires have given us great service for 6 years and 75000 miles. Now, it is time to replace those tires, but mostly due to age, not because of treadwear.
Oddly, this week in June 2011 it seems that Hydroedge are out of stock everywhere, so I am going to try 4 new Hankook Optimo H727.