Prius in the winter

No one said you couldn’t possibly drive a Prius in Ft. Kent Maine. What was said was there are times when a Prius with it’s rear drive lack of traction and poor ground clearance would struggle in the 78"-100" of annual snowfall.

BULL…I grew up in a town with annual snowfall of OVER 250". Cities like Syracuse and Rochester NY average OVER 120". And they have plenty of Prius’s there. They sell a lot of small cars that get around very well. Now places like the Tughill Plateau in Upstate NY where annual snowfall is OVER 300" and has seen OVER 600"…4wd is probably a good idea.

Windchill is absolutely irrelevant to a car starting. The actual outside air temperture counts not the wind derived # freezing human flesh. A prius is a fine choice. Basically it sound like you get below 0 weather eg -20F occasionally with lots of wind.

I would suggest using synthetic oil for the winter as engine cranking is much easier on vehicle and your battery. Also a good set of winter tires over all-season tire rubber not just for better traction in snow/ice/slush but that the tires rubber can handle cold better. Basically winter tire’s rubber is optimized for cold temps while all-season rubber turns very hard at cold temps and loses traction easier on wet/dry pavement.

It just seems like a silly idea to freeze heck out of everything and then expect the engine to start right up and actually work. I don’t know if it works or not, but I shiver when I think about it. Limestone Me. is cold too, and I won’t go back there to live, due to physical handicaps. My brain won’t allow me to either. Just listen to me! Two years ago, I was living in Ca. and saying that I would never move back to the East coast. The co-worker said the same. We’re both in the East now. Augusta barely had a winter last whatever it was and all the ski-doos have wheels now. Go ahead and buy the Prius, you won’t be there long! Seriously, get a Rav-4 because YOUR environment counts too and OUR environment won’t miss one Prius. Also, they’re not pretty. I could eat an Oldsmobile and puke a better looking car than a Prius.

LOL! I’d give you six stars for that last sentence if I could! :slight_smile:

Fort Kent is not cold on average. The temp you state as I said before is wind chill which makes absolutely and utterly no difference to a car engine starting.

The lows/highs average’s of local weather in that vicinity -> http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USME0380

Notice the coldest temperature listed on average is -4F. That means occasionally it gets -20F or lower and may occasionally have some issues possibly however synthetic winter only and waiting for the sun to shine helps. Heck my 2004 WRX wagon started ok with 10W30 (relatively thick) dino oil in -15F weather in northern NH. It did not sound pretty sounding but starting first attempt.

Any car will do.

The Prius will be fine. However, don’t expect great gas mileage. From what I’ve read, the mileage is similar to any other car’s in the winter, due to the cold temperatures (longer warm-up periods), and the heater and defroster running constantly - obviously, the engine needs to run for there to be heat.
But the Prius will certainly work. Personally, I’d get a conventional, similarly sized model and save the cost of the premium on the Prius.

I’ve lived in Maine all my life, and everyone I know up in the county has at least one 4x4 vehicle or at least an AWD car/minivan. That being said…The state does do a good job keeping most of the primary roads clear, but hills and secondary roads are always an issue. A lot will depend on where you live: in town, out in the woods, private or public road, dirt or paved road (dirt roads are a mess in the spring when the frost comes out). You may want to go through one winter first before you make a purchase, assuming you currently have a car that will last through the winter.

I also have a friend who owns a prius, and we take it skiing all the time…it sucks in the snow and does not like the big hills. At least it’s light-weight and easy to push:)

Hey! What’s wrong with how Oldsmobile’s look?! :slight_smile:

You may want to google the following “prius traction control snow” and then read all you can about their problems in slick conditions before you buy.

Check with Toyota to see if they sell an optional snowplow attachment for it.

Wind chill may not be an issue with starting the car, but it is an issue if you have to get out and walk. YOu want reliable if you are driving in the boonies. If you don’t have experience driving in the winter, keep a blanket and a snow shovel in the car, and be sure you always have warm clothes – hat, mittens, good boots,…

The Prius battery might act a little funny after being cold soaked a couple of weeks at below zero temperatures. Most storage batteries will loose more than 60% of their capacity under those conditions. They move towards becoming inert…Ft Kent. Nobody in their right mind would move there, so the Government must have sent Ron there. Keeping America safe, maybe?

if a hybrid is what you want,with the possibility of deep snow,what about the ford escape hybrid?? it’ll give you the ground clerance the prius won’t,and it comes in both two wheel AND four wheel drive?
being a larger vehicle,it won’t get the mileage the little prius would,but,it might get you there when the little commuter car wont…

if a hybrid is what you want,with the possibility of deep snow,what about the ford escape hybrid??

In a 10 year period there MIGHT be 3 maybe 4 times you’ll NEED a 4wd. That doesn’t justify the difference in gas mileage to me.

You guys are making me cold just reading all this. I’d recommend you forget the Prius, and buy yourself a one-way plane ticket to somewhere that man might be an indigenous species :wink:

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

Some pertinent items:

  1. Toyota designed this car for worldwide use; that includes Minnesota (much colder than Maine), Northern Canada, etc.
    2.Windchill is only felt by humans and animals; cars react to thermometer temperatures.
  2. No one has mentioned this, but whenever you need the heater, the Prius will not run on the battery alone. That was the biggest drwaback to an all electric car. You need that engine heat to stay warm. Therefore, expect much lower fuel economy in the winter.
  3. Do as all residents of cold regions do; use a good winter oil, 5W30 sythetic is ideal, have a good set of snow tires, use a block heater to keep the engine warm, and park inside whenever you can.
  4. I d?n’t know the size of your new town, but Toyota trains its mechanics well, and you should be able to get good service. I spent 4 months in Moses Lake, Wa, population 14,000, and the local Toyota dealer was well versed in Prius service.

So, stop worrying, people in Maine got along quite well before there were SUVs and 4 wheel drive pickups, and, yes they do have snow plows in Maine!

Unlike most of the respondents I actually have a 2004 Prius, and have experienced subzero temperatures (actual not wind chill) This is not a good car under those conditons. We usually don’t warm up our cars but we make an exception when it gets below zero. My wife started her Prius to let it warm up and when she went out to drive away it was dead as a doornail. Even though it had 5W30 oil in it it stalled after a couple of minutes and the battery drained until it was totally dead in less than 10 minutes. I couldn’t figure out how to jump it, since the battery is in the trunk, but the tow truck started it with a portable jumppack. It is easy to jump if you make a good contact with the remote positive terminal in the fuse block, and figure out where an actual negative ground can be found, that isn’t cleverly disguised plastic.There is an engine block heater from Canada available that I managed to obtain . I found a dealer that knows how to install it, but they wanted $150 so I didn’t do it. It is sitting in my garage. If you need the part number email me at taub@scacable.com By the way my wife has been stuck in less than 6" of snow due to the low ground clearance. On those days she takes my AWD Aztek or 4wd Chevy truck. Ron Rome WI

Install the block heater; you and your wife will love it. I’ve used block heaters for the last 42 years and the savings in fuel and engine wear will soon pay for it.

MANY…MANY years experience driving in Winters FAR WORSE then Ft Kent.