It depends a lot on the tires that are on it. With some tires that have decent winter performance (even all-season that are well-rated for snow), it does nicely. The ground clearance is a little limited, but it does pretty well in a few inches of fresh or snowpack. I'm in Colorado and prefer to drive the Prius in the snow than my 4wd truck.
The tires that they come with new, aren't the greatest in snow, but changing them for a better-performing snow tire makes a world of difference.
FlagMichael
2014-06-13 20:52:29 UTC
With good snow tires it does very well, with poor tires it is awful. In the 2004+ models the hybrid system shuts down power to the wheels if they spin too much, requiring you to completely lift the throttle and try again. That really magnifies the effect of good snow tires. With chains it will handle steeper grades (a real problem for us - we have 12% slopes on all approaches to our neighborhood) but we can handle 5 inches easily with the Michelin X-ice or Blizzaks we have now.
?
2014-06-12 22:13:12 UTC
It performs just fine.
ⓘ
This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.