<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Bill Costanzo <<a href="mailto:pnotuner@rochester.rr.com">pnotuner@rochester.rr.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div bgcolor="white" lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="blue"> <div> <p><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Anybody have experience with the Prius in northern winter conditions, specifically traction in the snow and ground clearance?</span></font></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yes! I've owned my 2007 year model Prius for 1.5 year now. Previously I drove a Subaru Outback wagon which had plenty of clearance, and "AllTrac" (constant 4 wheel drive) (but poor gas mileage). Needless to say, *that* car was made for winter driving. The Prius wheelbase is low so it's not made for "plowing" through snow drifts, snow plow covered driveway entrances, etc. I have postponed a couple appointments due to bad winter road conditions, which I probably wouldn't have if I still had the Subaru. I suppose if I had purchased snow tires for the winter season I might have ventured out, but these days most manufacturers (and even tire stores) push "all season" tires that aren't really up for blizzard conditions.</div> <div>Miles per gallon drops to the low 40's when it's winter, partly because the passenger climate control depends on gas engine heat, partly because the battery is less efficient when it's cold. By April my mileage got back into the 50's and I'm currently averaging 53-55 mpg.</div> <div>Patrick Draine</div><div>Massachusettes</div></div>