Looking Into Getting a Prius

[SV19]

So my wife and I are adding a second car (we also have a 2006 Honda Accord, 160k miles) and I have been looking into getting a used (test drove a 2014) Prius. I know this car is very highly regarded in this community and so I am hoping I can find answers to a few questions we had.

1. How does the Prius handle snow? We live right outside Chicago and so we have some really obnoxious winters. My commute is 11 miles and my wife's commute is ~23 miles. From my limited reading online snow tires are suggested but is that it?

2. How does the Prius handle car seats? We don't have a family yet but plan to soon and certainly within the life of this next car purchase. In our test drive there seemed to be a lot more room in the back than I was suspecting but my wife still had concerns about installing a car seat back there.

The other vehicles we are contemplating are Honda CRV and Subaru Outback/Forester. I'm considering the Prius because I'm really capable of any car maintenance and I just prefer smaller vehicles while the wife wanted something bigger.

[cen murataj]

Ok

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[nouveauRiche]

Can't tell you about driving a Prius on snow - we don't get any.

However, we have two boosters in the back of ours & it's fine.  Plenty of room & it has those anchors that all cars have to have now.

We know someone with a Generation II Prius who (I believe) was able to get three car seats in the back.

Highly recommend getting one.  Gas mileage is awesome & so is reliability.

[Sarah Saverdink]

Husband drives a Prius 60 miles each way to work and we live in New England, so it's seen a lot of snow covered roads over the past 3 years. Snow tires help a LOT in winter conditions.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

If you're getting it to commute 11 miles, why not get a Leaf or other used EV?

[SV19]

I live in an apartment complex and there aren't any charging stations where I work so I'm unsure how I would get them charged routinely.

(Pardon me if that statement doesn't make sense, maybe the whole process of charging is simpler than I perceive it to be.)

[Kathryn K.]

I'm in the Midwest (so some, but not huge amounts of snow lately) and have a kid and love my '08 Prius.

The Prius handles well in the snow due to its weight (although like any vehicle would recommend snow tires which make a huge difference).  The only issue snow-wise is that the ground clearance is pretty low so large drifts that an SUV could get through would hang up a Prius, but I haven't had an issue.

There's plenty of room in back for a carseat - I got the car when my daughter was 3 and she's now 6 and there's plenty of room for her even with the large Recaro brand seat we use.  In fact, my husband, my in-laws, and my daughter (so 5 of us, 1 in a car seat) have taken the Prius on multiple 12 hr drives to visit family - so yes, there is a decent amount of room in the backseat.

[nawhite]

My friend had a Gen1 Prius in Pittsburgh and it sucked in the snow (and mud) because the traction control would kick in way too early. So if you were stuck in a snowbank and tried to rock your way out of it, as soon as the wheels sensed they were spinning the traction control would kick in and kill all power to all wheels. I.e. Once she got stuck, she never got out without a push or tow because the traction control wouldn't let her.

I don't know if they fixed it in the future models but if I had the same car I'd say snow tires would be a minimum and you'd probably want chains in the trunk to help get unstuck sometimes.