?Battery: The battery is not heated, but that only reduces the capacity a bit. Because the idea is not to use the battery that much for best economy the only thing you actually notice is that the battery icon fills more rapidly.
-Heat: Most cabin heat is supplied by warm engine coolant. There are two 300W electric heaters that provide quick defrosting when you push the front defrost button.
- Idling/emissions: The Prius idles if the engine needs to be brought up to temperature or you are calling for cabin heat and the coolant in the heater coil isn't warm enough.
?Fuel economy: The Prius looses about 25% or more mpg just like any other car when it's very cold outside. The main difference is that the Prius has several ways to tell you this while an old fashioned car keeps you in blissful ignorance.
?Electric motor: No the battery doesn't need to be warmed up.
-If you want to describe warm-up as a complete series of events from an engineering standpoint (with threshold temps if you have them), be my guest.
There are four stages of warmups in the 2004-2009 Prius. In some cases some of them will be skipped depending upon the driver's foot and other circumstances. However, there is no need to do things like let the car idle before driving.
-If you drive one, are you miserable in winter or do you just live with the limitations?
Sorry, what limitations? True, I can't go off-roading in deep snow, but none of the old fashioned cars you mentioned could do that either.
In my opinion the Prius is one of the best winter cars out there unless you're going off-road in deep snow.
1. Because there is no starter motor the Prius starts the same at -20 as it does at +70.
2. The smooth acceleration, without the transmission jerk, allows you to finesse your way through conditions far better than most cars and all SUVs.
3. The Vehicle Stability Control prevents doughnuts if you are going anything like a reasonable speed for the conditions.
Whenever there are ice storms like the ones we had last week, I'm always going faster than the other vehicles around me and having much less trouble too.
In addition, you can work around the lower mpg the same way you can in any car:
A. Block the grill with split foam pipe insulation.
B. Use a block heater.
C. Let the Prius' climate control system warm the cabin to a comfortable 70F rather than manually turning heat up to 80F. (The Prius has a dedicated ECU and five sensors to maintain the climate at the lowest energy cost.)
D. Install a hotter thermostat (188F)
All these would work in any car, but because most people aren't aware of how much mpg they lose in winter (unless they keep a logbook or drive a Prius) they don't bother.
Having said all that, the one thing you do have to do is to change the OE tires for four good winter tires such as the Nokian WR-g2 severe service all-seasons or four studless winter tires. The OE tires are really poor in winter conditions, however, I don't believe the Prius is unique in this regard.
For some reason there is a lot of FUD about the Prius. Some appears to be sour grapes and some is from those who think the Prius is a panacea rather than a car. My 2004 Prius has cost 12 cents per mile for dealer maintenance, tires, and fuel combined over the 115,000 miles I've driven it so far according to the logbook I keep--and it still runs like new. It's been a very reliable and fun to drive car. The 2001 my wife drives has also been great and appears to have cost about the same, but she doesn't keep a logbook so I don't have the exact figures.
2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):
2003-2004 -- 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles
2005 -- 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles
2006 -- 56.3 mpg 16174 miles
2007 -- 57.3 mpg 18384 miles
2008 -- 59.9 mpg 21755 miles
2009 -- 61.4 mpg 16177 miles
2010 -- 65.2 mpg 12134 miles
You might want to join one of the Yahoo Prius groups for additional information as there's only so much room in Answers.
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