Prius Forum .net

Hi all, I am interested in buying a 2010 Prius. I live in Alberta and went to a
dealership yesterday for a test drive. They started up a Prius for me (it was parked outside overnight and the temperate was -30 degrees celsius/-22 degrees fahrenheit). The Prius was warming up for about 5 min before the sales guy told me it was ready. I hopped into the car and it was vibrating like crazy and it was loud. A major humming noise with major vibrations throughout the car. I don't know what was going on and the sales guy was wondering what the heak was going on too because he had never experienced anything like it. We drove it around the block and the noise was unbearable so we just drove it back to the dealership. We then took out a second Prius from the indoor showroom and on the test drive there was no problem whatsoever.

The sales guy and manager were embarrassed and said they have no idea what happened to the first car but they will have their mechanics take a look.

Anyway, this experience left me wondering if the Prius can handle the Canadian winters? It seriously sounded and felt like the car was gonna break down.

Has anyway experienced this in this type of weather? Thanks.

No problem here in Texas! We get down to the 'teens' upon occasion and the car heats up quickly and runs fine. I think you must have gotten a car with an odd mechanical issue.

Hope you get one & enjoy it!

Thanks for the reply. I think we're gonna go with the Prius anyway and will try to forget that first test drive. It was definitely concerning to hear this vibration and humming but maybe that car is one in a million.

I'm only one province away from you and my 08 Prius has no problems in the cold, this is the second winter I've had it. I've not heard of problems like you experienced. I can tell you it can handle the cold winters. Be sure to put on winter tires as soon as the snow hits or... well you'll see in a hurry that winter tires aren't really optional.

Good luck and keep us posted.