IMO not much good for a snowy county since it's 2WD only...

There’s a new Prius e-AWD [1] that should be good for driving in snowy conditions.

That being said, I live in New York, and I’ve never had a problem here. The government does a pretty good job of salting the roads, and cleaning up excess snow, so I’ve practically never had to drive on snow, even during snowy times.

[1] See: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a24843141/2019-toyota-priu...

Thanks for the link, I do not know it before :-)

On de-icing: you can have clean road if they are heavy used together with a not so cold climate since car's itself contribute a bit on cleanup phase but you practically can't on any less frequented road, especially outside cities.

Salt and gravel help avoiding ice with a "liquid top" that's super slippery but can't really melt snow on snowy days or cold days...

Snow tires matter much more than it being 2wd. AWD and 4WD are worthless in the ice just like 2wd.

So they are winter tires, only spiked tires works (really) well on ice, unfortunately you can't use them on most country without majority of the roads iced for long periods...

Personally living, and have lived, in snowy area while I prize winter tire on snow I also prize 4WD/AWD, without them in many cases I'll have had to beg for a tow, no matter how good winter tire I can ever mount.

In some condition, like little snow, you only have slippery roads due to the moisture of salt/snow/dirt on the road and 4wheel help reaming on trajectory but you may still drive on 2WD at least if you are a good enough driver, on heavier snow 4wheels means have enough traction to advance and enough grip to still have traction when some wheel slip.

Eh, I disagree.

I grew up living on the side of a mountain in Montana. 1000 foot climb from the highway to home. Could not make it home in winter with snow tires and 2WD, period. You'd end up fish tailing and generally turning a snow packed road into a gleaming sheet of ice. Which, makes it worse for those with 4WD as now the snow pack is a polished sheet of ice.

4WD helped, but was also not always sufficient. I've had a 4WD SUV slide directly sideways after coming to a compmete stop on an incline. Some of the grades were up to 14%, not highway quality, but private road.

Only relatively assured way to get home was 4WD, snow tires and chains. And you could skip the snow tires if you had the chains.

I have a Volvo XC70. The transfer case broke and the AWD vehicle became FWD and it went from being pretty good in slippery conditions to awful. I couldn't get up hills on streets etc. same snow tires before and after the tcase broke. Maybe just that vehicle has more weight on the rear tires but the front tires sure couldn't pull that car up the hill to get me home if it was a slippery day.

Nonsense. I have just had my Tesla S 70D serviced, they loaned me a S P85 rear wheel drive. It was horrible. Just manoeuvring in a car park was difficult because the car couldn't grip the ice. Got my 70D back today, what a relief! Sticks to the road like glue unless you push it foolishly hard. Both cars, of course, have winter tyres (stud-less).

As a New England resident with a very old detached garage, I, too, wish my Tesla was not so wide. Every single time I park in my garage (which can only be accomplished in reverse, while turning about 30°) it's mildly terrifying.