A side-topic, I admit, but I saw lots of US comment damning the Toyota Prius
because "it won't let you spin the wheels". Very few people responded that
you shouldn't anyway! What the Prius does is to switch on the anti-slip so
fast that the car just creeps immensely slowly, but enough in my case to get
me out of my drive on to the (hopefully) gritted road. Once there (in the
Cotswolds), it's either OK or the hills are absolutely full of pillocks
sliding around so you can't get through even if you did have winter tyres.
But I'm still going to carry a pair of snow socks (like snow chains but
fabric and Kevlar) in case I ever get caught out and need to get home in a
new snowfall or sheet ice.

Robin