Four months after a 2020 Toyota Prius all-wheel-drive hatchback made the long 2,500-mile drive over snow and ice from Greeley to Fairbanks, Alaska, the "fair-weather gas/electric hybrid" continues to warm the hearts of a couple in the Far North cold.
"We love our newer Prius," said Chris Dubois, "the best winter car ever. It is so good, I packed our F-350 four-wheel drive on ice for the winter."
Pitting the Prius against the cold reality of Fairbanks is a testament to the spirited link to life in Alaska of Dubois and his wife, Nancy Davidian. Chris, a graduate of Highland High School in Ault and the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, has been an Alaskan resident since 1995. His mother, Ila Dubois, resides in Greeley.
I'd been asked to help Tom and Sue, an older couple in our neighborhood, sell their low-mileage, excellent-condition '20 Prius in November. With its super fuel mileage, the all-wheel-drive feature and half-worn Dunlop tires, it seemed ideal for someone in the plains of northeastern Colorado.
From a Thursday advertisement, a week before Thanksgiving, I was surprised to receive this text on Friday morning: "Good morning, Bud. Did you sell the Prius? We are interested. I'll call tonight."
Yes, he was interested; he and Nancy had a 2006 Prius with front-wheel drive and had been looking for a later-model with AWD and other improvements, but could find nothing available anywhere in Alaska.
Within two days, he agreed to purchase the Toyota, talked with Autotailor in Greeley and ordered the mounting of four Nokian non-studded snow tires.
Chris flew to Colorado Nov. 30, spent a couple days at the home of his mother, then crawled into the Toyota and headed north on Friday, Dec. 2. By Sunday night he was in Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada, just 200 miles short of halfway home.
"The Prius is averaging 48 mpg and the Nokians are working great in the snow and ice," he said at that point.
Three days later, he reached home at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, after battling 4 to 6 inches of snow from Beaver Creek to Fairbanks.
"The car and tires were fantastic, never even a slip and 48 mpg consistent until the deeper snow, then the worst was 38 mpg," Dubois said. "I washed the magnesium off the car and then had to snow-blow 1 foot of new snow at home."
Chris and Nancy, formerly on a farm, are nurses and have moved to a smaller setting in the hills of the Tanana Valley near Fairbanks.
"Many of our local roads have snow-routes to bypass the worst of the ice and snow luge runs we call streets," Dubois said. "The AWD Prius manages them all easily, and without studded tires. This Prius is very different than 2006 Prius – it has heat. At temperatures below -20F, all winter, our old Prius never gets close to a comfortable interior temperature. The AWD is a totally comfortable driving experience even at -40 or -50F. We got it winterized with an engine block heater, trickle charger and motor and transmission oil pan heaters.
"These are the cold, hard facts regarding the Prius, and we love it."
– Bud Wells, a native of Wray, is a former Page 1 editor of the Denver Post and has reviewed automobiles for the past 40 years and was one of the first 50 members in the inaugural class of the Colorado Automotive Hall of Fame. He can be contacted at budwellscars@comcast.net.
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