It's pretty hard to deice the windshield and keep it clean without a steady stream of hot air on it. The down side is that the trip is 2.5 miles out and back. Barely enough time to warm up the engine. The truck is parked outside, so I have to deal with the windshield before I can leave. Sometimes it's clean, other times I have layers of snow and ice. I'm not sure about the wheels on the F150 or Mariner Hybrid. I have problems with the mag wheels on the 914, but that happens at just about any temperature. The surface where the tire mates to the rim has some serious corrosion problems. I'll probably replace the wheels with some good steel ones. The car was still drivable when I transported it from San Diego to Pocatello in 2001. I have no idea whether it is still OK. The MTBE in the gasoline destroyed all the rubber fuel lines twice already.
Something I do is lay an old blanket over the windshield at night. The glass is always ice-free in the morning even while other surfaces can be frosted up considerably. If i need to defrost with the heater i do that but if there is blowing snow I then turn the heater way down or off while leaving the blower on and it keeps the interior surface from fogging up and snow just bounces off outside.