A car that fits this bill?

[GLC1968]

there is also a MINI Countryman, which I think 2 bikes would fit in the back of. Not sure of the gas mileage in that vehicle, though.

Actually, the Countryman is smaller in the back than the Clubman. Or, smaller USEABLE space. I think it's not very well designed in that regard, but it does have the handy 4 doors feature. We went in to test drive the Countryman but ended up ordering the Clubman becuase the cargo space was better (for dogs, not bikes...but still!). The Countryman is slightly lower in gas mileage than the other MINI's (low 30's HWY) and it's not quite the zippy little thing that the other Coopers are, but it's still a very nice car and plenty fun to drive. It also comes in AWD, which would be handy in a snowy place.

I'll also ditto that we could fit two bikes in the back of the Prius with the seats down. Mine with wheels on, DH had to remove his front one (bigger frame). While the Prius handles ok in the snow (I drove it over the mountains near Denver in a snow storm!), the mileage drops significantly in the cold.

I'll also throw the Toyota Matrix out there. Handles fantastic in the snow (seriously, with chains, it blew our 4x4 out of the water for handling!!), gets low 30's MPG, easily fit two bikes in back with plenty of room for other stuff (more vertical space than the Prius) and ours has been 100% issue free in the last 117K miles. Great car. Boring car, but great car.

[OakLeaf]

I love my Prius, but the only way two bikes go in the back is one on top of the other with a blanket in between. It's fine for me, and I've done it, but some people might object, and a heavy bike would be pretty hard to maneuver.

And ... we wound up having to drive it in the snow once last year. It took several attempts to get it up our hill. I confess to being the one who got it stuck initially when an animal ran across the lane while I was climbing the hill - but DH, who's been driving confidently in slippery conditions since he was a teenager, couldn't get it to quit spinning after I gave up, either. A shovel, a couple of bags of sand, and a lot of cussing were involved before we finally got it the rest of the way up the hill.

For a lightweight FWD car, it has all the bells and whistles and it does handle great. But it's still a lightweight FWD car and I wouldn't recommend it in the snow.

[ny biker]

I love my Prius, but the only way two bikes go in the back is one on top of the other with a blanket in between. It's fine for me, and I've done it, but some people might object, and a heavy bike would be pretty hard to maneuver.

And ... we wound up having to drive it in the snow once last year. It took several attempts to get it up our hill. I confess to being the one who got it stuck initially when an animal ran across the lane while I was climbing the hill - but DH, who's been driving confidently in slippery conditions since he was a teenager, couldn't get it to quit spinning after I gave up, either. A shovel, a couple of bags of sand, and a lot of cussing were involved before we finally got it the rest of the way up the hill.

For a lightweight FWD car, it has all the bells and whistles and it does handle great. But it's still a lightweight FWD car and I wouldn't recommend it in the snow.

I suppose it depends on the hill. I've made it up the hill to my house, and the hill to my parents' house in NY, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. And Chicago is pretty flat, so hills aren't really an issue. Although if I lived in Chicago I would get snow tires simply because there is more snow there.