It's all about the tires :-) Unfortunately we don't get much snow out here to justify it unless you live at higher elevations, but in the harshest winter conditions, the right tires make all the difference no matter what the car. I'm a ski fanatic and when I lived in CO seven years ago, had a rear wheel drive sports coupe. After putting on some Dunlop cold weather tires, I could pretty much handle any snowy or icy road that an AWD could. The technology is very impressive as the compound sticks to slick surfaces with microscopic suction cups. I even took it all the way to Pike's Peak when my brother came to visit. That's just over 14,000 ft.