And they said it wasn't a practical winter car...

For decades all the vehicles I drove up in northern BC on the Alaska highway were 2wd rear drive, most without limited slip. 8 months of nasty winter up there. Everyone did that. 4wd was not common until years later. Any car with decent winter tires did fine. With a set of chains we would even go off road. The only really bad vehicle was a 2wd pickup but we drove those too with some weight in the back. You did have to learn to drive. I like the predictability of rear drive in a slide on ice.