4wd is nice, but its the tires that make the difference. All season tires dont even compare to To a Blizzak type tire. There are more 4wd vehicles wiped out in the ditches than cars around here anyway.
thats not because of the tires.. its because those assholes in their 50,000 dollar 4x4 think they can drive like its dry out because they have 4x4.
around here we don't really need snow tires.. been driving back and forth to work 40 miles each way for 17 years now in a little toyota or honda with front wheel drive and never put a snow tire on it.. those little cars get me there every time. last couple years there hasn't really been much snow but not all that long ago we had good amounts of snow and ice storms.
these days i drive the cherokee to work when its shitty out like that.. all those salt trucks beat the hell out of my newer cars so i leave them home and take the 200,000 mile cherokee to work. let that get all salted up.