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When I had to drive through IA winters, we always had a quattro of some sort. With winter tires, they would pretty much go anywhere if they didn't get high centered. Then we'd use the F150 4X4.
Best winter car I ever had (and it was fun to drive) was a 1st generation Audi TT roadster with winter tires...
Now in AZ, our "winter" car is also our "summer" car!!
When I had to drive through IA winters, we always had a quattro of some sort. With winter tires, they would pretty much go anywhere if they didn't get high centered. Then we'd use the F150 4X4.
Best winter car I ever had (and it was fun to drive) was a 1st generation Audi TT roadster with winter tires...
Now in AZ, our "winter" car is also our "summer" car!!
I'll second this. TT 225 roadster with snow tires. It was a beast, even in snow way too deep to be in. I'd take it over any suv out there.
My criterium for winter cars in northern VT: must be fun. Knocks out Auto/paddles/PDK and SUVs (the type of car must frequently found in ditches on snow days), So most cars on market not eligible for me. I test drove a Jeep Wrangler recently: not at all fun, drives like a truck. Had a loaner Cayenne and new automatic 3 series, expensive and not fun. I have kept my 2005 E46 with AWD and MT, fun enough, and outfitted with Blizzaks gets me up snow covered mountain roads for skiing and snowboarding. My wife has a Golf R with blizzaks, also fun enough, but doesn't sound good. As long as the roads are in reasonable shape my Cayman GTS is my DD thru the year, with snows for winter. Before that may 987 Cayman S did the same. No matter what you do, get a set of winters and drive your Porsche all year, even if you are being sensible and have a beater for snow/ice/salt/slush days. Some of the best driving conditions here are early morning dry pavement winter days.
If you want a vehicle that can handle more than a few inches of snow.
Had a Subaru Crosstrek. Useless in anything over 3 inches. Sold it in less than a year. Had to use my Tacoma to pull it out numerous times. Also this is probably the slowest vehicle. In fact, it's dangerously underpowered.
You guys have some serious winter machines. I bought a new '18 crosstrek 6MT to be my winter vehicle. A little curious about the circumstances and tires re the bad in snow comment on previous gen crosstrek. I've ridden in one in a 8-10" snowstorm in Snowshoe, WV on plain old all seasons that had no trouble at all. Maybe the snow consistency was very different? In any event, I found a new 50/50 AWD car with a stick and a warranty hard to beat for $23k and a 5 year warranty. It is indeed very slow, but that's not really its point.