[MRM]

She needs a cheap reliable car that’s good in the snow. I don’t think she can get that in her price range if she insists on four wheel or all wheel drive. I also think that focus is misguided. Four wheel drive is no magic bullet. When she hits the ice four wheels out of control is no better than two.

What she should do is what I did before I could afford four wheel drive vehicles. Get a cheap, reliable Japanese front wheel drive and get good dedicated winter tires. A front wheel drive with snow tires is far better than all wheel drive without snow tires and it’s really a close second to AWD with snow tires. Our AWDs with snow tires are mountain goats but when we had front wheel drives and dedicated snow tires we never needed additional traction.