[Noah930]

I lived in Boston for 7 years (Brighton for 5 of those). I drove a Nissan 200SX SE-R. I think there were 2 days I couldn't commute due to inclement weather, and I always ran summer/high performance tires on it. So while it's definitely nice (and possibly safer, from a parental perspective) to have 4WD, it's not necessary. They salt and plow the roads plenty.

I hated living/driving in New England for reasons of rust. My car itself wasn't bad (too rusty), even for being 14 years-old when I sold it, but I had to replace the exhaust every 2-3 years. It wasn't just a Nissan thing, as we had the same experience with my wife's Jetta. But rust is going to be an issue to investigate in any 10+ year-old New England car you're looking at. Maybe you can take up t-tom's offer on his KS Toyota, and drive it up to Boston.

FWIW, I used to go to Newton Street Garage (in Brighton) for any wrenching I couldn't do myself. I found Tom to be a very honest and reasonable guy.