Is an All Wheel Drive (Awd) indeed better, safer during winter?

[low]

Hi all....need some advice here plse...

I am not much of a car person...it is just a medium of transport to get me from A to Z. I am perplexed now cos I recently moved to hilly neighborhood and I noticed that many who lived here are driving AWD. I was told that the tyres have better traction when driven under snowy conditions and is safer. Having said this, needing to change tyres every winter is no fun too but I am weighing the pros/ cons of getting an AWD suv vs maintaining a sedan cos the former's fuel consumption is pretty high too, right?

Thx

 

[MSP2YYZ]

AWD does provide a better driving experience in winter (I'm a Minnesota girl, trust me, I know). But that doesn't mean that you have to go with a SUV. Lots of sedans have AWD, here are some you could check out:

Subaru (Impreza, Legacy, Legacy Outback)
Audi (A-Whatever #)
BMW (3 or 5 Series)
Ford (Fusion or Five Hundred/Taurus)
Infiniti (G35X)
Dodge has a couple models, forgot the names.

That being said, my winter choice was a Nissan Xterra-when the street plow buried all the cars on my street, I could drive out of the snowbank while all my neighbors had to dig their way out. Gas mileage sucked though.

 

[Canooknic]

I have an AWD and my fiancé has a regular sedan with winter tyres, to be honest I didn't see much difference between the two - apart from me being able to get over the piles of snow left by the plowing!!

It costs us about $100 to change our tyres from summer to winter, not too bad.

 

[low]

Thx guys for your input..much appreciate it..

 

[Aquib]

AWD does provide a better driving experience in winter (I'm a Minnesota girl, trust me, I know). But that doesn't mean that you have to go with a SUV. Lots of sedans have AWD, here are some you could check out:

Subaru (Impreza, Legacy, Legacy Outback)
Audi (A-Whatever #)
BMW (3 or 5 Series)
Ford (Fusion or Five Hundred/Taurus)
Infiniti (G35X)
Dodge has a couple models, forgot the names.

That being said, my winter choice was a Nissan Xterra-when the street plow buried all the cars on my street, I could drive out of the snowbank while all my neighbors had to dig their way out. Gas mileage sucked though.

Nice, I never knew that sedan got AWD too, as I looked SUV prices and review etc and was worried .
I hope that sedan with AWD must be economical in fuel and insurance plus bit affordable .

Any idea how much will be for 2004 reg AWD approx 160000 km (100k miles) will cost .
Definitely BMW and Audi must be expensive. Ford must be good.
Dodge and Subaru never see these brand in India or zeurope so can't say if they better then aboves.