I have had luck with small, lightweight FWD cars that I've picked up for $500 or less. RWD is a no-go unless you have the skill. And 4WD/AWD is neither light nor cheap. Every GOOD winter car I've had has weighed 2300 pounds or less empty. Despite conventional wisdom that bigger/heavier is better, my experience is that larger, heavier cars tend to have too much inertia, causing them to skid and slide more than I am comfortable with.

Don't rule out RWD. I've been driving RWD in the snow of Michigan without snow tires for 4 years. Yes I get stuck but the cars perform and I get where I need to go. I would say buy an older RWD car and out fit the back tires with snow tires. Read my answer to the question below on RWD cars in snow. I can't afford snow tires but I'm convinced that RWD cars steer better in snow. Yes I get stuck all the time. If I could afford better rear tires I probably would not get stuck so much. But I'm female and help is always just a smile away when I'm stuck so I just live with it. Oh ya... On traction aids.. Don't make the mistake I made when I first started to drive in snowy conditions... A friend told me to get cat litter for the back of my Camaro. I bought like 6 bags and it did help. I would still spin alot but I could get moving a lot better. But one night leaving a friends house I made a wrong turn and went down a small hill only to find myself in a cul de sack where new homes were being build. They were all unoccupied. Realizing my mistake I started to turn around only to become totally stuck in the deep snow in the cul de sack. I tried for 15 minutes to get out but was still stuck. I could move like 10 inches either direction but no further no matter what I tried. Time to break out the cat litter. I opened a bag and put it under both rear wheels of my camaro. Got in and was totally surprised to find after one attempt to go forward that I was unable to move at all. Not even an inch! The cat litter made things worse. I got out and looked and it had become like this clay slurry under my rear tires that was slicker than anything I could imagine. Ok... I'm 100% totally stuck now. I tried for 1/2 an hour to get out of that stuff but it was hopeless I had zero traction. My rear wheels would spin without even pushing on the gas in both drive and reverse. I guess someone heard all my spinning and came down to see what was up. An older gentleman asked if I was stuck. I said ya big time. He looked at my cat litter bag and laughed and said ya that kind of cat litter gets you stuck worse. It's all clay!!! So beware of cat litter. Know what you are buying if you plan to use it for traction. Jen

subaru imprez wrx will do u fine it comes with chians for the wheels plus it has wide wheels and it can shift from 4 wheel drive to 2 wheel if u get a top notch subrau u can even select if u whant the front whells to miove or the back wheels plus on the new model they have a 5 wheel located under the car is to go fast over road bumps but has good grip and can more than help in the snow#

While all vehicles will struggle to a degree with snow, there are several main considerations I would look at when choosing a car for snowy conditions. My ideal pick would be a full offroad capable 4WD (like a Land Rover or such), and NOT an SUV. Why? 1. Ground clearance - Even with chains, if the snow is deeper than your ground-clearance, you won't go anywhere. As soon as it gets deep enough that your wheels can't reach the ground beneath, then you've got no grip - you're hung up. Proper 4WDs have decent ground clearance - which can be increased with proper modifications. 2. Tyres - Whether you fit snow chains or not, the aggressive tread on some 4WD tyres will afford somewhat better grip than the smooth, road oriented car tyres. A smooth tyre will just slide over the top of the ice, compacting it down and forming a layer of ice. Lugged tyres will cut through the snow better. 3. Low Range - One thing that can contribute to a car becoming stuck is its gearing. Even in first gear, the wheels will spin faster than they can grip - in other words, if the wheels could go very slowly, they would have a better chance of gripping. Low range in 4WDs reduces the gearing to a literal crawl, and Diesels are more pronounced than petrols. This would allow them to crawl their way out of some situations. 4. Accessories - Winches for a start, differential locks, etc. Make it easier to get out when you are stuck, and with a winch you can get others out as well. Another accessory you can get for 4WDs are portable plastic or metal tracks that you stick in front of or under the stuck tyres to make a bridge out. Works a treat in mud - should be good in snow. Obviously common sense prevails - having a 4WD is not a license to go flying off into the willy-nilly. Don't get out of your depth (literally speaking), because a 4WD can get hung up on snow exactly the same way a road car will - it just means you're deeper in the... snow. And, as for all snow driving, drive carefully.

any 4x4