2008 Buick Enclave: Oregon Holiday Trip, Days 3 & 4

A set of good snow tires would work much better than any "AWD option"!

Wiping snow off the painted areas of a car? Blasphemy!

Now that's a driveway that justifies 4WD.
 
And anyone who believes the myth that snow tires on a 2 wheel drive will beat all wheel drive hasn't driven AWD in the snow (or has really bad tires on their AWD).

BUT, Good Winter Tires on an AWD car is even better!

true

I'm assuming "take advantage of the white stuff" means snowball fight?

That amount of snow in no way justifies AWD.
That's but barely 1" of snow.
The majority of people in those states drive FWD cars with no problems.
 
I don't believe AWD is of any help on frozen ice.
What helps is properly driving 20 mph or less.

Re-read the blog and take a look at that hill!!!. The snow melted and then refroze into ice. Ice is much more tricky then snow but AWD is still twice as good as FWD.
 
By the description of the driveway, I don't think you could do 20 mph on it even in dry conditions.
 
Yes you can manage most conditions with FWD. I drove many front drivers over the years and they are twice as good as rear drive in the snow and ice. I now have a AWD Legacy and it's twice as good as any front driver.
 
Do I absolutely need it? Nope, not in my commute since I moved from Ottawa to Vancouver(and my driveway is flat, not 20 degrees) but it sure is nice to have sometimes.

With that driveway covered in ice, forget AWD, forget snow tires. I'd take a button that pops spikes out of the wheels, like I'm James Bond or something. But then again, I'm another Souther California wimp that doesn't live in snow.

One word: Snow chains
 
(o wait, thats two..)

Should have gone with AWD. As with a gun, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Seriously, don't you take trips to the mountains to ski once in a while? Why spend that much for a family truckster that gets stuck when it snows a little? I don't get it.

That's what we call a dusting here. Ice is treacherous but there are awesome ice tires out on the market. The problem is driving them in the dry. I don't know if I can post a link here but these would work perfect for ice. I intend to buy a set when I buy my Mazdaspeed3 next week. These can pop on and off. Maybe Edmunds can do a review on them?
http://www.spikes-spiders.com/
Either way AWD works great if you use a snow rated tire in the snow, they are even better. Nokian WR's work great for me. Nokian has better tires for ice tho.
AWD means you pay a year round penalty and I've paid that since 2002 for my Subaru WRX. It's a great car but really top notch snow and ice tires are a very good compromise.
But no matter what, the bottom line is if you believe the roads are too unsafe to drive on, stay home! Of course New Englandrs wait until it's a Blizzard and then we go out and drive. :D

We had this in our favor: we didn't have to be any particular place at any particular time. And we had an ample supply of food, adult beverages, DVDs, a full suite of Nintendo Wii games any other freshly opened presents with which to pass the time while the ice layer melted away.
 
AWD wasn't going to help here. But for my parents, the variety of weather and conditions they see throughout the year on their sometimes treacherous driveway makes the choice more straightforward.

okay I have to chime in here since some of these comments are coming from people who don't have much experience in the snow. Here in reno we just got a nice layer of snow on top of the rain that froze into ice when the temp plummeted. I jumped from a friends civic that I have to my legacy after the storm started last night and there is a huge difference even in the ice. the civic struggled to get up the last hill to my house but my legacy charged up it with very little slippage.
 
Granted there are tons of idiots that realize very quickly that 4WD/AWD doesn't help them stay in control when stopping from an unreasonable speed. My legacy slides around a little on the ice but with a simple blip of the throttle and the AWD system rerouting power the car straightens right out! It's quite cool when you think about it. Not to mention that when I downshift to slow down I have all 4 tires grabbing for traction.
 
Here in Reno we have maybe 4-5 days in the year when AWD is needed or snow chains. But to me that was enough to sway me into a legacy instead of a FWD sedan (Like a mazda 6 I really liked) I also frequent the slopes alot so I use the AWD even more. I've put chains on a 2WD truck once in a snow storm and that was enough to make me decide to never own a 2WD vehicle no matter where I live! Like gspfan said... it's better to have it and hardly ever use it then to not have it and really need it. Especially when you are dropping cash on an SUV! Why not just buy a minivan at that point?
 
It cracks me up during a storm on the way up to Truckee to see many a californian chaining up their escalades, suburbans and expeditions. They obviously come up more than once. If you are dropping 40-50 g's on an SUV why not spend the $1500-$2000 premium for the 4WD? It doesn't affect gas mileage that much at all unless you are driving around with the 4WD on! It is quite silly if you ask me!
 
that's my 2 cents :)

Most cars way up here are Subarus, especially in the winter months.

Well 4wd/AWD adds weight that does hurt gas mileage even when not in use.