Originally Posted by
Sugarphreak
Both
AWD is awesome, so are winter tires... combining both turns your car into a mountain goat of ice navigating awesomeness
Weight is also important, a lightweight hatchback is utterly useless in the winter compared to a well weighted SUV/CUV. They don't have enough weight to make good traction in the snow or stick to ice. This is coming from somebody that really likes lightweight hatchbacks btw.
Many people will say AWD is overrated, that is only because they don't have it themselves
Best winter vehicles I've driven to date have been mid sized SUV's. I had a CRV and now a Q5, both are amazing in snow or on ice.