Do you need a Jeep?

[stuff and things]

I have a Subaru and it is incredible in the snow. I live in the mountains and I've driven it on mountain roads in three feet of snow before, and it handled it beautifully. I was even passing big four wheel drive trucks that were stuck in the snow!

I would recommend getting all-season tires for the summer months and snow tires for the winter months. Studded tires are a plus, but the studs only help with ice. With the dry Colorado snow, ice is much less of a problem then with the wet snow in New York, so the studs aren't a must.

I feel safer driving my Subaru in the snow than my mother's fancy SUV with studded snow tires. It won't get quite as good gas milage as a two wheel drive, but it will be much better than an SUV, and you'll never have to deal with putting on chains. I put 100,000 miles on my Legacy and have 20,000 on my new Impreza with no problems whatsoever.