[IaHawk]

yes - I get your point - your experience is what it is. I'm just not all that convinced that there is going to be much noticeable difference in the all-wheel drives of different high end manufacturers given the same driving conditions, same driver, and same tires. I've only test driven Audi's - but I have had other AWD vehicles including Lexus. But I'm pretty sure Audi's would have just as much trouble in our snow here as a BMW would, if you were riding on high performance summer tires. Plus there is in my experience a big difference between driving high performance cars on good winter tires like Blizzaks or Wintersports versus on all-season tires - especially run flats.

Bottom line for me is I'd rather never have to drive on all-season or even high performance snows - I like the ride and looks of Extreme Contact Conti's in the summer time. The problem is that it snows a fair amount usually here in Wi and I like to drive my cars year round. It's just a PIA to have to go through the ritual of changing them. With my M cars I actually had winter wheels and just swapped them during seasons. It's even more of a PIA to change tires on the same rims. Just got my current car in Dec and so far no complaints about it's handling in heavy snow - but I don't like the ride of the run flats on dry surface so eventually I'm making a change. Keep in mind I also have the Dinan suspension which is quite a bit different than the stock suspension and a bit lower to the ground.