Still in the market for an XC90, and was told the other day that the 2.5 FWD model has excellent traction control and performs very well in snow and ice.

Just wondering what everyone else's experience has been. Seems like the AWD costs some mileage and can be prone to have reliability issues. How much better does it perform in bad weather?

how much snow and ice do you get? snow drifts? heavy rain?

I'm in northern Indiana, we probably get 10-15 days per year where it's bad and I'll have to drive with 3-6 inches of snow on the road before the plows come through. Don't need a primary family hauler for those days, as we've got a 4wd Toyota Sequoia, just need to get to work and back safely.

Obviously, anything's going to be better than my RWD S90, just wondering if AWD is worth the extra cost and reliability issues.

no , for that little snow, fwd with a good set of dedicated snow tires is fine. even a set of good M+S tires is fine. here in ny, we have our good winters and bad ones. then we get the wild ones. i've driven my camaro and impala through some bad winters with snow tires and with M+S tires. look, a good driver with good tires will get through, not saying you aren't a good driver, but you also have to take into account the others around you. you might be schumacher and hakinen all rolled into one, but one stupid POS on the phone in the next lane/in front/coming at you, will ruin your day if they plow into you, or cut you off and you can't stop. fwd is fine. go for it, less breakage of parts. less weight=more power. good luck and post your choice of car.