I won't go another winter without snow tires...christmas 2002, my fiance and I get caught up in a huge snowstorm in scranton, PA (trip from NJ back to Rochester) in her FWD Honda Accord which was luckily equipped with Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires...the snow was amazing...whiteout on the 81? anyhow, the snow is really getting ridiculous and looking to the left and right of the highway, basically every car and SUV has pulled over and gotten stuck (looked like a parking lot)...surprisingly, we kept moving without a problem and followed what appeared to be the only vehicles left driving, a pathfinder and grand cherokee (i assume they both had snow tires also since there were other SUVs stuck) through the snow up to the point where the highway just closed...we would've liked to have kept driving but they shut down the highway because when i got out of the car to let my dog pee, the snow was at least 2-3 feet high and my beagle simply disappeared into the snow (he might've taken a crap also, but who knows, i couldn't see that deep into the snow...at least he had privacy)...off of the exit, the cars that were lucky enough to get off and make it to the hotel couldn't climb the snowy/icy incline to get to the parking lot...her FWD accord made it easily
besides better snow traction, it also helps with shorter braking distances...if you're insurance deductible is 500 and a set of snows cost you 500, i'd say it's a decent personal insurance policy to pick them up to prevent a possible skidding accident
I have AWD (Subaru WRX) and I still go with snow tires...my car is has become the designated winter travel vehicle (even though my fiance also has snows on her FWD car)...I've got a set of Nokian WRs
sadly, there's no snow in rochester and it's freaking january
for heavier snowfall, i'd look at the studded nokian hakkas...those swedes know how to make a mean snow tire
http://www.nokian.com/products_en
Snow tires > AWD/4WD
snow tires + AWD/4WD = unstoppable