Every fall, I do a CL thread on the best ways to spend your money on good inexpensive new snow cars for your son or daughter off to college in a foul-weather area, if you need to get around on slick roads, or if you just want the peace of mind that AWD gives you knowing that your car will handle deteriorating weather conditions in general if you have to face them. I'm a little late posting this fall, for a number of reasons, and by now some of your sons and daughters are already off to school, ( and no doubt, some of you reading this are college age yourselves ) but still, there is Christmas / Hanukkah coming up, and a nice new inexpensive snow car, for many people, makes a mighty nice Christmas present.

This winter, after years of the title being dominated by the Subaru Impreza ( which is still an excellent bargain snow machine ), IMO there is a new King of the ski-bunny values....the Suzuki SX-4. I did a CL review of one recently and was amazed at what this car gives you for the money, starting at just $15,000-$16,000 ( More on this below ). Some of the former contenders are gone....victims of marketing decisions or the bean-counters. So the list this winter, and my rankings, which have been more or less constant for the last several years, is significantly different. Still, these cars, as before, can be expected to cost little money, give good service, get through bad weather, and be reliable...although the SX4, of course, is brand-new, unproven long-term, and with a fairly complex multi-adjustable AWD system that can be programmed 3 ways.

So....here are my 2006-2007 recommendations for pinching pennies in the snow:

SUZUKI SX-4: http://www.suzukiauto.com/sr_07/sx4/

With a diminutive size to match its diminutive price, the SX4 is, nevertheless, truly a bargain any way you look at it. It iswell-made inside and out, with a nice paint job, good fit-and-finish, excellent hardware, a good level of safety / convenience standard features, and, of course, AWD. It is light-years ahead of its corporate ( and slightly more expensive ) brother Aerio AWD in just about everything but physical size.....and makes up for this in higher quality and more features for the money. The interior, while not plush or ornate like a luxury car, is tastefully done, has all the basics ( and more ) of what you would expect for the money, and, unlike other small AWD cars, has a multi-position rotary dash switch that sets the AWD system to one of 3 modes....2WD ( yes, you can turn the AWD off for high-traction conditions when you don't need it ), normal AWD for on-pavement slickness, and 4WD lock for tough conditions and mild off-roading when you want max traction....though like most small AWD cars it is not a true off-roader. Its tall roofline and high seating position gives plenty of room for reasonably tall people, front and rear. The SX-4's only real question marks, right now, are of course the newness and unproven nature of the rather complex AWD
hardware ( much more complex than the relatively simple and proven Subaru units ), and the somewhat underpowered 2.0 four, with only 136 ft.lbs. of torque, though the acceleration is a little better, as expected, in the 2WD mode, freed from the AWD drag. It also has rather low ground clearance for deep snow. And any misgivings about the AWD reliability in the long run should be settled by Suzuki's long 7 year/ 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty....no deductible and fully transferrable.

SUBARU IMPREZA: http://www.subaru.com

Right on the Suzuki's heels in the bargain snow-bunny department is the ubiquitous Subaru Impreza, a car long known for value, reliability, and foul-weather traction at a low price, although it can't match the SX-4's ultra-low price, 7 / 100,000 drivetrain warranty, standard features, or multi-position 2WD/AWD switch. However, the Impreza offers the advantage of a simple, proven AWD system, if less versatile than the Suzuki's, and one that will be easier and cheaper to repair after the warranty DOES run out.

Imprezas start around $18,000, and, unlike the SX-4, offer a choice of sedan or wagon versions. The Impreza's standard 2.5L boxer-four offers significantly more power than the SX-4, and, if one cares to spend more for performance and more versatility, a more rugged Outback Sport and higher-performance rally-bred WRX and STi versions, but these, of course, detract from the main idea of getting a good snow car as cheap as possible. The WRX and STi also come with wheels and tires that are less-conducive to good snow traction than ther base 2.5i Impreza does, and the Outback Sport, though mildly capable off-road, rides stiffly...too stiffly for my tastes.

Some people may also dislike the Impeza's aircraft-inspired split-wing grille....a styling idea that may be shortly nixed after applying it to both the Impreza and Tribeca. Otherwise, the Impreza is a class-A small car in many ways. Paint is well-done if not quite Toyota-Lexus quality, interior fit-and-finish is good though the interior is somewhat cheaper-looking than the superb Legacy-Outback interior, and the car has been consistantly above average in reliability. Some of that reliability has come from the simple design of the AWD system, made possible by the fact that Subaru's boxer engines have the output shaft coming straight back, where it goes right into the transmission and front AWD hardware without the need for bevel-gears adding to the complexity.

SUZUKI AERIO AWD: http://www.suzukiauto.com/sr_07/aerio/

The AERIO, a slightly bigger corporate brother to the SX-4, has a bargain price starting at $16,299 for AWD versions but cannot match either the simplicity and consistant above average reliability of the Impreza's AWD system nor the versatility and flexiblilty of the AWD system on its little brother SX4. The Aerio has a more or less conventional small-car AWD system with a sideways in-line 4 up front, which, like the SX-4 and similiar systems on the Toyota RAV-4, Honda CR-V, etc.... requires extra directional-transfer-gears to route the power back to the AWD hardware. Like the SX-4, it has low ground clearance which could limit it in deep snow, and it lacks the SX-4's handy 3-position switch for the AWD system.

The Aerio has rather unconventional looks with a tall roofline and plenty of headroom, and more total room inside than either the SX4 or Impreza...especially the Impreza sedan. Its reliability record has generally been average...it generally wont leave you stranded but don't expect it to run trouble-free quite as long as a Subaru. Its interior once included an odd, triangular-shaped gauge cluster that had a quirky digital speedometer, but, thankfully, the Suzuki people tossed that out and it now has a much nicer, more conventional analog cluster. The rest of teh interior is OK, quality and fit-and-finish-wise.....it is no luxury car, but better than on many American-nameplate vehicles. Its 2.3L four, with 152 ft. lbs. of torque is margainally adequate for this size car and an AWD system, but, as with the SX-4, don't expect it to win any Friday night drag races.

HYUNDAI TUSCON / KIA SPORTAGE: http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/tucson/tucson.aspx
http://kia.com/sportage/sportage-build.php

I'll treat both of these vehicles together because they are corporate brothers built on the same platform and drivetrain. Both are more SUV-like than the cars listed above, sit much higher off the ground, which, of course, helps in deep snow, and have some differences in styling, trim, standard equipment, and AWD base prices. Both have a sideways-mounted 2.0L four with, ( like the Suzuki SX-4 ) only 136 ft.lbs. of torque.....which probably explains why neither Hyundai nor Kia will sell AWD versions of this vehicle with a 4-cylinder automatic, only with a manual... you have to get the more expensive V6 if you want automatic and AWD, though the V6 models aren't that expensive, either, by V6 standards... about equal to Toyota and Honda 4-cylinder competitors like the RAV4 and CR-V.

In a reverse of the usual pricing tier at Hyundai / Kia, the Tuscon 4-cylinder manual AWD, at a base of $18,399, notably undercuts the Sportage 4-cylinder manual AWD at almost 20K...$19,899. The Tuscon is clearly the better bargain of the two, although I rate both as bargain, well-made entry-level AWD vehicles....otherwise, of course, they wouldn't be on this list. As mentioned, both vehicles have much high center-of-gravity than the cars listed above, so if you are going to buy one for Junior, make sure he or she understands the laws of physics enough to know that you can't throw these two vehicles around corners like you can a Miata... even stability systems can't overrule the laws of physics. Both vehicles are quite well built for the price, with good fit-and-finish and general build quality approaching that of Toyota and Honda ( no, I'm not kidding ). Korean manufacturers, as has been pointed out repeatedly, have made absolute light-years of progress recently in the quality of their vehicles.....I wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend one, although they still trail other automakers in both engine efficiency and HP/torque per liter. The AWD systems, like Suzuki's, are not as simple or as proven as Subaru's, but the 10 year / 100,000 drivetrain warranty covers them a LONG time. Those warranties, however, are not transferrable to anyone but an immediate family member.


TOYOTA MATRIX / PONTIAC VIBE AWD twins: The FWD models live on, but, sorry.....both of the AWD models have been dropped for the 2007 model year. Look for them either on the used-car lot or a rare one still on the dealer lot unsold. Unfortunately, the AWD versions never sold well, and dealers never kept many in stock even when the car was still on the market....but, for the people who DID buy them, they were a good alternative to the Impreza for years and were on my snow-bunny list despite having a too-low ground clearance for deep snow.

So... Happy Shopping. And you can laugh on the way home from the dealership at all the RWD cars stuck in the ditch while you breeze right past them in the snow.