There are other good options if the Crosstrek is simply too small or underpowered for your needs. Digital Trends has traveled to the coldest, snowiest parts of the planet to find out which cars corner old men and which ones stop on ice. We've also selected the simplest electric snow car and therefore the best luxury snow car, among other things.
Subaru Crosstrek
Almost every Subaru can be a good winter car. With the exception of the BRZ sports car with rear-wheel drive, every model in the Japanese carmaker's range is currently equipped with four-wheel drive as standard. above all, we expect the Crosstrek hatchback to be a good all-round package for winter driving.
The Crosstrek is essentially an Impreza hatchback with added ground clearance and plastic body paneling to imitate the styling of SUVs. But it's not an SUV; it proves that you simply don't need one.
Four-wheel drive allows the Crosstrek to handle all kinds of bad weather, so the extra ground clearance is useful on unpaved roads. the rest of the time the Crosstrek drives something like a normal car. Its compact dimensions allow for more responsive handling, and its acceleration is sufficient, although we wouldn't call it fast. An updated model with a much larger, more powerful engine is supposedly on its way. Even without the extra horses, it's a well-designed package with nice styling, a spacious interior, an available hybrid drive and a modern infotainment system. What more do you need?
Volvo V90 Race
Volvo has been building its Cross Country badge models in one form or another since 1997. They are station wagons (and rarely saloons) with SUV-like ground clearance and robust looking styling cues like plastic body panels.
Four-wheel drive makes the V90 race a real winter warrior. Digital Trends tested it in the middle of winter in northern Sweden, and it never got stuck. It offered excellent traction even on a frozen lake. In addition to an extra dose of robustness, the V90 Race offers everything that is associated with the latest additions to the Volvo family, such as an ergonomic interior made of high-quality materials and user-friendly technical features.
Volvo offers the V90 race with a supercharged and turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine set at 316 bhp. this makes for nippy acceleration, but the race is happier when it's crossing the motorway. It's perfect for, well, crossing country.
Audi E-Tron
Quattro four-wheel drive is one of Audi's claims to fame. It helped the company dominate the rally scene in the 1980s and it enables thousands of drivers to drive through terrible weather every year. Driving electrically was not an excuse for Audi to dig Quattro; it perfected it. Two electric motors power the E-Tron - one mounted above the front axle to turn the front wheels and the other positioned above the rear axle to set the rear wheels in motion.
This is known as the through-the-road setup because there is no physical connection between the axles, but all four wheels are driven. In an interview with Digital Trends, Audi engineer Tobias Greiner compared the powertrain developed by his team with a network. The various components share information and jointly determine the ratio of torque each axle requires in real time. For example, when the armada of sensors detects understeer in hard corners, it brakes the inner wheels to counteract this. When the sensors detect that the rear axle is losing traction, they send more torque to the front wheels to keep the car moving. In other words, snow and sand will not stop the E-Tron.
We also liked the E-Tron's infotainment system, which is one of the leading intuitive systems on the market and we appreciated its smooth, quiet ride on the highway. It's an honest everyday driver - even in winter - who is simply electric.
Subaru WRX
If the Crosstrek can be a good all-rounder for winter riding, then the WRX can be a performance-oriented smile machine that plays well in slippery conditions. Just like the Crosstrek, the WRX may be a derivative of the Subaru Impreza compact, but it supports an older body style. But that's not the difference that really matters.
The WRX has a 2.0-litre turbocharged boxer four-cylinder engine that delivers 268 hp and 258 lb.-ft. (Subaru also offers a WRX STI with a 2.5-litre 305 hp engine). Four-wheel drive allows the WRX to stay on track when most other performance cars would take off-road to snow banks. Torque vectoring channels performance side by side, helps to show the car in corners. You'll appreciate this even on dry roads.
Four wheel drive is not the only thing that makes the WRX a practical choice. Under the boys' racing hood and quad exhaust tips it's still a practical four-door sedan. A fairly large interior and boot, even almost as good road manners, make the WRX a performance car you'll want to use for a day.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
For Jeep, off-road expertise is just a marketing jingle; the company packs an interesting amount of hardware into its cars to help them tackle the weather. Just like the Wrangler, the Grand Cherokee benefits from Jeep's decades of expertise in making serious off-roaders.
The Grand Cherokee can handle a snowy road with ease while comfortably carrying five adults and their equipment. It is available with Jeep's touchscreen-based Uconnect infotainment system, one of the more intuitive systems on the market, so the portfolio includes more than 12 trim levels, from a comparatively simple V6-based version to a hot-rodded trackhawk version that includes a 707-horsepower punch.
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