In the article, "Why reviews are bullshit", His Stigness rails against those that choose all wheel drive as their traction of choice. He believes that people who own AWD vehicles are low browed troglodytes who can't comprehend what an apex is let alone enjoy the experience of carving the correct line through it. His Stigness believes that the world would be better off if we all owned traditional front or rear wheel drive vehicles along with a set of dedicated snow tires. Utopia to be sure, but I feel that His Stigness is seeing the world through the rosy tint of the enthusiast's windshield and not checking his blind spots for reality.

Owning an all wheel drive vehicle is more practical than having a set of dedicated snow tires. With a set of dedicated snow tires comes the hassle of storing them. Not everyone lives in a house with a garage. Married and live in an apartment? Good luck convincing the wife they deserve to live indoors.

"But honey, we can put table cloths on them and use them one each side of the couch."

"Hell no! Get those damn things out of here!"

Next thing you know, you're at the local storage center paying out $40 a month ($480 a year!) just to keep them.

And don't forget about the purchase cost of this dedicated set. Going on Tire Rack for a Honda Accord, the cheapest snow tire cost $80. ($320 for a set of four.) That's just for the tires, I'm sure you want wheels to go with them. Why pay four mounting and balancing every time you want to switch out tires? The cheapest new rims were $60 each or $240 for the set. Together that's $560 that you have to pay out of pocket for this set of extra tires. Some would argue here that they would undercut the price by shopping on Craigslist for a set of snow tires. That is completely plausible, but do you want to explain why you are paying $480 a year to store $200 worth of tires?

Owning an all wheel drive vehicle in comparison is a better choice. With all wheel drive, you don't need a second set of tires. There's no extra cost from storage fees, no worry about dry rot in the storing months, nor hassle of switching out the tires every year using the micro bottle jack and lug wrench that came with the car. (How much of your day was wasted doing that?)

Right off the bat AWD saves you time and money.

"Right." You argue, "And all that saved money is used on the extra gas you need to pull around the extra weight and drag of the AWD system."

Yeah and everyone here really owns a Prius because they want great gas mileage and just pretend to own enthusiast vehicles so that people think they're cool.

AWD gives you the potential to get out of a sticky situation better than other cars. I remember seeing all the rear wheel drive vehicles of the 70's and 80's doing their rocking dance as they tried to get out of the small pile of snow. They'd rock back and forth for a bit, spinning their tires, then the driver would get out and push some snow out of the tire's way with their hands before getting back in and starting the dance all over again. And this was in mild snow Detroit, not mad snow Sault Ste. Marie! Front wheel drive was infinitely better but at a loss of cornering fun. Take one too hot and watch your front end plow straight ahead as the friction of the pavement torqued against the ball joints of your independent front suspension.

AWD is for enthusiasts:

The added traction form AWD lets you take the corners a little tighter than either RWD or FWD . When you see a beautiful curve in the road with a posted speed sign while driving an AWD, you don't worry about making the curve, you think about how much faster can you make the curve. That AWD traction makes the corners of your smile stretch out a little more as you carve the asphalt.

AWD is synonymous with rallying: Sure there are many different rally cars using different drivetrains, but let's be honest here; There's only three vehicles that immediately bring to mind all that is rally. Subaru WRX, Audi Quattro, and Mitsubishi Evo. All AWD. Yes the minis, and the Focus also kicked in rally racing, but mention their names and people think either "The Italian Job" or economy car. Quattro also brought some great drivers into the light. There is Michele Mouton who became the first female to win a world championship rally in 1981 and Stig Blomqvist helped win eight Group B races in 83 and 84. Even the Stig preferred AWD!

AWD = Adventure: Live in Florida and want to drive the Smoky Mountains in winter? Easily done. Photo buff that needs to get down that loose gravel two track for that perfect shot? No worries. Taking the kayak to the river launch for some class 4 rapids? Got it! All wheel drive opens up more possibilities to the owner and does it responsibly by not rutting up the trail in a search for traction.

All this is done when combines with the right single set of tires. An AWD vehicle is a muti-tool of conveyance and it needs multi-tool tires to do its job correctly. This is where His Stigness gets it right. You cannot put race slicks on a car and expect it to perform in mud and snow even with AWD. AWD helps, but it doesn't conquer. AWD is part of the formula and for it to perform its best you need to equip it with the best tires for your demands. If you are living in Florida and use the AWD to help autocross on the weekend, then a more street oriented tire is for you. If you're slamming through the palmettos on a sandy, muddy two track made by ATVs you're gonna want a mud traction tire. (And maybe a lift and some good skid plates) If you are doing the ultimate road trip and crossing the coasts, then you need a tire suited for that.

Tires help the system and the system helps the tires. AWD helps all the tires share the work. That's the optimal system.