Honestly, living in the snow belt as well AWD is key for any car that I buy (outside of the probe that I have). I use to think that RWD with snow tires worked well until I saw first hand what happens when your car fishtails out of control. Both my cars have AWD and I put snow tires on them to boot (which is another arguement going around but I am all about safety.) Once I put my snow's on the cars with AWD it makes the commute to Cleveland and back a breeze.
Hope this helps.