I have the xS sedan and love it too, and I too have only owned AWD vehicles for the past decade or so.

The xS sedan is plenty fast and "sporty" for me. And since it's my daily driver, I have some piece of mind about being caught in light snow. I'll of course drive our SUV when the real snow starts to fall here in NOVA.

I did not drive a manual tranny S when I bought mine, and based on what I read so much of here, I have no doubt it's more sporty, but I honestly don't feel like I'm missing out. My 7AT is smooth and sweet, and I rowed gears for so many years as a kid, I just don't have the taste for it now, especially in the traffic I often encounter.

 

I live in New Jersey and bought the G37S 6MT, absolutely love it. Big brakes, lower stance, way better handling, extremely fun to drive, a drivers car. If you encounter snow, the summer tires that come on this car are all but useless. I just drove it like I stole it, burned up that set of tires at 15,000 miles, bought ultra performance all weather tires. Now the car is a blast to drive in any weather, that is if you know how to drive in snow.