Try to find a 1st Gen Honda CR-V for a winter beater. I bought one last August and haven't looked back. 5 speed manual trans, AWD, lots of cargo/passenger room, EXTREMELY reliable and cheap to maintain. They're in the $1500-$3500 range. I'm on regular Bridgestone all-seasons and I was plowing through nearly a foot of unplowed roads. Really impressive, I don't know how or why the CR-V does so well in the snow... but it does

 

Rwd with proper winter tires will stop and go well, but don't expect it to corner well. Tends to understeer considerably if going too fast for conditions.

 

^ great call. my wife had an '06 CRV with the 5MT. with winter tires that little thing was a snowmobile. super reliable. almost bulletproof. sold it to the sister-in-law who still has it. interior and seats look like new. unreal durability.

 

Jumping on the CR-V bandwagon... we owned a 2008 CR-V for 10 years and 110,000 miles, and the only thing needing repair on that car was the AC compressor. No other repairs, no warranty work, just brakes, filters and tires.

 

I've been driving RWD Infinitis in new england for over 10 years, yes there have been some close calls and some nuisances but not enough to make me want to dump the cars.

U should be OK but I guess it depends where in Boston you will be and where you will be working? A lot of street parking if you are in the city and surrounding towns. So unless you have a parking garage or driveway have fun shoveling you car out and spinning those tires to get off the curb.

One good thing about Boston is the T so you could commute on the "subways" without even using your car.

Here in central Connecticut we are not so lucky. I work from home so that helps but where I live the average elevation is like 800 over sea level so we have our hills........just keep your momentum going to learn how to rev match you will be good in Boston