Floyd, floyd, Listen to yourself, we are talking about driving in snow, a rwd will not outperform awd or 4wd, even if it has spikes on the tires!! There is no pull, only push. think about this!! regardless of how well the tire bites, it still is only capable of pushing the car, not grabbing up front to turn the vehicle. Its really pretty simple. Second.. If you want to believe the studded tire report, thats fine, but its "BS" a you put it, anything less than studs on ice (which is what packed snow will become) will slip all over, I dont care if it has a Jesus Juice anti slip compound sprayed on it.
GRL-- you are high as well, see my comments above, your 50/50 balance may be a good arguement if you were talking about 4wd, but the closest bmw has come to 50/50 is the MCoupe which is not 4wd so the 50/50 doesnt matter in the snow. And ground clearance shouldnt have a thing to do with it, if your Lexus has trouble when the snow is above the ground clearance level than you must have a pretty poor SUV. I can blast through snow that goes over tire height in my rovers. (but if I stop Im screwed.)
Not trying to start a flame war here.. I love my bimmers as much as the next guy but comparing BMW handling to any decent SUV in snow is just ludicrous...
Dont pretend the bimmer is something it isnt, thats what has spawn all of these 2wd "SUVs" that are "speedy". An SUV isnt a sports car and vice versa... you may get by in the snow but you wont out perform any real (AWD or 4WD) suv. Its called reality.