You recommend winter tyres rather than 4wd. At the beginning of last winter I had some snow tyres fitted to my Honda Accord 2.2cdti. They were excellent and in fact managed to get me where 4wd struggled (my daily commute to work includes a hairpin 25% gradient - Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire- and miles of open moorland at the top with drifting snow). However, I had a battle with my insurers as they are classed as a "modification " which needs permission. Simply my car specifies a faster rating than is available in snow tyres and it took many phone calls to my insurers (Churchill) and Honda tech service and various dealers to get the necessary "permission" to fit H rated tyres which were the only ones I could actually get hold of. It wasn't until I hit on a customer service person within Churchill with a bit of common sense that I got permission to fit them. This year I am with Aviva and call centres in India and my initial enquiries have met with the standard "you must fit the specified speed rating" which of course don't come in winter tyres. It's looking like they will not give me permission to fit these winter tyres - so will probably end up in a ditch. Are you aware of this issue with insurers?