Best cars for winter driving

What we mean by a winter car

Every other grade on MotorGPA rolls up one framework category. This one can’t — nothing in the framework measures snow, and winter competence is spread across five categories. So it is assembled by hand from seven criteria, weighted by how much of the answer each one carries. Here is the whole formula.

1. ×3AWD/4WD availabilityThe single biggest determinant of whether a car moves at all on a snowy morning, so it carries the most weight of anything here.
2. ×2Braking confidenceWinter driving is a stopping problem before it is a going problem. This is the closest the framework comes to how ABS and stability control behave at the limit.
3. ×2Headlight performanceThe season is dark at both ends of a commute, and a wet, salted road reflects almost nothing back.
4. ×2Climate & comfort featuresHeated seats, wheel and mirrors, wiper de-icers, and a defroster that actually clears the glass rather than smearing it.
5. ×1Outward visibilityWhat you can see through a half-cleared windscreen and the spray thrown up by everyone else.
6. ×1Off-road capabilityStands in for ground clearance and terrain modes, so an unplowed road is scored the way a trail is.Trucks, SUVs and vans only — on a sedan it drops out and the rest renormalize.
7. ×1Companion app & remote functionsRemote start and preconditioning, which is what a warm cabin and a clear screen actually depend on.

What we leave out: Cold weather hurts electric range badly, but range is already its own graded subject. Counting it again here would turn a capability score into a second efficiency score, so it is left out on purpose.