Hi,RWD owner, need advice from the AWD crowd,

my g/f's Soobie SW just died and we're looking to replace it with something that is more capable in snow, can be taken on the hilly highways as well as on some of the rougher stuff here in BC than my ancient RDW Volvos. I'm tending towards a 1998 XC, (90000 ks) but having read the thread below, I'm not so sure about its AWD system. (Curiously that was the only thing that didn't give us trouble on that horrible Soobie.) In addition, I think these cars have a reputation for infuriating electronic glitches.

The local dealer has a quite a few 97-98 lease returns that would fit the budget, but now I'm really not so sure if that's a good idea, given the probelms they are known for. BTW, our ideal car would be a 245 with 4x4, and sorry, I don't want to repeat the Soob experience. Should we rather look at trucks or SUVs with a proper transfer case, eg Xterra or 4 Runner, even though we don't have to show our neighbours what "rugged, outdoorsy" people we are ...?

Thanks for your input

Marc
65 122 S Canadian
80 245 4 sp OD(B23E conversion)