For winter handling, there is no doubt that having a good set of snow tires (preferably mounted on a second set of wheels) for around $400-500 is the best way to go with your non-AWD S70. Driving in snow/ice conditions is not just about having traction to get going, but even more importantly about having control of the car when steering and braking. AWD/4WD will not do much for that.

We just got 20 something inches of snow here, and the number of SUVs getting into collisions and other stupid situations is unbelievable. I felt safer in the past driving around during snowy days when we didn't have these foolishly overconfident drivers in their AWD vehicles than now. This false sense of security of SUVs is frightening.

Also, there needs to be some kind of public disclosure/disclaimer by car and tire manufacturers about the true nature of all-season tires. For most of them, once they are more than 50% worn they are not adequate (read safe) to be used on snow. Why is it that most drivers do not have even the slightest idea about this issue ?

As to the lack of the optional TRACS (traction control) on your 98 S70, IMHO that is not so important, particularly if your car has an automatic transmission. This because:

1)TRACS only works at speeds below 25mph
2) For low speeds you have the W (winter) mode in the auto-transmission selector which does quite a decent job at avoiding wheelspin.
3) If you learn to control your right foot and be light on the throttle, TRACS does not add a lot to avoiding wheelspin.

Finally, pre-2001 AWD Volvos are quite problem-prone, to the point that some people that own them have been asking recently on this board how to suppress the AWD capability of their cars.

Andy
98 V70-T5