people lose their minds here in cincy as well but my take on it was this:
i have driven in the snow with FWD for the last 13 years of my life, and i can count the handful of times that i was unable to get somewhere(and all those times, the city was shut down anyway, so i call it a wash). not sure i'm willing to have the awd options JUST in case it does get bad, 1 or 2 days out of the year.
i'm not trying to start a pissing contest, i just think everyone gets worked up over AWD when really, its not a true necessity in most markets.
but that's just me

no offense intended