[msej449]

I switched to my RWD M235i from an xDrive 330d Touring - it's a difficult question to answer. Here in the UK, the xDrive M235i/240i and M135i/M140i aren't available, so the decision was made for me. I was concerned that I'd miss the xDrive, as we drive down to ski in the Alps 2-3 times each winter. Plus, I'd got used to AWD on previous performance cars I'd had.

There is a handling trade-off in going for xDrive, in warmer weather, but that is compensated for by being able to handle more extreme snow conditions without resorting to chains. So I'd say it comes down to a warm-weather trade-off in handling versus not going quite as far on stock winter tyres in extreme snow conditions. By extreme I don't necessarily mean a blizzard, more something like having to start on a steep snowy slope, or a hairpin ramp out of a parking lot.

Remember also that you can still lose control even in an AWD - something I've done twice in wet cold weather on a roundabout. It's very graceful - the whole car just starts to drift outwards and you just correct by taking your foot off the gas. Which is fine if there's nothing in the way next to you (which there wasn't in my case, fortunately!). However, I'd echo the way thet xDrive seems to give a more reassuring drive, albeit that for many people, this can make the overall experience very 'neutral' and rather boring and make them ask just why they chose a BMW in the first place.

This winter, we coped with steep snowy roads on a square winter setup (7.5Jx17) and Pirelli Winter S3s and never had to resort to chains. But I think that given a bit more fresh snow, I'd have had to put the chains on to get out of our apartment underground parking (which annoyingly, means negotiating two hairpins at slow speed). So basically, it's not that you can do any more in an xDrive, just that you might have to resort to chains a little bit earlier if conditions are tricky.

So I'd recommend a test drive of the xDrive to look at summer behaviour, so you can then make a decision as to whether the undoubted traction benefits in wet and especially snow are outweighed by what you lose in handling ad feel in warmer road conditions.