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I don't buy the whole "you need better acceleration for winter" theory. Sure, RWD for the summer makes sense if you're into the whole sports car thing, especially if you hit the track from time to time. But in the winter you're supposed to take things nice and easy anyway. I'm not impressed when some impatient jerk goes on a passing spree on glare ice just because he can. On snowpack the speed limit is automatically 2/3 of what it is when dry. 60mph becomes 40mph. Do I really need a car that can take off like a rocket for that kind of driving? (Ask me how many people I've seen passing everyone else in the winter and farther ahead they're rolled over into the ditch.)
Going up hills kind of makes sense. But on the other hand, if it's pretty hard to make it up it even in a FWD you probably aren't going to want to come back down it in any wheel drive. Still, I rarely have problems with hills in my FWD. Sure, I can't blast up them like a maniac driving an AWD or RWD. But I usually have no problem keeping a normal speed.
Also the whole "rear axle won't have any weight on it while braking" doesn't really apply in modern FWD, especially on snow and ice. That's because first of all, modern cars are closer to a 50:50 weight difference than every, and you can't slow down enough to get as much weight transfer as you can in the summer. Even with the best winter tires (which are not approved by the DOT for highway use) your stopping distance on snowpack is at best 6 times longer than on dry roads on summer tires. In other words you have at best 1/6 the weight transfer in the snow, allowing the rear wheels to still do plenty of braking even in a FWD.
Thinking that if you lose control in a RWD you'll crash backwards isn't realistic. You're more likely to crash sideways. Doors usually don't have as much as a crumple zone as the front end.
I can agree that for me personally I prefer the driving characteristics of a moderately oversteering vehicle. You do have the possibility of keeping control of the vehicle. There were plenty of times I was driving near sideways in my school bus but was still able to keep control of it since the front wheels still had traction. I hate to say it, but most drivers don't seem to know how to drive in the snow. Sure, you'll find FWD cars stuck in parking lots where they hadn't plowed the snow yet. But the great majority of vehicles that go out of control and end up smashed and flipped over are not FWD cars.
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