I'm actually a very good winter driver. I practice each winter in a parking lot at the beginning of the winter to get a feel for the conditions refreshed. I can hit black ice and still maintain control even during a spin, but really light cars with relatively old all seasons are in for a bad day under some conditions where as modern hydrophilic snow tires will let you drive that same car with no challenge at all as long as you aren't stupid about it
and then you can stop at the stop signs easily
you still have to understand their handling characteristics though
I'm not sure yet if I'll bother with snows for the CX-9 though. It should be heavy enough and with the AWD I expect I should be fine without them, but then again, for the length of time I'll have the vehicle I suppose it's probably still worth the $1500
@NickC that's the other terrifying part of snow and my real reason for liking snow tires. The other idiots on the road
if you manage your momentum well and your all seasons are fairly fresh, you're probably able to get safely from point a to point b if you are the only one on the road
however, if some idiot does something stupid, having good enough performance characteristics to avoid them is very valuable
@NickC this is why I love my CX-9. Even with all the aids, I still get good road presence transmitted through the steering wheel
I hate driving anything that I can't feel the road