Put mine through 2 Watertown NY lake effect winters. Frequently plowed through drifts of 2-3 feet. Never an issue. I suppose if you got into some thick wet heavy stuff and got hung up you might have an issue though.

Wife opened up the garage door one day while I was deployed the first time, and snow was up almost to the roof overhang. Ended up setting a record that year. 7 feet of snow in 5 hours.

She shoveled it down to a meager 2-3 feet and backed out of the garage, using the car to clear a good bit of the snow.

Just beware, the 4 cylinder with the AWD, is completely gutless. It was a 1.8L, and you would be lucky to be at 60 tomorrow if you floored it today. I would swear it almost killed us in Texas on vacation.

 

Doooon't buy an AWD Matrix. My parents have one and it's given them a few really major in the last year and a half. First, the transmission completely went out around 75-80k miles. $3000 replacement for them. Now, a bearing in the rear is starting to go out, making a loud whining sort of noise, and they were quoted at around $1200 for the fix. The car is presently at 85k-90k. My mother's friend, who has an AWD Vibe, has had serious transmission problems as well. And, apparently, the bearing problem is common from what. I've heard.

There are much better cars out there than the Matrix.

 

I am betting thats what happened to mine. I did not keep it long enough to find out. When the toyota dealer said they werent going to cover the repair, because I did not buy the car at their dealership (among other nasty things), I called corporate, but it did no good. I ended up banned from the premisis permanently after I went ape**** when the Service manage called my wife a ***** right in front of me. I drove that car to the Honda dealer across the street, got payoff for it, turned around and bought a Civic. Never looked back.

So, while I dont reccomend the matrix as an AWD, in FWD form its probably fine.

EDIT: ever thought about an older Nissan Pathfinder? Another one of those bullet-proof tanks.

 

Yep...non-turbo 4s with automatic/AWD are certainly not dragsters. Life in the slower lanes can be one of the prices you pay for the AWD traction and the reasonably good economy of the 4.

 

yup, the story of our life in our Honda Element... but we <3 it