So I'm moving to Buffalo toward the end of the summer and currently in a position where I need to purchase a car within the next month or so. I've never lived in the snow before, but I'm somewhat aware of the wear and tear caused by snow and salt, so I'm trying to buy a car that would be the most advantageous. I'm also the type of person who thinks of cars as appliances so while I like low to the ground sporty cars, I'm willing to compromise and get an SUV if it means my life will be easier.

My budget is about $13k so everything that's popping up are 10 year old cars with 70-90,000 miles on them. I'm not necessarily looking for help with all that, but I would like to hear your experiences with the cars that you all drive/have driven. Just googling "best cars for snow" tends to just show me the most expensive cars.

Is having a sedan as my all year daily driver going to be a pain in the ass? Is it super necessary to get AWD/FWD? Would learning to drive stick make my life significantly easier? All I've ever driven is a 2003 Corolla in a moderate climate, so this is new to me.

Thanks for any and all help!