What’s 5-10 days when you have 350-355 great days to enjoy the car of your choice. Just get the car you like and take it easy in the snow.
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The OP probably will not like this post. The teenage insurance rates in the U.S. are expensive what would it cost to have a teenager driving overseas as the OP plans to do. And if the teenager crashes the grandparents car that sounds like a financial disaster.
Unfortunately even BMW has taken out manual transmission from their 3 and 5 series.
Subaru has it in all relatively fuel efficient models, just not available in all trims.
In terms of the one I liked the most when I drove them, the Audi was by far the most impressive one, I thought
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The 230i, 320i, 330i, and 340i are all available with manual transmisssion. You can’t have the Xi versions with a manual transmission anymore, if that is what you mean.
As Bill Russel points out I was wrong about the Forester. It is available with the manual. I was misinformed by my son who was shopping at the dealer last year and either the salesman lied to him or perhaps he was referring to a specific trim lever.
The manual transmission is available on the i and Premium trims of the Forester for 2018
I have 2015 Subaru Forester and I live on a hill. My 2006 Sentra doesn’t even go 10% of the hill in snow/ice, but Forester has absolutely no problem. Plus, our local snow plows never plow snow before 9am, so on almost every snow day, I drive out in the snow. While most of the cars fishtail (including my Sentra), Forester has never fishtailed.
What I don’t know if Forester is offered manual in the US. AFAIK, it is available in Canada but not sure of the US.
Since you are coming from Beemer zone, a warning, Subaru’s interiors are one of the worst, esp when it comes to the technology and replacing it with aftermarket stuff is not the easiest.
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You want what you want, even if we disagree.
My recommendation is to get a Consumer Reports New Car Preview at the local bookstore. That’ll tell you everything available on the current market, give you as good a comparison as is available of their respective reliability (empirical data of a model’s past offerings is the best indicator of the likely reliability of its current model), and as good a comparative data of the different EPA mileage ratings etc. as you can get. You can then peruse all the offerings over a cup of coffee, outline the ones that look good to you, and spend a few weekends doing test drives.
I don’t believe strangers over the internet can select the best car for you. All we can do is suggest ways that you might be better able to find what you’re looking for.
Regarding your driveway, any AWD or 4WD vehicle with good snow tires will get you up just about anything, as long as your technique is good. The key is good snows with at least 60% of their tread left.
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