The best new winter cars on sale: picture gallery

Winter is now with us and weather reports are already predicting the usual doom, gloom and – not to forget – ‘travel chaos’.

For evo readers, the coldest season need not necessarily be a time of motoring misery. We’ve put together a list of all-wheel drive cars with an evo slant to bring some cheer to the short days and cold mornings.

While your track car or Sunday drive special might be wrapped in a dehumidified blanket for the next few months, your daily driver must cope with everything the season and its roads throws at it – rain, sleet, snow, road salt, potholes, grime and more. 

Worthy Land Rover Defenders or inexpensive Panda 4x4s and Suzuki Jimnys will do all that of course, and you'd be perfectly happy to potter between home and work when all around are sliding into bushes or struggling to break clear of their driveways.

But our list is a little different. It's perfectly possible to find performance cars these days that work as well when the roads get slippery as they do in the dry. Some even get that little bit better when Mother Nature does her worst.

We've limited this list to new cars, as the used evo choices are virtually endless. Click on the gallery above to see our choices, and let us know your own favourites in the comments section below.