I live in the snowbelt of Central New York and drive 25 miles to work one way every day. I know I want a 4 door and it MUST be 4WD or AWD. We will be starting a family soon so it needs to be "car seat/kid friendly." I'm looking for the vehicle that will give me the most bang for my buck. I have a car to use as a trade in but no additional cash to put down. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles but I currently drive a sports car so looks DO matter a little bit. But most important is its ability to go in the snow, reliability, gas mileage and crash ratings. Any recommendations?

There really is only one choice. I would go with a Subaru. The legacy is a nice sized 4 door sedan, but it does still have a nice sporty look, and it has subaru's excellent all-wheel drive system. There are a few other cars that have all wheel drive, like the new Ford Fusion but I don't think that they are quite as good. You could look into a small SUV like the Honda CR-V as well.

How about a Subaru Impreza. They are like a four door sports car and are very sporty looking, get great fuel economy, and aren't extremely expensive. Also, what about a jeep? It isn't a sports car, but they do get around awesome in the snow.

Jeep. Liberty for smaller...Patriot for medium and Comander for larger.

subaru has many models.... the most popular/coolest one is the wrx (impreza)