l own a civic with 107,000 and hasgiven menoproblemsexceptinicy roads.Shouldlkeepmycaron whichl oweorbuya used2003to2005325xiforthesnow and ice.l liveinpawhereawdor4x4ispreferableandtravel30 milesto school.
whichisbetteramanualor auto 325xi in the snow?

l work as a tech for BMW in Montreal, Canada.

From what l know, it is not more expensive than any other BMW to maintain than other 3 series, which is not that bad, if u go to a good specialist & not the dealership. Maybe a bit more since u have a few more seals & shafts to take into consideration. However, like any newer model Bimmer, if a major component does break, then it costs a bundle.

If you're still in school, u can also check into 325 iX, which is the E-30 version of the 4WD.
They can be found in decent to very good shape for between $1500-5000 & the 4WD system is all mechanical, no electronics, so more reliable & u do not get all kinds of funny trouble codes that lights up the warning lamp for, most of the time, no apparent reason.

+ it is dirt cheap to fix & maintain & it is old enough that at the time it was built, u did not need an engineering degree to work on Bimmers, so u can fix it yourself.

Last but not least, IMHO, the E-30 is the best 3 series till this day.

Hope it helped.

Reliability is average. Maintenance is very expensive because German cars & luxury cars r more expensive to maintain.

l live in PA too. In Philly. It only snowed 4 days this year in Philly. AWD is not important & it uses more gas. l do not recommended AWD unless u live farther north like Michigan.

The Civic can last 300,000 miles. You can get winter tires or all season tires if u do not have them already.
Civic is r light so they should not dig into snow. And low profile tires or performance tires or summer tires r bad in snow.
l have a little Mazda Protege & it is great in snow.

A reliable AWD cheap car is the Subaru Impreza or Legacy.

yes

l drove a 1988 325iX for 10 years (from 69,000 to 140,000 miles) in upstate New York. l currently drive a 2001 325xi (90,000 miles) in the same environment. Both cars had manual transmissions. With 4 good winter tires, the cars r excellent winter drivers. They are, however, expensive to maintain. It is in the nature of winter driving that u will bend/damage wheels & other critical parts (you can not avoid hazards that r hidden under the snow/slush). The E-30s r prone to rust (that is why l eventually got rid of mine). The E-46 was much better, but still required a warranty rust repair. For both cars, regular inspections at authorized BMW service centers were very expensive. But even private mechanics' bills were high ($1,000-$2,000/year) if u insist on original quality parts, which u should if u want to get full value out of the repair. l do not do my own repairs, but l agree with comment that the E-30 can be repaired in a home garage. l have a friend who kept a stable of E-30s running for a decade past their usual lifetimes.

These cars r really a pleasure to drive, but if u r looking for lower maintenance costs, consider Subaru, Honda & Toyota AWD cars & consult Consumers Reports car reliability tables.