in that case she has them bang to rights. obviously it depends on where you live, but up here although its colder than down south etc and i live fairly high up, its rare to absolutely require 4xd . there are obviously times, but its not all that often that careful driving wont suffice. what with climate change tho, who knows. my bro had a big landy for years(several) and it wasnt often it was used except in really snowy conditions or towing. in fact when the towing stopped (as horse died) he go rid as he reckoned it was more trouble than not. Sis in law has her second x3 and i think its 4xd. she loves it.
Similar situation here Struth. We got a 4WD as it was only a few hundred quid more and barely any mpg deficit and having test driven both 2WD and 4WD variants I could feel the difference, but we rarely get snow and if we do we stay indoors! However, we both have elderly mothers still alive and it’s nice to know that if either of them (or our daughters) have a problem we have a bit more chance of getting to them!
Interesting to hear that your SIL has an X3 and loves it. Unless things improve dramatically I can see our X1 being our last Motability car and you can get the same 20i engine (which is an absolute peach) in the X3. I’ve always wanted an X5 but I think that the split tailgate will make loading and unloading the wheelchair problematic. It may also be a touch too high for my wife by the time we change, even with the adaptive air suspension on its lowest setting.