I drove it in the snow and a couple of ice storms, it handles very nice the AWD and traction control perform very well. As for spikes or chains I do not think you would need them unless you were in some real serious conditions, if you noticed the front ground clearance is kind of low so if you start to drive in deep unplowed roads you might do some damage to the front air dam. If you are using it just on the streets you will have no problems just watch out for everybody else who might slide into you !