Subura Legacy w/ all-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes.
My Dodge Dakota with 4wd is good in actual snow (even over 18"), but terrible if you are driving on slippery roads or lightly snowed roads at speed, as you can’t use the 4wd. Well, I guess you could, but good luck turning and good luck rebuilding the differentials!!!
Now that is interesting… pauses a moment to look up specs Ahhh, I think I see why: besides the higher horsepower, a Wiki article on the engine says that the 3.5L also has better low- and midrange- torque when compared to the 3.3L. And that would do the trick right there: sometimes having a lot of ‘oomphf’ going to the wheels isn’t a good thing.
But hey, it is a fun car to stomp on the accelerator with. (Just not in the snow/ice!)
This thing ('84 Chevrolet Suburban) has worked well so far, though I haven’t had a chance to do a lot of heavy snow driving yet. Weighs a lot, has a rear limited slip (GovLock), and narrow-ish siped mud tires.
Add in the ex-county-sherrif styling, and it’s a real winner.
The only time you should have to worry about doing damage to a vehicle with a part-time transfer case (like your Dakota) is on completely dry pavement, where the wheels have no chance to slip to compensate for the hard driveline connection. Slippery roads and roads with light snow are just fine for part-time 4WD.
That said, it’s a lot nicer with a good full-time 4WD vehicle, since you don’t have to pay as close attention to the road surface condition.
Best: 2000 Expedition. I’ve driven up and down mountain passes in all kinds of weather, it has never slipped yet.
Honorable Mention: Suburu Legacy Outback (or is that Outback Legacy). The only problem is that it doesn’t ride very high and is much lighter than the Expedition, so it will founder in deep snow.
Things That Were Surprisingly Good: 82 Honda Civic 4 door, and an 89 Taurus SW. Both are front wheel drive, and I really only had problems when the snow was deep enough that they couldn’t plow through the snow.
Things That Suck: 1994 Ford Clubwagon and a (mid 70’s?) Plymouth Satellite. The van has no weight on the back end, and a very powerful V8 mostly on the wrong side of the front axel, so no surprise. The Plymouth was suicidal, even in just rain.
Have you tried starting the Intrepid in “2” instead of “D”?
'84 Ford BroncoII, short wheel base, 4WD, 6 cylinder, snow tires.
I swear I could floor that thing in ten inches of snow and it would shoot forward like it was on dry pavement. And the short wheel base made it seem like you couldn’t get it to fishtail no matter how hard you try. It was light so it stopped good too. I still own the thing but the tranny is shot and it’s about 70% rust, but the engine still runs and the air conditioning still works.
Currently we have an Expedition tank. That thing will go through everything with ease. I drive through snow banks on purpose despite the wife’s protests.
Best: Jeep Wrangler, mid '90s. I used it in the oil patch and that sucker went everywhere. Longer vehicles had trouble going back some of the right-of-ways.
Worst: '86 Mustang GT. Ghastly. Loved the car, though.
And we have the winner here.
Got any pictures?
’81 Subaru GL Wagon with dual range shift-on-the-fly 4WD and adjustable front and rear ground clearance. Drove it to work every day (30 miles each way) for a few years while living in the Wyoming mountains.
I think shift-on-the-fly 4WD became the next big new thing on American cars about, oh, 15 years later… 
Best ever is my current 4 X 4 Ranger pick-up. It does pretty well even in 2 wheel drive.
Most surprising might have been my '71 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon. I had mag wheels with huge tires on the back. L60-14s (using the sizing they used back then). That thing would really do well in snow and it had a GREAT heater.
various snowmobiles (Polaris and Arctic Cat) for off road use (i know, that’s cheating 
)
my current car, an '02 Dodge Neon does great in the snow, especially when shod with snow tires
What is “snow”?
For some reason I think one of us has, but I can’t remember the result off-hand. (Since this version has that auto-shift selection thingy, I believe we’d be able to start off in second just like I could in my Miata. Shifter on this Intrepid looks like: P R N D AS. The ‘echo’ of the gear selection up on the dash reads: P R N D 1 2 3 4, so you know what gear you’re in when you have the shift lever in the AS position.)
Will have to try this and see what the result is… wonder if it’d let me try to get going from a stop in 4th.
Count me in as another Subaru fan for handling on ice and snow ('82 GL-10, '83 GL, '98 Forester, '99 Legacy). I haven’t had the '06 Legacy Spec B out in snow yet, but it does hug the twisty mountain roads with wet pavement like it’s on rails. Even the '83 GL, which was only FWD, handled admirably through snow. The only problem is clearance; none of these cars (even the Forester) are really off-road vehicles and can only tolerate 12-16" of snow.
Stranger
You have a Spec B? <- my attempt at envy
I didn’t mention the other Subarus, but you’re right about the ground clearance thing. Ours:
81 GL Wagon
89 Legacy
93 Impreza
98 Forester
02 Legacy GT
05 Legacy
They’ve all been great cars.
I drove an MGB in the snow once. I think it was one of the '77s. It handled it well enough.
My '99 Cherokee handles snow well. I’m not home right now, but if I were I’d be using it.
The most surprising vehicle, to me, was my '88 Chevy Sprint Metro. Very light weight, and front wheel drive. I easily made it to a ski area while every other car was putting on chains. (I did have chains with me, but I wanted to see how far I could go.)
I had a 91 jeep renegade. man was that fun to drive and it was GREAT in the snow. Damn, I miss my jeep.
You’re damned skippy.
I like either of my Rovers in the snow, but prefer the Disco II over the Range.
I’ve never owned a vehicle tailored specifically for snow conditions, but the two best in my fleet were my '75 VW Rabbit (went absolutely everywhere in northeastern winter conditions, under perfect control, with summer tires) and '81 Audi 4000 5 + 5 (although much greater mass but not much more tire made it a handful on ice, of which there was a lot in the Rocky Mountain region, where I lived at the time).
I’ve got an '01 Subaru Impreza with AWD and a manual, but the few times I took it out in snow I terrified myself. For this I blame the truly dire Bridgestone Potenza ‘all-seasons’ it came shod with. Absolutely pathetic tires.
Now I live in an area where snow is just something you occasionally see on TV.