werd on the insurance thing… mine only went up about 100.00 a year from the buick.
as for snow… it all depends on the driver and tires. Alot of people think that RWD is bad in snow opposed to FWD. With a good set of tires and a good driver, RWD > in the snow… it’s a lot more responsive IMO, but you have to know how to handle it
edit: oh, and the manual should help him quite a bit too… just use 2nd gear when it’s really slick outside and don’t use full throttle. That much power run thru thin snowtires on ice cold asphalt WILL spin him out