I'm not as adventurous as some I suppose, but I can't think of a single time I've been stopped by my car's abilities. I've definitely had to go very slow on a few occasions though. My vote would be to get something good for 98% of your driving, just deal with going slow occasionally, and for that last 0.2% of the time, make someone else drive.
Snow tires on any car will get you at least as far as an AWD car on all-seasons.