I have to decided to get an xterra. I live in the midwest where snow is a problem. I was wondering if the off road is substantially better in the snow or if any of the other trims would do just fine. During the summers I wouldn't be doing a whole lot of extreme off roading.

Get an S trim then. and change out the tires asap. that's the best thing to do. o and make sure it's 4x4. the convenient thing wit the OR is the locker. but if u know how to drive in the snow, u won't need one. just get good gripping tires.

To add to what was mentioned above.

If your gonna mainly use it for driving around in the snow your mainly going to use 4hi. With the locker on the offroad models you have to be using 4lo. So going with a lesser trim will save ya some cash and you can put that towards some better tires.

I use my 05 in the snow (even with the stock long trails on it) in the snow and it does just fine and haven't had a problem yet..