A few thoughts.

- Too many people use 4WD to compensate for poor driving. Can't count the number of knuckleheads I've seen driving way too fast in icy or slick conditions because "by God, I got me the four-wheel-drive and them anti-lock brakes." Next stop, inverted in a road-side ditch. There's an overlap where a well-driven 4x2 can equal or exceed the capabilities of a poorly driven 4x4, on-road or off-.

- Don't let the hardcore 4x4 types who use their big bad 4x4 to compensate for their own personal shortcomings influence your thinking. There are plenty around and they say stuff like "2WD Xterras are nothing but "grocery-getters," "mall crawlers," soccer taxis," etc.

- Take the emotion out of the decision. I personally would like to have a 4x4, but the fact is that I don't need one living in a large urban area with a schedule that does not allow getting out in the woods as much as I'd like. So why drag around the extra cost, weight, and complexity of 4x4? For the (maybe) 5 times a year I get to use it on trails or in poor local weather? That's one thing about this subject that makes me - the people who bash 4x2's while their own 4WD handle hasn't been touched three times since they drove off the dealer lot. Talk about posers.

Example of objective decision-making: I recently bought tires and narrowed the choice to Toyo's Open Country model, either the all-terrain A/T or the H/T highway model. Loved the A/T's but it just didn't make sense for 98% of my driving, so I bought the H/T's and am very happy with them.

At the end of the day, if your Xterra takes you where you want to go, you made the right choice. My 2WD does that. If tomorrow I get a job in Colorado or Oregon, well, I'll be trading for a 4x4 because I know the opportunities to use it will be far greater in those places than in North Georgia.

Make the choice that's right for you. Good luck!