Weight over the traction tires, paired with good technique, and any car can get around in the snow. I had an old staff seargent that owned a little chevy luv pickup, and when the other guys would take off in their big 4x4's for a campout, thinking there would be no way he'd make it.....sure enough, that little bucket would come putting in.

Granted, for serious crawling, that's a different story, but for typical traction situations, traction and technique will do every time.

I use bags of sand that you can get in tube bags at most Ace Hardware stores in the winter, and then wrap them in plastic, so they won't degrade. It serves two purposes......one, weight....and two, you have traction sand at the ready if you do get stuck.

As for the later Rangers, they're basically Mazdas from what I understand, so they can't be terrible. Probably not a bad way to go, economically speaking.