A BMW is a great driver’s car, but the rear wheel (RWD) drive layout that makes it such fun in dry conditions, means it’s hopeless in snow.

I’ve lost count of the times I have seen a BMW hopelessly spinning its wheels while the driver fumes ineffectually behind the wheel following a moderate snowfall.

It needn’t be this way. In Europe, you can buy a BMW with four-wheel drive – a 3 Series that offers all the driving enjoyment of its RWD cousin with the added reassurance of all-wheel drive when it starts to snow.

And now you can buy the same technology on a BMW in the UK.

In normal conditions, the 320i xDrive sends 60 per cent of the 2.0-litre engine’s power to the rear wheels, so it feels just like any other “ultimate driving machine”. But when things go from bad to worse the system can shuffle the power to the wheels with the greatest traction. In fact, it can transfer up to 100 per cent to the fronts.

It also applies the brakes to spinning wheels, helping slipping tyres gain traction and keep you moving.

Just imagine: when the snow falls you’ll be able to glide past your neighbours in their marooned RWD BMWs like the stunningly accomplished driver you’ve always thought you were. Bolt on a set of winter tyres or chains and you’ll be able to go anywhere your SUV-owning mates venture, too.

The downsides are surprisingly few. The 4WD system costs an extra £1,535 and the extra driveline gubbins adds weight and saps performance – but not so much that you’d really notice. But the 320i still goes from 0 to 62mph in 7.4 seconds and tops out at 144 mph on the autobahn. Go careful, and you might be able to stretch a gallon of unleaded nearly 40 miles.

The interior is what we’ve come to expect from BMW: clear, concise instrumentation, a starter button, chunky leather-wrapped steering wheel, a big infotainment controller on the transmission tunnel and a colour screen sitting up high next to the speedo/rev counter binnacle.

It’s curious that BMW hasn’t offered 4WD on its UK cars more widely – especially when you consider how paranoid we are as a nation about cold weather and how everything grinds to a halt when it snows.

The official line was that engineering the right-hand drive 3-Series for all-wheel drive was simply too expensive. What’s changed I’m not sure, but I suspect plenty of BMW owners (particularly those in remote areas of Teesdale, Weardale and North Yorkshire) will have good cause to be pleased.