thanks for your response!    he lives in new york, so its not so cold,
and not snowing so much during the winter.   and anyway the snow is
usually removed in urban areas.
and i read about this CR-V 4WD that its not constant  or can't be even
manually controlled, the car decides by itself whether to use more
grip by , so it wouldnt be used for most of the time.  And probably
set of winter tires would be better option for a city driving.

wherever i read about CR-V, some tests, and opinions on different
internet forums,  it wins with its competitors, eg RAV4  or
outlander.  so it must be a good choice.

at first my uncle wanted to buy used CR-V , like 2006 or 2007   but
the prices are still so high that actually its better deal to buy a
brand new 2008 model, and pay literally the same money.
my choice for him is  2WD EX  with some extras what brings it to
$25k.   without tax of course.