Tires make more difference than anything. I too bought at used Mazda 3, and thought: "Oooh, this is dodgy in the rain . . ."
Then I got better tires (summers and winters) and realized: "Ohhh, I just had terrible tires."
My clear favourite for our winter is the Pirelli Sottozero 3. It drives exactly like a real summer tire in the dry but is still excellent in the snow.
Selling a set of Neuspeed RSe102 wheels (Hyper Black) and Pirelli P ZERO (PZ4) tires. These came off a 2015 Passat B7 and simply transformed the cars handling, very impressive tire and wheel setup.
I dislike the Conti's very much, always have. I had Pirelli P7s previously and absolutely loved them and will be going that route once I'm due.
FWIW, I have a 2012 SEL (not 4-motion), still with the original Scorpion Verde tires at 43,000 miles. They still have a few miles left before they need replacement (probably this summer). As far as winter performance, here in San Diego the only issue we really have is rain, and I've never noticed any issue, even after last winter's record rainfall. YMMV.
Basically got all the Red Bull/Vettel Era Sponsors covered, drink tons of Red Bull, wear an Edifice Watch, sport Geox Shoes, Pepe Jeans, have Pirelli Tires and even bought an Infiniti.
I was looking for the same size but Kijiji'ed a 1-year old set of Pirelli Winter Carvings, on steelies, for 340. Checked the wheels for rust/cracks, treads, consistent pressure across tires.
I ran a set of pzero nero and they were ok too, but they lost grip very early in life and got noisy. They say MS rated but they could barely handle any slush at all without squirming.
I have these tires and despise them. Noisiest new tire I've had in at least a decade.
That said, if you're not looking for a performance tire but a quiet, smooth, comfortable tire that holds air and hates to change direction the Cinturato P7s are for you. If you want to drive your GTI like it's a sporty car with some fun and enthusiasm, you'll find that the P7s spin, lose traction, squeal, hate to change direction chatter on braking and generally suck when driving with more vigor than an 80 year old, blind coot who doesn't want to spill his beer.
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