I agree with you that RWD is more expensive. I disagree with the winter considerations though
I find RWD actually gives you better control in winter but more driver skill is required since heavy foot driving can result in undesired fishtailing. Before the Japanese/Korean invasion though a lot of cars in NA were RWD Northern US and Canada as well. The RWD not safe for winter I find it to be a modern misconception no offense intended.
I owned an 8th gen civic whic was obviously fwd. now my daily driver is a 2013 bmw 3 series which is rwd and I can tell you the honda was much better in snow, especially on hills
I agree though that there are a lot of factors to be reckoned with. How wide/narrow the tyres are, how good they are, how heavy the front/rear of the car is, ...