Guaranteeing something that is manufacturer installed is pretty hard compared to items they can swap in an out of vehicles like car seats and portable navigation units (Note: Avis uses portable units, not installed units like Hertz).

In all honesty, any car with decent tires should be pretty capable of handling the chance snow. Yes, it's winter and its the Northeast, but the chance blizzard when even 4WD would be questionable is unlikely and normal snow events are quickly taken care of in most cities and areas. I think the need of 4WD is overstated (note, I grew up in Syracuse, NY, one of the snowiest cities in the country and I had a RWD sports car for most of my high school life).