I should correct myself. Compromise is a part of life and generally unavoidable. Somehow, I regard tires as things that bring both driving joy and as things of grave importance. At least in the last 14 years or so, I haven't been able to compromise on them. I'll compromise on the car before I'll step down in tires.

I'm with you, except that it's not one-dimensional "better". It's a range of driving scenarios, and if you look at the area under the curve...

I'm still not 100% on the usage plans for this vehicle, but with the rest of your fleet, would it be a real problem to put Hakkas (which are a quantum step above any other snow tire I've used) on the current rims and run them all year? My assumption is this is going to be your winter beater and utility car. Not going to get a lot of miles and not going to be a long distance cruiser where noise and tire wear are an issue. If you still own it in the summer and the noise gets obnoxious you can grab a summer set of wheels and tires then.

If you want real snow performance get the Hakkas. If you want 4 season general SUV use but not great at anything get the Defenders. If you want a quiet highway tire that will get you from point a to point b but might not stop when you arrive get Conti DWS06

I can't see equ driving around in summer on snow tires. Ever.

I can't see him driving a JGC in summer either though. It was just a suggestion. Put the Hakkas on now and turn it into a snow tank. If he wants summers get them in April when he is sure he likes the truck enough to keep it.