For short distance driving in snow and ice, chains work great. It sounds like the all wheel drive capabilities of your Audi are insufficient now, whether due to tire treads or whatever. Can you just chain up? Last winter I had chains on my tires for close to 2 weeks straight for non-freeway driving. It's impossible to go on bare-road freeways with the chains, but for everything else, they work great (except for lots of stretches of bare road, but they don't plow in my area, so not an issue). If not chains, then snow tires can help a lot.

Because of last winter's heavy snows here (and I also needed a new car), I bought a Subaru a few months ago. I would really like it to snow so I can see how it does. When I went to the Subaru dealer, which also sold VWs, they told me how last winter, they could drive all the Subarus from one part of the parking lot to another, but the VWs were stuck until they got the lot cleared of snow. Of course, they want to sell Subarus, but still, Subes are known in these parts as the car to have for snow and ice.

I understand your concern about airbags. Last summer I totaled my 2006 Honda Accord and had the front and side airbags deploy. I feel they really helped me survive with only minor injuries, plus the body frame was very strong and held with survivable deformation.

Good luck. Be safe. Try chains!