I skimmed through what you guys posted and i will make my point i noticed from plenty of years behind the wheel.
Overdrive is nothing but a device that down shifts your car from lets say 3rd to 2nd to get the higher power band.
On semis the over drive is a button that when pressed the device attached to the gears changes the ratio. that can be applied to any gear. a normal car just downshifts.
RWD if you start fishtail and the back end goes to the left steer to the left let off gas and the car should straighten out. DONT USE BRAKES. until the car is going straight. what happens is the front wheels direct the car in which way to move it. the drive wheels in the back when the gas is let off will slow down to a speed that is less than what the car is moving at and then start to dig in to get traction again. RWD problems is that it is harder to get going from a stop. and that most sporty cars are RWD and have wide tires which makes it harder to to get a grip since there is more surface area.
FWD. is easy to get going from a stop and thats about it. since if you lose control there is no draging action from the rear tires as in RWD so it will slide until it gets traction on its own again. if you start steering and you have no traction the whells turn and slide forward with the momentum of the car. If you lose control with a FWD there is nothing that you can really do to gain traction. It just does it by it self and hopefully it does it fast.
Think what you want to think. but I know that i can drive my caprice which is RWD in the snow just as easy as i can drive a cobalt. I have driven camaros in the snow there very easy to drive just that its hard t get going from a stop. I have driven a pontiac vibe in the snow. easy take offs but turning is more difficult for some reason.
If your on ICE no matter what you have your screwed. is just luck if nothing wrong goes on.
This thread is all opinionated too keep in mind.