Winter driving in Europe, snow chains

"If we manage to rent a car with winter tires, does any of the following countries still mandate carrying snow chains: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands?" I can only answer for Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. The answer is "no", although some high mountain roads mandate snow chains when the conditions are bad enough. "How can we guarantee a 4-wheel powered car?" Unless you plan to spend the entire time in the mountains, you won't need it. Except in certain high elevation areas, heavy sustained snow fall isn't that common in western Europe. What snow does fall usually doesn't accumulate very much and melts quickly.

Hi Fabbiana, We had a BMW coupe( seats 4 if short people in the back)and drove it with winter tires in Dec. 2010 around Munich, over passes, & into Italy. This was the time period when arctic winds snowed in London's airport for days, & it was quite cold. Even with snow swirling and the temperature below freezing, the roads were fine. The Brenner Pass was muddy with dirty snow but full of cars and trucks driving at usual speeds. Winter tires would probably be sufficient. We aren't used to winter condition driving but did not find chains necessary, nor did the tire store say we'd need them ( and they sold them, so it would have been an easy sale).