What everybody is telling you is that what you want (a super cheap tire that doesn't suck at anything) doesn't really exist. Since you only own the one car and you need it to do some pretty different duties, you can't really depend on a compromise tire. Your choices are basically 2 sets (snows plus dedicated autocross tires that compromise in the cold/wet/slush, or snows + dedicated summer street tires that compromise at autocross and cold/slush) or 3 sets (snows, 3 season that aren't fun in cold, on slush or ice, autocross). The closest there is to a compromise is to use snows for one winter and then two summers, plus your autocross tires. Snow tires aren't much more than all seasons and if you have a good alignment they last plenty long.
To me, it comes down to the fact that a decent but not spectacular snow/ice tire (including all-seasons that shade towards winter traction) makes a better warm weather tire than the reverse. You'll never sweat over snow tires in August, but you don't want to catch that first ice storm on 3 seasons.
And yes, tread ratings don't compare between manufacturers as there is no testing standard. But generally speaking, a 400 rating on one model will last twice as long as a 200 of a different model from the same brand given basic highway driving conditions.
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FWD is the new AWD
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