Well, I truck the Northwest and my approach to winter tires goes like this. I own and operate a tractor trailer and the most I can lock at a time is 3 wheels. Not much considering the weight I'm pulling. On everything but heavy snow, I prefer a tire with lots of sipes. More "edges" = more traction.
I don't think that a perfect, do everything well, tire exists. This one comes close. On ice, they are absolutely amazing! On everything else, they do well. But on really heavy snow and slush, they then to plug up. Also, a less aggressive tread is easier to chain up.
Check out Michelin's XDN2, that's what I run year round.
http://www.michelintruck.com/michelintr ... tread=XDN2
Aggressive treads look good but are not very good in rain, ice or on pavement. Very few edges. Big blocks work great on mud and snow but deliver very poor fuel economy and traction on anything but dirt and snow.
At the cost of these vans, er, SMB's I would run something like an LTX M/S2 (it reminds me of the XDN2,) all year and have a different " All Terrain" set of tires and wheels for week ends spent playing off road. Especially if it will be a daily driver. The cost of 2 sets of wheels and tires seems minimal to me compared to the cost of the van. Plus, you will often be rotating tires which is a very good thing.
Also, now you can justify that compressor, 2 floor jacks, air gun, 4 jack stands and torque wrench.
Just my 2 cents.