XL can be bit stiffer and noisier, but some of the all season tyres might be the most sensible choice for any car in certain parts of UK, I would imagine especially parts of Scotland.
I used to have Crossclimates on my Vectra C in the front only. One day, coming back from work uphill when it snowed over slightly, other cars we stuck sliding backwards and sideways and I was passing the strugglers relatively easily thanks to having good traction on the fronts offered by the all season tyres capability in snow. Others were most definitely using summer tyres only.
After this experience I purchased 4 Crossclimate+ for my mk1 225hp Audi TT quattro, with generation 1 haldex 4 wheel drive, and again I really appreciated that I had great traction on snowed over road. I was driving to work one morning & again the road were snowed over, came upon few strugglers who we driving at 30mph on straights were you do 60 when dry or wet normally. They were flashing me with headlights like mad after I have passed them with the TT on the straights. It felt safe to do 40+mph on the straights and they were slowing me down. I then enjoyed few entertaining sharp bends safely with the quattro kicking in. TT is fun and cheap as hell too :-)
I bought mk1 Jazz 2008 GE3 1.4i DSi CVT recently, as my fiancé wanted automatic. Every tyre on this car is different summer one so I was searching long and hard for reasonably priced and well performing allseason and came across Kumho Solus 4S HA32 185/55/r15, basically the most correct size for my original alloys. However, they are XL like the Crossclimates are. Might end up with slightly stiffer ride but according to reviews they last long and are more or less mid range when it comes to performance.
Since I intend to not to trash the Jazz like I was trashing TT at times, I don't think the extra stiffness will be much noticeable. What I did not take into account is they are going to be slightly heavier thus impacting few factors like fuel consumption negatively. But overall, for the safety and advantage they might offer in wintery weather conditions, and still great driveability in summer, I think they are going to be lovely compromise overall, for £65 per tyre balanced and fitted.
They look very similar to what I bought for my Fabia mk2 recently, the Goodyear allseason Vector gen 2 195/50/r15 (non XL). I think they are great, especially in cold wet weather and also get you safely through in snow. They are more or less same performance-wise like the Kumhos bar the aquaplaning performance which should be better on the Vectors. They were similar price too because 195/50/r15 is more common size.
Basically most of the Scotland benefits from all season tyres for sure, especially from the newer types like CrossClimates from Michelin as they 90% summer tyre with winter capability, meaning they will have traction in snow and CrossClimate 2 (gen 3 actually) rivals winter tyres too. Possibly safer in cold and wet than summer tyres too.
As long as I live in Scotland I will buy reasonably good allseason tyres only.