Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I am looking to purchase a new 2-stage snow thrower. The small single stage old-hand-me-down one I have leaves me with a lot to hand shovel. I have a 125' driveway in the snow belt with a wide pad at the bottom (3 cars wide). Some of the models have a plastic impeller and some (more expensive) models have a metal impeller. One salesman suggested that the plastic impellers can be prone to breakage when it gets cold and some ice or a rock is sucked up by the auger. Does anybody have any advice for or against getting a model with the plastic impeller? Is the salesman just trying to sell me a more expensive snow thrower? I really like the unit that happens to have a plastic impeller. Assuming I settle on the unit with the plastic impeller, how important is it to have multiple speeds? The unit I am looking at in Sears (Craftsman model 88255) has 3 speeds, but similar models at Home Depot (Yard Machines) and Lowes (MTD #96098) are only single speed (and I can get 10% off there). None has reverse - is this important? My current snow blower is single speed, but is a LOT lighter and easier to maneuver than the models I'm looking at. Will I notice a 2" difference in clearing width? Some of the models I am looking at are 24" (Craftsman) and some are 22" (the equivalents in other stores). The next model up is the Craftsman #88355 (or the Troy-Built #96177 at Lowes or similar Yard Machines at Home Depot). All have 24" clearing widths and metal impellers. They have larger impellers and augers than the ones I listed above. Is this a noticeable difference? They are also heavier than the above models. Will this make it harder for me to control? It seems so in the stores, but it is really hard to tell without actually running one. Another possibility is the Ariens model #5520 in the Home Depot ad, but it hasn't hit stores yet for me to look at. Other threads here seem to like the Ariens brand. According to their website, it has only a 20" width. Is the Ariens that much better quality that I should sacrifice clearing width? Other than that, it sounds like a great machine on par with the "next model up" ones I listed. They are all the same price. Basically, I'm looking at the lower end of the 2-stage snow throwers. All that are on my list right now have 5.5HP Tecumseh engines. I'm not so concerned about features like electric start and lots of speeds (although I think more than one speed might be useful?). My current one had electric start. I found it to be easier to start by hand and never fixed it when it went bad. Sorry this got so long. Thank you for any advice! Lisa