-40 is universal in f/c. We have tons of salt put on our roads here, depending on what Provence you move to. I high, HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that you take your car in and have it completely undercoated with oil, get every part done. Then do it every spring. Bad idea to do it in the fall in my opinion. Canada has thousands of garages that'll do it for ya, make sure you use a good one. It generally costs a little over $100 for brand name.
A/C is a good idea. Not only for the winter, but lots of places in Canada see 40+c (100+f) temps in the summer, in my area it becomes incredibly humid in the summer, way more than you would think. You'll sweat to death in the summer and freeze in the winter. It's a good idea to change your oil every season, even if you don't put enough miles on the car to justify it. Put a good set of all seasons on your car, or get a second set of rims and buy new snow tires for the winter.
Learn to idle the car for at least 30 seconds before taking off in the winter.
Driving in snow is lots of fun, don't speed and don't try to corner fast or you'll just crash. If you don't have ABS, try to never let your tires lock in snowy conditions, you're screwed once that happens. Learn how to steer out of skids, too.
Buy the biggest winter car mats you can find. I even line my floor with shower liners to keep the water from seeping past the mats. Your car will get very wet and snowy inside.
Learn to clean a car off before you have to do it in a parking lot, buy a good snow brush. You can't just jump in your car after even a small snow fall and drive off, you need to clean that stuff off or you'll cause a big accident.
Clean the summer bug wash out of the wiper tank, it'll freeze out here. Get some -40c grade and use that.
If your car has aluminum rims that you like, get steelies for the winter, they'll get ruined.
Flush your coolant and put fresh in to make sure it isn't deluded or something to the point where it'll freeze or turn to slush.
