Colorado native here.
February? I'd suggest renting an SUV for a couple of reasons:
The weather here in the mountains can literally go from sunny and 70 to a 20 degree zero-visibility blizzard in 2-3 hours. Because of this the weather folks generally just look out a window and tell you what it's currently doing, because no one can forecast the lunacy here.
I-40 between Empire and Fraser in winter is sketchy even in good weather, because it's a lot of shadowed switchbacks as you go up over Berthoud Pass (11,000 feet). So even if the day is nice you'll hit ice at least a half dozen times - and when going downhill on a 6% grade any ice makes it stupid easy to swap ends in a fat-tired RWD sportscar.
For years I lived in Vail and drove a hopped up 1972 Wagoneer for this reason. About a dozen times a year someone would shut down the highway because they were testing mother nature in the wrong car. Rent the right tool for the job, and have a much nicer vacation would be my advice.