Michelin-Defender XT

It's a long life tire with great handling but some Prius drivers like to get better MPG. If you look at tire cost per mile including fuel costs, it is great tire, but if you want high MPG at the expense of higher tire cost there is Mich Energy Saver A/S. In other words the two tires are equivalent economics in the end.

 

Put some on my 2010 last fall. Decent winter tire. Didn't seem to affect mileage appreciably. I've been getting @ 50 mpg this summer with them. No complaints. The oem tires wore pretty quick. I replaced them at @ 33k miles so I would have some winter traction.

 

There are numerous posts on PC about the drop in mpg with the Defenders. I replaced my stock Yokos with Energy Saver A/S and am getting the same mpg as the Yokos. the ES has better ride, smoother, quieter, and handles better. I doubt the defenders really last 90k miles. You have to consider your own safety to rely on rubber for that long. Consider the effects of weather, including water, heat, cold, etc. which will all tear your tires apart over the years...marketing gimmicks like this one really ticks me off.

 

Have about 15K on my Defenders and wear indicates 90K+ probable with 5-6 years use in my application. Achieved 40K wear on the OEM Yokos with proper maintenance, and those tires were horrible. YMMV, but wjtracy's evaluation is correct. But what do I know...

 

I owned a set of the predecessor to the Defender on a Civic and they were an 80k tires that gave me nearly that many miles.

If it takes you 10 years to go 90k miles, you probably are pushing it on age and wont realize the benefits of the tire. If you drive 20k miles a year, different story. I also found them to be good in the winter and rain.

 

They are great tires.

 

I'm about to order a set of these as well. I'm replacing a set of non-LLR Contis so I'm not expecting any real dip in overall MPG. I chose them because my local garage is very high on Michelin (Order from TireRack, they install) and I need a really tough tire up here (I never come close to the manufacturer's life expectancy on tires even with 5k mile rotations).

I run dedicated winter tires so these look like a good 3-season toughie for my harsh, northern New England driving.