I service a Honda Fit that is wearing a set of Avid Ascends. They have just over 40,000 miles on them and have 6/32" remaining. The owner does not have any complaints about traction, but she does live in San Diego...
Karinann, I've had the Avid Ascend tires on my 2010 for almost 50,000 miles and they still look and handle great even in the snow. I will likely get 80,000 miles from them. I also have a set on my wife's 2008 Prius. You will take a small hit in mpg compared to the OEM tires. Most importantly, though, be sure to have them x-rotated every 5,000 miles or so or they will develop feathering which leads to annoying road noise. I didn't x-rotate my set for the first 40,000 miles and I thought I had a wheel bearing going bad. The wife's tires remain perfectly quiet thanks to the lesson I learned. Tom
Got 37k plus on my set. Rotating at 10k. Best tire overall for the money/performance. Will definitely buy another set. Anyone notice that the cost has gone up? I am checking on discount tire. I bought mines 11 months ago, and I don't remember them costing $93 each. I guess they are getting popular.
To throw in my 2 cents. I got a set of these for $40/tire from Discount Tire Direct ($100 DTD rebate and $60 Yoko rebate, both received in 1 month). Before this our Prius had Michelin Defenders. The dry traction and road noise on these tires is amazing! Before with the Defenders the car was very loud and very squirrely on the highway under high winds. Today there were very high winds (30mph+ gust) on the highway and the car stuck to the road like glue. Gas mileage is unaffected, averaged 47 mpg highway on a recent 300 mile trip. So far they're worth it.
I have not had them on my recently-purchased Prius, but had two sets of Ascends on a previous car, a Honda Insight, and each set lasted over 80,000 miles. I remember that the fuel economy was good with them, and the longevity of the tires saved me good money.
