I changed tires to defender T+H for winter driving and sure work great in snowy Iowa roads BUT the mileage went to !@#$, about less than half of what I had with the OEM tires that car had when I bought it. Like a dummy, I had the dealer dispose of them . "should have could have" saved them and do a bi yearly swap outs and get back my 32-35 mile distance. So now I want to get a new summer set that gets me back to the original or better mileage tires. I have been searching these forums using variations of "best mileage tires". I have been seeing Michelins coming up alot as well as others, each with caveats (hard riding, fast tread wear-outs, hydroplaning sometimes, loses traction on corners etc). Price is not a concern as such, just want best summer tire for value. What say experts?
michelin energy save a/s, if you can find them quiet, smooth, comfortable, long wearing, good handling in most weather, good braking, same mpg's as oem's, which also translates to same ev range
Might not be possible, sadly. I tried a local tire place website, which said not available in 195/65R15. Went to Michelin Canada and got the same story; seems like they’ve really cut back available sizes. Just get Defenders or Premiers and let the mpg chips lay where they fall? The one go-to tire I can think of: Bridgestone Ecopia EP20. ONLY comes in the aforementioned size, and is no plagued by multiple iterations, like the Ecopia EP422 Plus.
You may want to look into Michelin Crossclimate+ (all-weather tire) which are doing fine on my Camry Hybrid. I have seen at least one report here of someone getting same MPGe as the Ecopia EP422 Plus, IIRC.
How’s road noise and ride quality in general, with the Cross Climate? They have a very distinct tread pattern (full-width lateral ribs); just wondering how how that works out.
I’ve had Bridgestone Ecopia Plus (EP422, I think) on our Prime and 2009 regular Prius for quite some time now. They definitely do an excellent job in terms of MPG and EV range! The only downside is that they play road texture like a phonograph needle! They’re very quiet on smooth roads, but rough roads can get annoyingly noisy.
I have used Nokian WR series tires (now at WRg4) for 17 years on my Prii. They get better MPG than the Michelin MXV4+ LRR (no longer available) tires that I tried after the terrible Toyo tires that came with my 2004 Prius wore down. I now have Toyo Nanos that came with my 2020 Prius and they get good MPG, but are terrible in snow. Since you live in snow country, Take a look at Nokian WRg4 tires. (They are not available or reviewed at TireRack.com). JeffD
No noise and comfortable ride. Regarding treadwear, only time will tell. I did have them RoadForce balanced right after putting them on, FWIW.
Were you getting 32-35 miles of EV range with the OEM tires during the winter months? The cold temperature negatively affects the EV range more than tires. I was getting 32-35miles EV range with my Dunlop OEM tires during summer, but during winter I was lucky if I can get 25miles.
This! ↘︎ Summer will do way more to get your summer mpg & m/kWh back than summer tires. I normally get 5.0-5.6 m/kWh on my way to work. One day last week, it was 37° F when I got to work. Miles per kWh were 3.0. The only difference was the temperature being 25-30° lower than normal.
I think it’s a combo of the weather AND the car’s programming: the car will inherently be more efficient with higher ambient temp, but also the car’s programming is maybe revised; it’s cognizant of ambient temp (and humidity?), and accordingly employs a shorter warm-up protocol, is more willing to shut the engine off, and sooner.
I installed kumho its really bad for noise now I installed continental tires with fuel economy is better but I don’t know the ecopia better or my tires for noise
