Mike in Massachusetts, I commend you for challenging CR's commitment to safety and pushing this conversation. Do you think there might be a correlation between excess horsepower and increased distraction in the rising death toll? Has there been any increase in driver license qualification standards to match the near doubling in average horsepower that has taken place over the last few decades? You need a special license to drive a Semi, is it time for a special license to drive any car over 300 hp? Is anybody anywhere talking about lowering speed limits to save lives and meaningfully cut carbon output from our existing fleet of ICE vehicles? I have been driving since 1980 without a speeding ticket or serious crash because I respect the rules of the road and drive defensively. My CR Top Pick from 2005 was equipped with all the available safety systems when I did my factory order. I will do the same thing when it wears out in a decade or so. In the meantime, I want to be PROTECTED from the red light runners, speeders, tailgaters, distracted and impaired drivers as well as the hooligan imbeciles that make up far too high a percentage of drivers I see on the roads every single day. I want in-car safety technology to improve and I want traffic law enforcement to improve including a much wider adoption of red light camera and photo radar technology. In other words, I want maximum protection for myself and all other responsible road users. Getting back to the premise of your question, hell YES, it is time for Consumer Reports to double down on ALL aspects of road safety. It is time for CR to reconsider the time spent discussing high performance, high consumption cars which are demonstrably a part of the road carnage problem. Consumers and all road users need advocacy based on solid evidence. CR can do more.
3PMSF tire on 4WD is my preferred choice. Mechanical connect on 4x4 is so awesome in both going and stopping vs AWD I've tried which rely on viscous clutch / electromagnetic center diff that is not locked when the foot off gas when taking turns and braking (unless have a center diff lock button and some disengages after about 25mph). Also on the winter tires here in CO I don't prefer to use winter tires as we often go more than 45F in winter.
20:00 The built environment also contributes to traffic-related fatalities, both for those inside vehicles and those outside of vehicles. Local-level politicians like Mayors and council members who approve the municipality's budgets can be held accountable to allocate more funding toward roadway safety improvements. People will drive to the the extent the infrastructure allows them to when it comes to speed and level of distraction. Super easy to scroll Instagram while drive on a straight flat highway with cruise control locked. Not so easy on a curvy back road. Road & street designs have been scientifically shown to influence safety. Our municipalities just need to allocate more funding to make it a priority.
I am glad that CR has called out non-intuitive controls in new vehicles, especially where common things need multiple swipes on a screen - these detract from focusing on what is ahead.
Excellent segment, dedicated winter tires make a huge difference. My personal favorites the Michelin X-Ice and Bridgestone Blizzaks. They will get the job done even with a front wheel drive sedan, the main advantage of the all wheel drive Suv or a crossover if equipped with dedicated winter tires is the increased ground clearance which could be very helpful in deep snow or when the plow didn't come yet.
I've got 3 vehicles - a FWD, RWD, and AWD, and I switch to a full set of winter tires on all 3 of them. Stopping and turning in winter weather is far more important. Getting stuck is an inconvenience, sliding off the road or through an intersection is dangerous to yourself and others. I'd sooner give up AWD than winter tires.
Been using All Weather tires now for about 5 years. First the Goodyear WeatherReady and now also the Michelin CrossClimate 2. The three-snowflake symbol (from Canada by the way - it is their test) shows it passes the ice/snow test in Canada just like snow tires. They are not quite as good as snow tires, but you can use them all year around compared to full snow tires. For the snow in CT, even living on a mountain with AWD, it is fine. With our FWD cars (ranging from Saab 9-3 to Honda Accord) they were not good enough, but neither were snow tires to get home. So we know with good All Weather tires we can go wherever we need whenever we need. When I buy a car now, will be looking at used as new cars insane prices just means more lost depreciation.
Take it from a Canadian, if you can buy winter tires that beat Michelin X-Ice traction, treadwear rating and quietness buy them. If you can't, just buy the X-Ice. 😁 If you really want to burn through extra tread and /or gasoline in spring, summer and fall and then ruin your nice alloy rims in winter, buy All Weather tires. 😉No reference to the all wheel drive Prius is complete without a dutiful reminder that Toyota builds an AWD Corolla Hybrid wagon for other markets.
Good conversation! Have always run with snow tires on my fwd work car. Drove approx 35k mpy throughout nh, me & vt. Fortunately, never got stuck nor had a mishap. Recently retired so, the miles will drop and the need to go out in the bad weather will be diminished. On the recent changeover my tire guy told me I’ll need new tires in the spring so I’ve started to eye the new all-weather tires as a year round replacement. Looks like a viable solution and I’ll save $160/yr on changeover costs. I’ll be looking to CR for any all-weather tire updates over the next few months. Thanks
I went with a new set of all weather tires after I heard about this category recently. Before that, it is either all season or winter. The tire centre technician told me I got the wrong tires, it is not "Winter" winter tire. I had to let him know that was what I wanted. I am sure they sold a lot of all weather tires before mine, however, it makes me feel they don't really like all weather tires that much, likely for the potential of losing quite a bit of business in changing tires twice a year.
Adding all the safety gear doesn't need to make a car greatly increase in cost. The Nissan Sentra in top trim at 20 grand has it all that cars at $35K don't have.
Consumer Reports should include more information about financial literacy as it relates to motor vehicle purchase and use. We need fewer reviews of vehicles costing over $80,000 dollars. The public should have a better understanding of what they give up financially when they purchase higher priced vehicles.
Greetings from southern Ontario Canada I really enjoyed the video I have uniroyal winter tires on my 2019Mazda 3 GS sport hatchback and the seasonal tires are toyo which came with the car from the factory I actually like your magazine the annual auto addition that comes out usually once a year this is my Bible for deciding on what vehicle or crossover I should buy thanks for the presentation
I like both Mike's questions and CR's answers. There are always two sides to the coin, what I would like to see in the future in cars is a way to automatically disable most smartphone features besides phone and map functions.
I have been driving on Michelle all weather tires for a year. My gas mileage has dropped by around 10% due to a higher rolling resistance. Is that typical of all weather tires?
After our factory tires wear out, we’re planning on buying Falken Wildpeaks, as we get 5-6 feet of snow every winter but we don’t want to switch the tires for summer and winter
Snow driving is about avoidance, demeanor, experience (speed or distance), or correct tires (type, depth, inflation). Tire socks or chains might be an inexpensive compromise.
Most snow tires in Consumer Reports ratings have bad wet braking ratings. Given that my city and state are pretty good about plowing and salting, I'm much more likely to be driving over a layer of slush than snow. Am I safer with a good all-season radial than a snow tire, even in the middle of winter?
On tires - the manufacturers have not done a good job of explaining the merits and limitations of different types of tires. Specifically, that summer tires should not be driven below 45F and how limited (and dangerous) they are in snow, and winter tires should not be driven above 45F or they would wear out and will have poor grip.
To the gentleman who complained about the increase in new vehicle pricing due to the increase in mandated safety features, I agree that it sucks when something that's already very expensive goes up in price even further, for things you may choose to omit if you had the choice, but this is not a recent issue with the automotive industry. For many decades, the government has mandated safety features to be implemented into all road passenger vehicles, such as radial tires to reduce stopping distances and mitigate blowouts, 3-point seat belts for every seat in the vehicle, crumple zones, stability control to help prevent rollovers, etc. I'll gladly pay more for such important safety features, but I understand how some would prefer not to. When accounting for inflation, the average new family car is over $10K more than it was 50 years ago or so. IMO, I think a lot of that is the consumer's desire for more luxurious features, and not entirely due to added safety features.
You are over analyzing it, look at a Honda CR-V MSRP in 2000 and today adjustment for inflation. It's the same price. And you get all the safety tech in today's CRV. That's because mass production of technology means cost can come down. Mike has seen this in every aspect of his life, but ignores it for his infantile maga parroted talking point
Mike has a great point - but I think it’s more a chicken and egg question. Are driver on phones more because the car is doing more of the driving or do we need more automatic feature because drivers are on the phones.
Love the show but how do you have this episode without talking about the CrossClimate+ and CrossClimate SUV? Haha are y'all worried about appearing biased in favor of Michelin? There are differences among "All Weather" test results, and these two tires seem like they are the best for nearly everybody, right? Few more questions: V vs. W speed rating? Would V CrossClimate+ perform similar to W speed? Seems like different tires even though both CrossClimate+ Best guess for ice braking of CrossClimate SUV? Can CR dry braking distances be published for performance all season? What categories have same scale? Choice b/w UHP Summer, UHP A/S, or Performance A/S on 2019 Golf (by the way I have repeatedly told CR about error in fuel economy results for this car). Firestone and Sumitomo always do poorly? Any chance replace with another Michelin like Premier or Primacy or even different speed rating if that affects? Testing SUV tires in 2023? THANK YOU
What a smug question from Mike. Correlating price of cars to death rates is a dangerous, unscientific statement. Death rates are high because of distracted driving. Car prices are high because of supply issues and the desire for cars to be totally loaded with unnecessarily luxury features. It's not because of things like backup cameras. Mike, you should be a politician if you wanna make up talking points with absolutely no research.
Mike in Massachusetts, I commend you for challenging CR's commitment to safety and pushing this conversation. Do you think there might be a correlation between excess horsepower and increased distraction in the rising death toll? Has there been any increase in driver license qualification standards to match the near doubling in average horsepower that has taken place over the last few decades? You need a special license to drive a Semi, is it time for a special license to drive any car over 300 hp? Is anybody anywhere talking about lowering speed limits to save lives and meaningfully cut carbon output from our existing fleet of ICE vehicles? I have been driving since 1980 without a speeding ticket or serious crash because I respect the rules of the road and drive defensively. My CR Top Pick from 2005 was equipped with all the available safety systems when I did my factory order. I will do the same thing when it wears out in a decade or so. In the meantime, I want to be PROTECTED from the red light runners, speeders, tailgaters, distracted and impaired drivers as well as the hooligan imbeciles that make up far too high a percentage of drivers I see on the roads every single day. I want in-car safety technology to improve and I want traffic law enforcement to improve including a much wider adoption of red light camera and photo radar technology. In other words, I want maximum protection for myself and all other responsible road users. Getting back to the premise of your question, hell YES, it is time for Consumer Reports to double down on ALL aspects of road safety. It is time for CR to reconsider the time spent discussing high performance, high consumption cars which are demonstrably a part of the road carnage problem. Consumers and all road users need advocacy based on solid evidence. CR can do more.
3PMSF tire on 4WD is my preferred choice. Mechanical connect on 4x4 is so awesome in both going and stopping vs AWD I've tried which rely on viscous clutch / electromagnetic center diff that is not locked when the foot off gas when taking turns and braking (unless have a center diff lock button and some disengages after about 25mph). Also on the winter tires here in CO I don't prefer to use winter tires as we often go more than 45F in winter.
20:00
The built environment also contributes to traffic-related fatalities, both for those inside vehicles and those outside of vehicles. Local-level politicians like Mayors and council members who approve the municipality's budgets can be held accountable to allocate more funding toward roadway safety improvements. People will drive to the the extent the infrastructure allows them to when it comes to speed and level of distraction. Super easy to scroll Instagram while drive on a straight flat highway with cruise control locked. Not so easy on a curvy back road. Road & street designs have been scientifically shown to influence safety. Our municipalities just need to allocate more funding to make it a priority.
I am glad that CR has called out non-intuitive controls in new vehicles, especially where common things need multiple swipes on a screen - these detract from focusing on what is ahead.
Thanks for the answer -Mike
Excellent segment, dedicated winter tires make a huge difference. My personal favorites the Michelin X-Ice and Bridgestone Blizzaks. They will get the job done even with a front wheel drive sedan, the main advantage of the all wheel drive Suv or a crossover if equipped with dedicated winter tires is the increased ground clearance which could be very helpful in deep snow or when the plow didn't come yet.
I've got 3 vehicles - a FWD, RWD, and AWD, and I switch to a full set of winter tires on all 3 of them. Stopping and turning in winter weather is far more important. Getting stuck is an inconvenience, sliding off the road or through an intersection is dangerous to yourself and others. I'd sooner give up AWD than winter tires.
Well said.
Been using All Weather tires now for about 5 years. First the Goodyear WeatherReady and now also the Michelin CrossClimate 2. The three-snowflake symbol (from Canada by the way - it is their test) shows it passes the ice/snow test in Canada just like snow tires. They are not quite as good as snow tires, but you can use them all year around compared to full snow tires. For the snow in CT, even living on a mountain with AWD, it is fine. With our FWD cars (ranging from Saab 9-3 to Honda Accord) they were not good enough, but neither were snow tires to get home. So we know with good All Weather tires we can go wherever we need whenever we need. When I buy a car now, will be looking at used as new cars insane prices just means more lost depreciation.
Yeah the Cross Climate performed better than average past winter tires. It has the three snow flake symbol so I got it. Can't keep switching.
Take it from a Canadian, if you can buy winter tires that beat Michelin X-Ice traction, treadwear rating and quietness buy them. If you can't, just buy the X-Ice. 😁 If you really want to burn through extra tread and /or gasoline in spring, summer and fall and then ruin your nice alloy rims in winter, buy All Weather tires. 😉No reference to the all wheel drive Prius is complete without a dutiful reminder that Toyota builds an AWD Corolla Hybrid wagon for other markets.
Good conversation! Have always run with snow tires on my fwd work car. Drove approx 35k mpy throughout nh, me & vt. Fortunately, never got stuck nor had a mishap. Recently retired so, the miles will drop and the need to go out in the bad weather will be diminished. On the recent changeover my tire guy told me I’ll need new tires in the spring so I’ve started to eye the new all-weather tires as a year round replacement. Looks like a viable solution and I’ll save $160/yr on changeover costs. I’ll be looking to CR for any all-weather tire updates over the next few months. Thanks
I got the Toyo "All Weather" tires and they are wearing the slowest and best of the last 40 tires I've owned. No changeover hassle too.
I went with a new set of all weather tires after I heard about this category recently. Before that, it is either all season or winter. The tire centre technician told me I got the wrong tires, it is not "Winter" winter tire. I had to let him know that was what I wanted. I am sure they sold a lot of all weather tires before mine, however, it makes me feel they don't really like all weather tires that much, likely for the potential of losing quite a bit of business in changing tires twice a year.
Adding all the safety gear doesn't need to make a car greatly increase in cost. The Nissan Sentra in top trim at 20 grand has it all that cars at $35K don't have.
Mike isn't debating in good faith, it an infantile maga talking point
Consumer Reports should include more information about financial literacy as it relates to motor vehicle purchase and use. We need fewer reviews of vehicles costing over $80,000 dollars. The public should have a better understanding of what they give up financially when they purchase higher priced vehicles.
Your advocate alliance UA-cam channel is a great channel for this type of information
Jake's driveway looks like mine!! I have a dedicated set of "winter" tires for my front wheel drive car.
Love puttering by big SUVs and trucks in the ditch after a blizzard in my old sedan with snow tires.
Greetings from southern Ontario Canada I really enjoyed the video I have uniroyal winter tires on my 2019Mazda 3 GS sport hatchback and the seasonal tires are toyo which came with the car from the factory I actually like your magazine the annual auto addition that comes out usually once a year this is my Bible for deciding on what vehicle or crossover I should buy thanks for the presentation
I like both Mike's questions and CR's answers. There are always two sides to the coin, what I would like to see in the future in cars is a way to automatically disable most smartphone features besides phone and map functions.
I have been driving on Michelle all weather tires for a year. My gas mileage has dropped by around 10% due to a higher rolling resistance. Is that typical of all weather tires?
After our factory tires wear out, we’re planning on buying Falken Wildpeaks, as we get 5-6 feet of snow every winter but we don’t want to switch the tires for summer and winter
Right.
Snow driving is about avoidance, demeanor, experience (speed or distance), or correct tires (type, depth, inflation). Tire socks or chains might be an inexpensive compromise.
Most snow tires in Consumer Reports ratings have bad wet braking ratings.
Given that my city and state are pretty good about plowing and salting, I'm much more likely to be driving over a layer of slush than snow.
Am I safer with a good all-season radial than a snow tire, even in the middle of winter?
On tires - the manufacturers have not done a good job of explaining the merits and limitations of different types of tires. Specifically, that summer tires should not be driven below 45F and how limited (and dangerous) they are in snow, and winter tires should not be driven above 45F or they would wear out and will have poor grip.
To the gentleman who complained about the increase in new vehicle pricing due to the increase in mandated safety features, I agree that it sucks when something that's already very expensive goes up in price even further, for things you may choose to omit if you had the choice, but this is not a recent issue with the automotive industry. For many decades, the government has mandated safety features to be implemented into all road passenger vehicles, such as radial tires to reduce stopping distances and mitigate blowouts, 3-point seat belts for every seat in the vehicle, crumple zones, stability control to help prevent rollovers, etc.
I'll gladly pay more for such important safety features, but I understand how some would prefer not to.
When accounting for inflation, the average new family car is over $10K more than it was 50 years ago or so. IMO, I think a lot of that is the consumer's desire for more luxurious features, and not entirely due to added safety features.
You are over analyzing it, look at a Honda CR-V MSRP in 2000 and today adjustment for inflation. It's the same price. And you get all the safety tech in today's CRV. That's because mass production of technology means cost can come down. Mike has seen this in every aspect of his life, but ignores it for his infantile maga parroted talking point
Mike has a great point - but I think it’s more a chicken and egg question. Are driver on phones more because the car is doing more of the driving or do we need more automatic feature because drivers are on the phones.
Given the torque that sets EVs apart, my guess is that people are simply driving faster, without even trying… Doing 0-60 in 4 seconds or so is bo
both thrilling and sobering.
Move to Florida 😊😎 🌴
Do "All-Weather" tires wear a little faster than "All-Season" tires?
Michelin CrossClimate 2... problem solved...
Love the show but how do you have this episode without talking about the CrossClimate+ and CrossClimate SUV? Haha are y'all worried about appearing biased in favor of Michelin? There are differences among "All Weather" test results, and these two tires seem like they are the best for nearly everybody, right? Few more questions: V vs. W speed rating? Would V CrossClimate+ perform similar to W speed? Seems like different tires even though both CrossClimate+
Best guess for ice braking of CrossClimate SUV?
Can CR dry braking distances be published for performance all season?
What categories have same scale? Choice b/w UHP Summer, UHP A/S, or Performance A/S on 2019 Golf (by the way I have repeatedly told CR about error in fuel economy results for this car).
Firestone and Sumitomo always do poorly? Any chance replace with another Michelin like Premier or Primacy or even different speed rating if that affects?
Testing SUV tires in 2023? THANK YOU
The Nokian wr g4 all weather are pretty good also
lol, i live an apartment. I don't have space for 2 sets of tires. I can't even own a full EV because no charging port.
With a hill like that, I'd like a heated driveway.
What a smug question from Mike. Correlating price of cars to death rates is a dangerous, unscientific statement. Death rates are high because of distracted driving. Car prices are high because of supply issues and the desire for cars to be totally loaded with unnecessarily luxury features. It's not because of things like backup cameras. Mike, you should be a politician if you wanna make up talking points with absolutely no research.
Straight maga parroted talking points without understanding the basics of industry or technology that he has lived through his entire life. Sad.
Toyo Celsius
I believe that all of these tires dramatically reduce your gas mileage…..
Touch screens in cars are extremely distracting probably the biggest volume of distractions.
um Ryan um um Pszczolkowski and you know Jake you know um Fisher 😂 jk I am just as bad
Buy winter tires if you want to be rear-ended by someone driving on summer tires.😉
Twenty minutes too long.