Given
87%
while driving a
Kia Motors ceed
(205/55 R16 V) on
a combination of roads
for 7,000
easy going miles
I'm pleased to give my positive recommendation for Michelin CrossClimate tires, based on a year of driving mixed roads and weather conditions, sometimes with just me in the car; sometimes fully loaded with five people and luggage. First: they are quiet and give a comfortable ride when set to the correct pressures for the car and load. They track straight at high speed on the motorway and do not adversely follow road surface damage. Second: they grip well starting-off, cornering and braking on dry, wet and changing road surfaces (although I have not yet encountered snow since having these tires fitted). They were superb during a torrential rainstorm that was flowing water and mud all over the road. Having seen wet and snow test results and videos on the Tire Reviews website, I feel confident that these Michelins, driven appropriately for poor road conditions, could get the car to my destination and home again safely. Third: they meet my requirements for a year-round tire, with a 3PMSF rating (legally required November to April in central Europe) for cold weather grip that doesn't quit below +7 deg.C, while not wearing out or sliding around on hot summer roads. I don't have space to store an extra set of four tires+wheels that aren't being used during winter or spring-summer-autumn seasons. The only demerit I can give these new Michelins is that my car's average petrol consumption has increased from 7.8l/100km = 36mpgUK on the old tires, to 8.8l/100km = 32mpgUK, while doing the same sort of driving on the same roads.
Finally, these CrossClimate tires do feel different after fitting them on all four wheels of my Kia hatchback: as I turn the steering wheel, lateral force builds as needed to drive around corners, but the response is pleasingly progressive, not instant (like the car was on rails on summer tires). The rubber undoubtedly grips the road and seems affected little when transitioning from dry to wet tarmac, but the different steering feel takes a few miles to get used to. The car has never lost front-wheel-drive traction under power, nor skidded under braking: not in town, not on rural roads, nor on the motorway. Even so, don't drive these tires to track day (you would just wear them out pointlessly and kill their capabilities), nor up seriously snowy mountains (for which you should get full-winter tires), nor in deep mud or gravel (for which you should get full M+S tires).