rizzo

not sure if anyone's seen this one... but here's a great modification.

what does being french have to do with tires not being good? you're not one of those people who eats freedom fries, are you? as for the reviews... CR is sort of a business, but they don't take payments from the companies who make the products they rate highest. tirerack's reviews are from actually consumers, but the problem with their reviews is they generally don't provide any useful feedback. you have to read through about 100 of them to find that only 10 have any sort of useful feedback on the tire. another thing to think about is that most people who write reviews either absolutely loved the product or absolutely hated it. so you don't find too many in between reviews on tirerack because of that fact. i've decided to go with the tripletred. it seems to have the best all-around performance that i've seen rated anywhere. yes, i have read the CR ratings and know that it's not the best in stopping on ice, but i also read that the michelins aren't the best in other situations and since ice isn't a factor most of the year, i'll just accept that (and i've read reviews of the tripletred that say they did awesome on ice, so it really depends on the person i guess). the michelin that CR rated the highest is only available in club stores (which i do not belong) and doesn't even come in the size i need (that's the x-radial).

i have no issues with my current worn down potenzas when it comes to getting going in the snow... it's stopping that sucks. i've read some reviews that people wrote about the nokians doing dry cornering and they weren't the best. i think i'm gonna go with the tripletreds from goodyear (they're easier to find around me too).

i'm expecting that they won't to an awesomely perfect job in the snow (especially when compared to dedicated snow tires), but i also know some are better than others. Thanks for the input though. the comfortread was at the bottom of my list, guess i'll remove it.

I'd like to hear from people who can give me a good breakdown on the pros and cons of a couple different tires that I'm considering replacing the OEM's with (and i will probably like almost anything better than them). I live in southern new england where we get snow for 3 months out of the year (maybe 4 if we're lucky), but it's sporatic and not constant (for example, this winter has been mostly in the 40's, so no ice this year except for about a month). i do drive up north a fair amount for skiing, so i deal with the snowy and icy conditions up there (NH, VT, ME). i'm looking for a good all around all season tire. based on what i've read here, i've narrowed it down to 5 possibilities. here they are in the order that i'm considering them. nokian WR / goodyear assurance tripletred (these are tied for 1st) bf goodrich traction TA falken ziex ze-512 goodyear assurance comfortread the tripletred an the falken are top of their categories (all season and performance all season, respectively) in consumer reports. the tripletred is top in its category on tirerack. and i've seen rave reviews from people here on the nokian, the traction TA, and the comfortread. so i'd like some objective input into these tires with the pros and cons of each of them. i will be doing mostly dry weather driving, but when it gets cold and snowy here, it gets pretty slick, so that needs to factor in as well (and everyone likes a quiet ride as well). thanks in advance.

would you mind elaborating on the "scary on highway" part? what sort of conditions do you normally drive? i'm currently considering 5 tires for my car (which i need to get switched in the next 2 weeks). the nokian WR, the goodyear tripletread, the goodyear comforttread, the bf goodrich traction TA, and the falken ziex ze-512. i can't find much for reviews on the nokian. the goodyear tripletread is ranked highest in its category on both tirerack.com and consumer reports. the falken is ranked highest in "performance all seaon" (a different category than the tripletread is in) on consumer reports. the bf goodrich seems to have a lot of happy customers here on USMB, whose advice i also value. so since no one seems to really give a nice in depth review of the nokians, i was wondering if you could do that for me. what did you like about them and what didn't you like about them? also compare them to the tripletreads since you've used both... i'll explain the conditions i drive in to give you some reference. first, i have an 03 OBS. i live in providence, RI (southern new england). we get snow in spurts, but a lot of times, it ends up icy because RI doesn't know how to use a plow. i also go up north to NH, VT, and ME for skiing, where there's usually considerably more snow. it also rains here a lot, but the summers are warm and can be dry as well (we've had drought warnings). because it only snows about 3 months out of the year, i don't see a point to having dedicated snow tires that i swap out in the winter. so i really need a good all around tire with decent treadwear (the falkens are only rated for 30k, while the nokians seem to be rated for 50k and the tripletreads and comforttreads 80k, not sure on the traction TA's). i'm also going to make a new post to try to get people to elaborate on why they like the tires they do.

my 03 OBS does this... as to your good thought... people drive with fog lights on when they shouldn't be on (any time there isn't fog or haze over the road). so this would totally prevent them from using their high beams, which are important to use when it's really dark as long as there's no one in front of you. what i hate are people on the highway thinking that the people on the other side of the highway can't see your high beams... i think it's a general rule of thumb not to use your high beams on the highway anyways...

nice looking car... but didn't subaru make that with the 05 legacy GT? i am actually a big fan of the looks of the newer mazdas (although i like the backend of the protege5 wagon better than the mazda3 wagon). i would've considered a mazda3 if they were AWD... i'm surprised more car manufacturers don't make it an option...

explain how the manual is a joke... it's actually a pretty good resource as for the maintenance schedule, it's generally the same on any new car you purchase. granted, you can get away with no following it word for word, but it's worth it if you want to keep the car in perfect condition. there's a reason it's called preventative maintenance. and to your other comments... if you know so much about what should be done, where it should be done, and all that, why bother asking if you're just gonna rip on everyone's suggestions?

OBS has drums in rear... they didn't add rear discs until 04 or 05 in the OBS.

occasionally, i get the smell in heavy traffic going uphill (providence has some killer hills). i've also noticed it backing out of my mother's driveway in CT (it's a hill, but not too steep, but backing is tougher i think). i'm not too worried about it though, it's only on occasion when i get a nice driver stopped right on my rump roast on one of those hills in providence... since then, i usually allow myself to roll back about an inch whenever i come to a stop on a hill just to give the driver behind me a little warning.

my.subaru.com is great. i highly recommend signing up for the site if you haven't already. it's got all the maintenance stuff there for you to look at, as well as some other stuff... and i think you can view your owner's manual right on the site in PDF format...

they all have the same motor (with the exception of the WRX). does he want a wagon or a sedan (if sedan, then obviously the outback is out of hte question). if it's just a winter car and there's snow, i'd probably stay away from the WRX, aside from the obvious lack of need for the turbo, insurance will be higher. i don't th ink there's much difference in ground clearance between the OBS and TS, maybe like half an inch or so. i think the only difference between the OBS and TS are luxury options and a stiffer suspension (the OBS having both more standard options and the stiff suspension, i wanna say the OBS and WRX have the same suspension, but i could be wrong, in either case, the OBS costs more because of this). i have an 03 OBS and i love it, it's a great little car... and the gas mileage is pretty good too. last time i measured, i got 28 mpg, but that includes both city and highway driving (city of providence and philly), and averaging about 70-75 on the highway (i probably could've gotten much better if i kept it around 65, but it was the middle of the night and i wanted to get to philly to see the girlfriend). EDIT: i know the TS and OBS have the EJ25, but it's the phase II not phase I. the phase II is less likely to have the headgasket problem. granted, my car has about 52k on it right now so it's not something i'm worried about in the near future... if it happens, it happens, i'll pay for it. so i guess since he's buying a higher mileage car, he might want to check to see that it doesn't have a headgasket issue in the near future (and he should frankly ask the guy selling the car about it if buying from a dealer), other than that, just look for the standard things... a carfax report is always a good idea...

if they try to compete with them while keeping their prices low, that could be a good thing... if they become a luxury car and the prices reflect that, they'll lose at least half their loyal customers, probably more. they also still have the stigma of being called "subaru". a lot of people who drive audis and bmw's do so because of the name, not so much the reputation (the new audis suffer the same troubles the new vw's do). subaru is not a status symbol, audi or bmw is... they'll also run into problems if they still only offer 4-cyl engines in their more "luxury" cars. they'll have to rely on the h-6 more to really compete. not to mention subaru doesn't have a "big" car (along the lines of the A6-A8 or 500-700 series). i think they need to win back the hearts of a lot of their loyal fans before they make this sort of a change... i'm curious what we'll see once GM is completely out of the picture.

people want those electrical convenience things... why do you think people buy poorly rated cars? because they have features. i'll admit, i don't like the lack of comfort features from subaru. and in order to get most of them, you need to buy a higher end one. why not offer them across the board, or at least on the same model... all legacies should have the same options as options, all imprezas, all foresters, etc... but that's not how they work. and their prices are more expensive than other comparable cars. we have to remember that not everyone compares subarus with other AWD cars, they compare them with other cars of the same class... most that are FWD. and is it me or do the newer ones get worse fuel mileage than the ones from the late 90's? that's something that shouldn't be happening... yes, the bigger engines might be nice, but if you're not working other things to save gas, then there's a problem...