Prius Gen3 Winter Tyres

[johalareewi]

Winter tyres are on just as temperatures drop. Have gone for some Michelin Alpin A4 which are also low rolling resistance so will see how they do mpg wise. Price not too bad. mytyres.co.uk have them at around £70 each fitted (for 15 inch wheels).

http://back-2-03.webmichelin.com/corporate/actualites/en/actu_affich.jsp?id=26583〈=EN&codeRubrique=58&actu=true

[timberwolf]

Snow is not allowed this year, we had more than enough last year, thank you very much.

[Sagitar]

Winter tyres are on just as temperatures drop. Have gone for some Michelin Alpin A4 which are also low rolling resistance so will see how they do mpg wise. Price not too bad. mytyres.co.uk have them at around £70 each fitted (for 15 inch wheels).

http://back-2-03.webmichelin.com/corporate/actualites/en/actu_affich.jsp?id=26583〈=EN&codeRubrique=58&actu=true

Well done. Please let us know how they perform.

I have just put back my Continental Winter contact TS 830 tyres. They cost about the same as yours but I am sure that their rolling resistance is higher than the Alpin A4s.

They were superb in the snow of last winter. I hope yours do as well if/when the snow comes.

[johalareewi]

Snow is not allowed this year, we had more than enough last year, thank you very much.

Driving across the snow covered New Forest is really nice.

There was some black ice about this morning.

[timberwolf]

I was thinking it is a pity they don't make tyres with retractable studs, but after a quick search on the web someone has maybe invented one or maybe they've just created a website to talk about it called a Q tire qtire website.

[Jan&tone]

Snow is not allowed this year, we had more than enough last year, thank you very much.

I'll second that

[Dave R.]

Winter tyres are on just as temperatures drop. Have gone for some Michelin Alpin A4 which are also low rolling resistance so will see how they do mpg wise. Price not too bad. mytyres.co.uk have them at around £70 each fitted (for 15 inch wheels).

http://back-2-03.webmichelin.com/corporate/actualites/en/actu_affich.jsp?id=26583〈=EN&codeRubrique=58&actu=true

Be interested to see how your consumption goes. After my last service, I ended up with 2 new Bridgestones on the front(not ecopias) & my consumption immediately went through the roof (& I know that cold weather can have an impact, but I'm allowing for that!) Whereas I could get the engine warm, reset the trip computer (just filled up with petrol) & then join the traffic getting out of town - computer would show 70 or so mpg (then end up down in the high 50's by the time I'd done my 50 mile drive home) I now find that even in the 2-3 mile crawl out of town (with a warm engine and reset trip computer) I struggle to show more than 50-60. The overall journey home is now hovering around 50mpg. Next "Challenge" is that I'm in a Gen III T-spirit, so 17inch wheels. I need to establish which are the "best" tyres (in terms of fuel economy) before I need any more! (oh yes, and it's a lease car, so I'm stuck with what KwikFit can supply :( )

[Doesn'tExist]

I can't wait for the snow! Bring it on.

[Jan&tone]

Mmmm, seems to be the starting of a poll here! To snow or not to snow.... That is the question

[johalareewi]

Be interested to see how your consumption goes.

Early days yet.

Commute in today was 59mpg which isn't bad because the heating was on too.

Was getting lower 60s on the old tyres last week.

It had a 200 mile trip yesterday and got 54mpg but I wasn't driving.

So initial reaction is no massive drop in mpg and the new tyres are very quiet.

[johalareewi]

Mmmm, seems to be the starting of a poll here! To snow or not to snow.... That is the question

Not too much snow. The prius doesn't have a lot of ground clearance.

[Doesn'tExist]

Good excuse to stay home and play in the snow :-)

[Bike Nut]

In response to Dave R, my fuel consumption has gone down over the last few weeks, hovering around 48 - 54 mpg (actual via fuelly). I am not driving any differently to before and not had a service/tyre change. I have checked tyre pressures regularly and keep them as per the hand book. 33/32 psi. (Gen3 T4 17 inch wheels around 5500 miles so far). So maybe its just the time of year which hits the MPG in the Prius.

I am hoping that its just the cold weather that causing the drop in MPG and nothing untoward. I have managed 59 MPG once in October but this seems to be a one off.

Still, its returning better MPG than any other car I know with the type of driving I do for work, lots of stop start journeys with the odd dual carriage way blast. I think its a great all round car!

[johalareewi]

Update:

First tankfull on the new tyres returned 54.7mpg (fuelly) which is a little bit down but also coincided with temperature drop and 200 miles being done by my GF. Also, the tyre fitters used the recommended pressures (36/35) instead of the 38/38 I had been running.

Now into my second tank and the daily commute is 59 to 60mpg (prius) against 65mpg on the old tyres and warmer weather. The Michelin's seem a lot more positive than the old Bridgestones. You can feel the grip and you don't get the floaty feeling when you take a corner quickly.

[johalareewi]

Long weekend and first encounter with the white stuff

Had a loaded car and the heating on full blast for a trip to the snowy midlands.

Tyres worked fine on the packed snow in the hotel car park but trip mpg was down to 50.

Better mpg on a day trip to France with more snow.

Car not loaded up (apart from the trip back!!) and I turned the heating down a couple of degrees.

Reasonable mpg of 54.

[Roversnumber9]

Just done 38500 miles new Continental tyres all round mpg gone down straight away from 61 to 52/53 what's going on I'm not happy. I'm even trying to drive slower to get more mpg. Hope tyres will wear in and it goes up. Any idea

[johalareewi]

7 inches of snow this morning so after desnowing the prius it was time to take on the hill. Drove straight up it. Traction control not needed! Last year there was less snow but the stock Bridgestones slipped a lot and traction control had to kick in to get up the hill. This year it is like the snow isn't there. will be fun tonight when I go home. The local kids are out on their sledges polishing the hill for my return. :)

Also got to drive across part of the New Forest in the snow. Very scenic.

[johalareewi]

Just done 38500 miles new continental tyres all round mpg gone down straight away from 61 to 52/53 what's going on I'm not happy. I'm even trying to drive slower to get more mpg. Hope tyres will wear in and it goes up. Any idea

Chances are the continentals are not low rolling resistance tyres (or fuel savers). Which continentals are they?

[Sagitar]

7 inches of snow this morning so after desnowing the prius it was time to take on the hill. Drove straight up it. Traction control not needed! Last year there was less snow but the stock Bridgestones slipped a lot and traction control had to kick in to get up the hill. This year it is like the snow isn't there. will be fun tonight when I go home. The local kids are out on their sledges polishing the hill for my return. :)

Also got to drive across part of the New Forest in the snow. Very scenic.

We have only a couple of inches of new snow this morning in our Close, but there is ice under it where vehicles have compacted earlier falls and there is a slope and a sharp bend to navigate to get in. In the Prius with snow tyres it is, as you say, "like the snow isn't there". Straight in and straight into the garage without a slip or a slide and with no sign of the traction control.

[timberwolf]

7 inches of snow this morning so after desnowing the prius it was time to take on the hill. Drove straight up it. Traction control not needed! Last year there was less snow but the stock Bridgestones slipped a lot and traction control had to kick in to get up the hill. This year it is like the snow isn't there. will be fun tonight when I go home. The local kids are out on their sledges polishing the hill for my return. :)

Also got to drive across part of the New Forest in the snow. Very scenic.

It could be that it was the "right" sort of snow for traction? :) The snow that fell overnight, East of Southampton, was a very powdery snow, that wouldn't stick together and was no good for snow balls or snowmen. I seem to remember that the snow at the beginning of the year was a lot heavier, stuck together and obviously there were snowmen all over the place.

[Dave R.]

Just done 38500 miles new continental tyres all round mpg gone down straight away from 61 to 52/53 what's going on I'm not happy. I'm even trying to drive slower to get more mpg. Hope tyres will wear in and it goes up. Any idea

Quite reassuring to find that I'm not the only one! If you look back at my fuelly figures, you'll see my consumption has gone up by about 10% since fitting 3 new tyres - gutted! And for those who say "it's the cold weather" - just look back at my consumption last Jan/Feb when we had the very cold weather - still FAR better than I get now. For reference, the 3 tyres fitted were . 2 x Bridgestone Potenza REO50, 1 x Continental Contisport Contact 3. Original tyres were Michelin Primacy. The only good thing is that new tyres / decent tread will mean I get better grip in the snow and ice (Won't it? )

[Sagitar]

Quite reassuring to find that I'm not the only one! If you look back at my fuelly figures, you'll see my consumption has gone up by about 10% since fitting 3 new tyres - gutted! And for those who say "it's the cold weather" - just look back at my consumption last Jan/Feb when we had the very cold weather - still FAR better than I get now. For reference, the 3 tyres fitted were . 2 x Bridgestone Potenza REO50, 1 x Continental Contisport Contact 3. Original tyres were Michelin Primacy. The only good thing is that new tyres / decent tread will mean I get better grip in the snow and ice (Won't it? )

Are you sure that your driving pattern has been the same. My mileage has dropped horrendously in the past couple of weeks, (from the mid 50s to the mid 40s) but I know that it is because I have been doing a lot of short journeys from cold.

[Bike Nut]

As I have posted before, my MPG has dropped dramatically over the last few weeks. At the moment the trip computer is showing 44MPG! Nothing has been changed on my car and journey type is the same.

Any ideas?

[johalareewi]

It could be that it was the "right" sort of snow for traction? :) The snow that fell overnight, East of Southampton, was a very powdery snow, that wouldn't stick together and was no good for snow balls or snowmen. I seem to remember that the snow at the beginning of the year was a lot heavier, stuck together and obviously there were snowmen all over the place.

Snow was very dry and powdery. Was very easy to get the snow off the prius.

It was more interesting this morning because the snow had hardened overnight and been packed down. Still got up the hill no problems. mpg for the commute in still around the 55 mark (prius reading).

[johalareewi]

As I have posted before, my MPG has dropped dramatically over the last few weeks. At the moment the trip computer is showing 44MPG! Nothing has been changed on my car and journey type is the same.

Any ideas?

Temperature.

The Prius needs to keep itself warm and you warm (according to your climate control settings) and to do this it burns fuel. Also, the air being colder is more dense and your tyres are harder, so it takes a bit more fuel to move the prius along. Have a look over on the Prius Chat forum. Lots of people all over the northern hemisphere have the same problem right now. My winter mpgs last year were around the 45 compared to 65/70 in the summer.

Using ECO mode in the cold weather can help because the Prius will try to keep the petrol engine off for as long as possible. Grill blocking can help too (stops the cold air cooling the engine down) but best done if you have a scangauge monitoring the coolant temps. For realy cold parts of the country, an engine block heater can be installed to pre heat the engine before you start in the morning. All discussed over on Prius Chat.