PHEV GR Sport UK... Tyres ?

[Nick72]

Before I put an order in for the company car replacement I wondered if anyone knows the answer and how good or not these tyres are in wet handling and braking and snow traction and braking?

I may switch them out in the order for Michelin crossclimate 2 SUV. I also wondered if going for a slightly wider tyre was actually an option. More traction.

If there's not a great deal in it from the stock tyre which I assume are R19 235s but don't know aspect.. 55s?then I'll not bother. Would like to know make and model.

Car will get used a lot in the Lakes just as the existing 2021 R4P does. Light off road, very wet winding narrow roads, through plenty of snow up and down steep roads, through a few 6 inch deep streams over the road or trail. Then business driving long distance in the light snow (I won't drive if heavy snow forecast, it's just not worth it).

Not yet had a problem with the stock yokos but at the same time I've never felt too confident with them so I haven't pushed the car a lot. Tended to be very cautious. Not saying I want a tyre so I can throw caution to the wind but rather it's a little extra insurance to go with the AWD.

Recall many folks switched tyres. What's the experience been like?

Happy to trade out efficiency and road noise.

Thanks 👍

[Strangely Brown]

If you don't feel the need for a dedicated winter/snow tyre then I would recommend having a look at the latest all season tyres tests.

https://www.tyrereviews.com

or

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2022-Tyre-Reviews-All-Terrain-Tyre-Test.htm

 

[TonyHSD]

Any brand v shaped all seasons tyres would do it for you. Michelin, Goodyear, Hankook, Continental, Vredestein all good brands. Best to stay on the original sizes. 

[RAV4GRS]

Bridgestone Allenza tyres should be the original equipment. They are ok… better than the Yokohamas that most RAV4s get I believe.

[NASY]

Stock Bridgestones work in snow and on dry roads however are really very poor in the wet. I switched to Cross Climates which are remarkably better grip and more comfortable however that grip comes at cost as fuel consumption increased, quite noticeably. Grip or economy?  I'd prefer to live to tell the tale of how I made that decision.

[Doubletalkjive]

One of the first things I’m doing when I get the GR Sport plug in is to swap the tyres for Michelin CrossClimate 2s. I’ve only used those tyres in the last 8 years or so on our current car (Megane) and never had an issue. Also we are planning to go on a drive through Europe and you need winter tyres (the CC2s are acceptable in all countries that we checked). I imagine the Alenza’s are fine for the UK but I will stick with what I know.

By the way lead times on the car seem pretty short. I ordered mid-November and it arrives in the UK mid-January. So I expect collection to be around the start of February.

[Hayzee]

2 hours ago, NASY said:

Stock Bridgestones work in snow and on dry roads however are really very poor in the wet. 

I have the Bridgestone's on my car and I haven't experienced poor performance in wet conditions at all.

[Nick72]

40 minutes ago, Doubletalkjive said:

One of the first things I’m doing when I get the GR Sport plug in is to swap the tyres for Michelin CrossClimate 2s. I’ve only used those tyres in the last 8 years or so on our current car (Megane) and never had an issue. Also we are planning to go on a drive through Europe and you need winter tyres (the CC2s are acceptable in all countries that we checked). I imagine the Alenza’s are fine for the UK but I will stick with what I know.

By the way lead times on the car seem pretty short. I ordered mid-November and it arrives in the UK mid-January. So I expect collection to be around the start of February.

Definitely post pics here.🙂🙏

[Doubletalkjive]

18 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Any brand v shaped all seasons tyres would do it for you. Michelin, Goodyear, Hankook, Continental, Vredestein all good brands. Best to stay on the original sizes. 

Speaking of sizes I read somewhere that you can’t fit snow chains on the 19 inch rims on the RAV4. So for snow you must have suitable ‘winter tyres’ when travelling in countries that have winter time tyre regulations. CCs are good for this reason if you travel abroad. 

It always struck me as strange how in many European countries they have ‘tyre hotels’. You swap your summers for winters and they store the tyres for you till the next swap. Imagine trying to do that here, it would be chaos and probably cost a fortune to store them… our European neighbours somehow seem more organised when it comes to these things. I think it’s ingrained in the psyche for many people on the continent that you need to swap rather than use an all season. Although I also expect that a dedicated seasonal tyre performs better at its job. I think that stands to reason.

[Flatcoat]

1 hour ago, Doubletalkjive said:

Speaking of sizes I read somewhere that you can’t fit snow chains on the 19 inch rims on the RAV4. So for snow you must have suitable ‘winter tyres’ when travelling in countries that have winter time tyre regulations. CCs are good for this reason if you travel abroad. 

It always struck me as strange how in many European countries they have ‘tyre hotels’. You swap your summers for winters and they store the tyres for you till the next swap. Imagine trying to do that here, it would be chaos and probably cost a fortune to store them… our European neighbours somehow seem more organised when it comes to these things. I think it’s ingrained in the psyche for many people on the continent that you need to swap rather than use an all season. Although I also expect that a dedicated seasonal tyre performs better at its job. I think that stands to reason.

They have tyre ‘hotels’ because winter tyres are mandatory usually between October and March/April in many countries and regions. Winter tyres can include all season tyres with the 3 peaks symbol. Some regions also require the carrying of snow chains however they can only be used on snow, not on tarmac surfaces. 

[Nick72]

6 hours ago, Doubletalkjive said:

Speaking of sizes I read somewhere that you can’t fit snow chains on the 19 inch rims on the RAV4. So for snow you must have suitable ‘winter tyres’ when travelling in countries that have winter time tyre regulations. CCs are good for this reason if you travel abroad. 

It always struck me as strange how in many European countries they have ‘tyre hotels’. You swap your summers for winters and they store the tyres for you till the next swap. Imagine trying to do that here, it would be chaos and probably cost a fortune to store them… our European neighbours somehow seem more organised when it comes to these things. I think it’s ingrained in the psyche for many people on the continent that you need to swap rather than use an all season. Although I also expect that a dedicated seasonal tyre performs better at its job. I think that stands to reason.

Seems a lot better organised as you say.

Been reading reviews and overall the best compromise seems to be the CC2s. There are better snow and off road tyres but they fall over too much in everyday use cases. I'll call the dealer and our company car people to find out how I go about just getting those tyres on the car before they deliver it. Basically I shouldn't be paying full price for a new set of tyres when the stock ones are brand new (meaning who gets that windfall ).

[Doubletalkjive]

1 minute ago, Nick72 said:

Seems a lot better organised as you say.

Been reading reviews and overall the best compromise seems to be the CC2s. There are better snow and off road tyres but they fall over too much in everyday use cases. I'll call the dealer and our company car people to find out how I go about just getting those tyres on the car before they deliver it. Basically I shouldn't be paying full price for a new set of tyres when the stock ones are brand new (meaning who gets that windfall ).

Originally I thought I would take the car to Kwik Fit soon after purchase and just keep the stock tyres in our garage at home. But you make a good point. I think I will approach the dealer and see if there is another way to do this 😀

Speaking of the dealer. Apparently the car comes with floor mats but I’m not sure if they are the standard fabric ones or other. Definitely want fabric mats and was also going to get the boot protector tray and horizontal cargo net. Am in two minds about the Nextbase Toyota F/R dashcams as the installation involves removing trim etc. I wish this was a factory option and not something that we need to rely on the dealer to do. I do not want to self install dashcams nor rely on a 3rd party. I believe the onus should be on a responsible party who I can turn to if things go wrong (i.e. Toyota). 
 

[Stopeter44]

6 hours ago, Doubletalkjive said:

I think it’s ingrained in the psyche for many people on the continent that you need to swap rather than use an all season.

I used to swap, because of the mandatory snow tyre zones near where I live, but where I live it snows once or maybe twice a year. I deemed that All season 3 peaks would do it for me. 

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Doubletalkjive said:

Speaking of the dealer ...

You are about to go around some of the same things I did, and things will be dealer specific but ...

• I had the OEM tyres (Grandtrek) swapped for Michelin Cross Climates before I took delivery of the car. The dealer sold me the CCs at a decent price and keep the Grandtreks. From a financial perspective I would have done better to get the tyres swapped at "Kwikfit" and sold-on the nearly new tyres but TBH I could be bothered with the 'hassle'.
• I had the rubber mats supplied meaning to swap between winter and summer - but the fabric mats are still in mint condition in the boot!
• I have the Nextbase dash cams fitted by the dealer. They have a lot of practice fitting them and generally do a very good job - and if they did "stuff it up" both you and they will know where the blame lies.

[Cyker]

For best performance it's best to swap, as no all-season is going to be as good as a summer tyre in summer, or a winter tyre in winter, but it is a hassle unless you have 2 sets of rims and a place to store them. The tyre cost isn't that bad since the wear is spread across both sets though. In the UK there's not really any point unless you live very far north; You can get by on summers alone for the most part, but all-seasons would be more than adequate for most of the country.

The Michelin CrossClimates are ideal for the middle-to-southern half of the UK as we tend to see almost no snow but the Cross Climates can cope with what snow we do get easily, while still retaining a lot more summer performance than most other all season tyres. I think when you get further North, where they can get some ridiculous snow flurries, real winter tyres will do better. The CC2 is slightly more winter-biased according to Tyre Reviews, compared to the CC and CC+.

 

re. mats, typically with Toyota, the only way you can get rubber mats is if you get one of the optional protection packs or order them separately. Otherwise, it'll be a fabric mat.

 

[ernieb]

I had CrossClimtes on the Skoda Yeti a few years ago and they coped extremely well with 12” (30cm) of new snow and kept on coping when that got packed down. Previously I’d had summer and winter tyres but got fed up changing them over, storing and trying to get the change over time correct. A cold snap, I’d change to winter and then a week later it was really too warm for them.

The CrossClimtes just seem to work well although I can except that in the some areas they may be limited but oh so much better than the run of the mill summer tyres that get fitted.

[NASY]

My tyre dealer and his staff all use all season tyres all year round as have I in deep snow and on warm and wet days too. We get pretty cold and snowy up here so the tyres get well tested, maybe never in extreme heat though - pleased to say.

[Doubletalkjive]

3 hours ago, philip42h said:

You are about to go around some of the same things I did, and things will be dealer specific but ...

• I had the OEM tyres (Grandtrek) swapped for Michelin Cross Climates before I took delivery of the car. The dealer sold me the CCs at a decent price and keep the Grandtreks. From a financial perspective I would have done better to get the tyres swapped at "Kwikfit" and sold-on the nearly new tyres but TBH I could be bothered with the 'hassle'.
• I had the rubber mats supplied meaning to swap between winter and summer - but the fabric mats are still in mint condition in the boot!
• I have the Nextbase dash cams fitted by the dealer. They have a lot of practice fitting them and generally do a very good job - and if they did "stuff it up" both you and they will know where the blame lies.

Thanks. I am convinced. I will leave it to the dealer to get these items arranged 😀

I know they offer the Full HD Nextbase dashcams (model 380) only (not 4K). Are you happy with the day/night image quality? I assume it is perfectly adequate for the intended purpose.

[Nick72]

5 hours ago, Doubletalkjive said:

Originally I thought I would take the car to Kwik Fit soon after purchase and just keep the stock tyres in our garage at home. But you make a good point. I think I will approach the dealer and see if there is another way to do this 😀

Speaking of the dealer. Apparently the car comes with floor mats but I’m not sure if they are the standard fabric ones or other. Definitely want fabric mats and was also going to get the boot protector tray and horizontal cargo net. Am in two minds about the Nextbase Toyota F/R dashcams as the installation involves removing trim etc. I wish this was a factory option and not something that we need to rely on the dealer to do. I do not want to self install dashcams nor rely on a 3rd party. I believe the onus should be on a responsible party who I can turn to if things go wrong (i.e. Toyota). 
 

I'll need to go via the company car folks and dealer so it will be what it will be. If I can prime the dealer to make a deal then I'll try that.

Always wanted a Dash cam but I'm in two minds. Evidence used against you and all that 🤣. If the video was all encrypted with my own AES256 key then I'd be in. 

On the mats front I currently have the rubber mat option throughout. Works really well. Think I'm going to stick with the stock mats this time which may even be GR Sport mats?

 

 

[Nick72]

On 12/31/2023 at 6:06 PM, Cyker said:

For best performance it's best to swap, as no all-season is going to be as good as a summer tyre in summer, or a winter tyre in winter, but it is a hassle unless you have 2 sets of rims and a place to store them. The tyre cost isn't that bad since the wear is spread across both sets though. In the UK there's not really any point unless you live very far north; You can get by on summers alone for the most part, but all-seasons would be more than adequate for most of the country.

The Michelin CrossClimates are ideal for the middle-to-southern half of the UK as we tend to see almost no snow but the Cross Climates can cope with what snow we do get easily, while still retaining a lot more summer performance than most other all season tyres. I think when you get further North, where they can get some ridiculous snow flurries, real winter tyres will do better. The CC2 is slightly more winter-biased according to Tyre Reviews, compared to the CC and CC+.

re. mats, typically with Toyota, the only way you can get rubber mats is if you get one of the optional protection packs or order them separately. Otherwise, it'll be a fabric mat.

Would love to be in a position to swap tyres over but it's not too viable with the company car for several reasons. CC2s best for me being in the North of England and a home from home even further north. It's almost always wet. Snow on the hills Jan to late March. Late April a few years back!

[Doubletalkjive]

1 hour ago, Nick72 said:

Always wanted a Dash cam but I'm in two minds. Evidence used against you and all that 🤣. If the video was all encrypted with my own AES256 key then I'd be in. 

 

This is a sticking point for me too. In any case I believe the vehicle system itself records metrics such as speed and GPS location. I assume there is plenty of small print surrounding this but I imagine law enforcement can get to what they need with the right permits… although not potentially as incriminating as Dashcam footage it might be used. Just speculation!

I’m thinking that if the Dashcam is not cloud connected (because the model does not support direct upload to cloud) the data is in the MicroSD card (I don’t know if the Nextbase has separate internal storage). It is maybe worth the trade off - privacy vs protecting your behind 😄

Happy New Year anyway!!

[Nick72]

20 minutes ago, Doubletalkjive said:

This is a sticking point for me too. In any case I believe the vehicle system itself records metrics such as speed and GPS location. I assume there is plenty of small print surrounding this but I imagine law enforcement can get to what they need with the right permits… although not potentially as incriminating as dashcam footage it might be used. Just speculation!

I’m thinking that if the dashcam is not cloud connected (because the model does not support direct upload to cloud) the data is in the MicroSD card (I don’t know if the Nextbase has separate internal storage). It is maybe worth the trade off - privacy vs protecting your behind 😄

Happy New Year anyway!!

You're probably right. 🙂

Happy New Year too. Although I just learned Jools Holland is not live and never has been. I feel like I've taken the red pill and realised the entire universe is fake.

[Cyker]

12 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Happy New Year too. Although I just learned Jools Holland is not live and never has been. I feel like I've taken the red pill and realised the entire universe is fake.

Waaaaaaaa???  

[Strangely Brown]

On 12/31/2023 at 9:59 PM, Nick72 said:

On the mats front I currently have the rubber mat option throughout. Works really well. Think I'm going to stick with the stock mats this time which may even be GR Sport mats?

Seems to me that there is no reason not to keep the rubber mats that you already have and transfer to the new vehicle as required.

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, Strangely Brown said:

 

Seems to me that there is no reason not to keep the rubber mats that you already have and transfer to the new vehicle as required.

Apparently as they were included in the original order they have to go back with the vehicle when returned. Already checked. It was my first thought too.

I also asked in a round about way. What is the inventory of what I need to return. It was listed on there along with the 2 charging cables (granny cable, and unfeasibly long wall box cable). I personally acquired a shorter wall box cable (4m) that was fluorescent green. Easier to manage and store and reduces risk of postman and other delivery folk tripping over it when they cut across my side lawn from next door to deliver stuff!