Reccomendations for a NON-performance tire

Seeking reccomendations for a tire for my girlfriend's '03 Pontiac Vibe. It is an appliance car. Considerations, in order of most important to least important:

1. Snow and wet-weather traction
2. Price (low buy-in)
3. Longevity
4. Handling
5. Ride and NVH

So, yeah. We don't want to totally cheap out, but if I can find a decent Falkumhomitomo option (see what I did there?) instead of Goodrich/Michelin/etc. I'd rather take that. Factory size is 205/55/16.

My experience with buying tires has generally been performance oriented. I liked the Falken Ziex 912s I had on the Miata, but IIRC, they weren't great in the snow and they seemed to wear quickly. I still have a pair of those with only 10k on them in the correct size, but I'm hesitant to put them on Katie's car because the damn thing already gets stuck so easily.

Suggestions?

I have a set of Yokohama Avid Touring S on my Forester. I bought these two years ago and they still look like new. Of course I've got all wheel drive but the car doesn't slip or slide in the crummy weather we currently have, and are quiet on the dry, summer roads. I'm very happy w/these tires.

Toyo Extensa.
Bridgestone Turanza (the one with "serenity" technology, not the EL42 or EL400. They're both too cheapy)
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422
Kumho Solus
Don't rule out the Goodyear Eagle LS and LS2 - they are sub-$100 each and do pretty well.

Trust me... call Tire Rack, x623, Lee Moore. Tell him his Nephew Curtis told you to call. He tests more tires than I can even dream of. He knows which one to get you.

I like the Kumho Solus very much. They have very long tread wear and excellent ride and noise characteristics coupled with decent grip. Great price too. I've put them on 3 different cars so far and have been quite happy.

+1 on the Kumho

I've also been happy with the Fuzion HRi for something with a little better handling.

I've been very happy with Continental "Extreme Contact" DWS tires on my 2003 Protege5.

They've had really good traction in everything I've faced them against, they're quiet for a good tire, and they don't handle horribly.

I've only had them on for 10,000 miles, but they still look to have quite a bit of room to go.

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/chads-742-on-performance-tires-and-wheels/continental-extreme-contact-dws-what-is-the-verdict

If you drive in the rain/snow at all, it's better to run a winter tire year-round than an all-season. Tire Rack even did a test where the snow tire outdid the all-season in the dry!

We have General Altimax's on the Grand Prix, and they are excellent year-round DD tires. The Hankook i-Pike's are pretty nice as well.

If you truly have something against snow tires or just don't get anything other than slush, I also heartily recommend the Toyo Proxes TPT.

I have been running Uniroyal Long Touring on the wife's Minivan forever. They hold up well even with the way she drives.

http://www.uniroyaltires.com/tire-selector/name/long-touring-a-s-tires

Prices are reasonable and they have great wet and mud traction. They are rated for snow too. They also ride and handle good for inexpensive tire.

For one more $ I would go for the Kumho Ecsta ASX. I've got them on 2 cars right now. I have another set of Ecsta SPT's on my Honda and a set of Hankook's on my wife's Subaru.

Ecsta ASX is good for a more aggressive but budget priced tire, however, as many of the reviews report, they wear out too fast. I have them on my '96 i30T 5-speed. I should have bought the Kumho Solus for the 4th time instead.

Javelin wrote: If you drive in the rain/snow at all, it's better to run a winter tire year-round than an all-season. Tire Rack even did a test where the snow tire outdid the all-season in the dry!

Really good snow tires (ice tires) won't last long being driven in the heat. I've also had Hakkas actually heat up and slip belts after a single high speed interstate run in the summer.

I'll run AT type "snow" tires year round, but not an ice tire.

Bill

Kumho Solus and General Altimax. I've owned both of them. Good tires for the money.

Kumho LX platnuim.

Its an amazing tire. Fantastic traction any condition, and long wearing. like 60-85K easy with a good alignment and constant rotation.

And wow they are cheap, http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+LX+Platinum&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=055WR6ELX&tab=Sizes I though they were in the $115 each range.

The S drives and their new envigors are awesome tires as well. The Envigor is the newst gen tire, and it shows. The Envigor and LX plat are the top of the heap right now, and they are GREAT value for the buck.

I'm going to see what I can do about getting some LX Plats, I didn't know they were that cheap. And I wasn't planning on buying new tires till spring...

~Alex

Nokian WR is a good year-round tire. It provides good snow traction and is sturdy enough to stand up to summer heat. This is what I run on the wife's Volvo 940.

If snow traction is number one on your list, you should probably look into a set of steel wheels with dedicated snow tires mounted on them. One tire cannot do it all.