Originally posted by kadajawi What's wrong with the Focus?
As much as I love ford vehicles, that 2015 focus was not one I'd ever want to drive again. The interior is cramped compared to older models, the brake pedal too close to the driver seat (and when you're short like me and have to pull the seat up, that meant picking my leg up and pulling back to hit the brake pedal...), the controls were awkwardly laid out due to the redesign of the control console (which took up so much space that it cramped the driver seat), the stereo was a quiet piece of crap powered by some form of MS based software, and on top of that the suspension was so hard you felt every bump in the road. The seats were hard too. Plus those "blind spot" mirrors on the side mirrors are distracting and cut into your field of view out of the main mirror.
---------- Post added 07-07-15 at 10:16 PM ----------
Originally posted by stormtech I've always been interesting in trying Nokian tires but they seem hard to find in the US - at least around here. I just tried the dealer locator on their website and it doesn't work.
I am a firm believer in winter tires. While I've always had a 4WD pickup I ran my VW Jetta TDI for a few winters with
Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires. The grip on ice was just fantasic - I couldn't believe how sure footed the Jetta was even on a totally ice covered road.
Now I am down to just my 4WD pickup and it only gets ~6k miles a year on it. I don't have the ability to change out winter wheels/tires anymore so my next tire purchase will be something for all year use. I don't believe in the term "all season" for tires - there is no such thing. I don't want to run a dedicated winter tire like the Blizzak all year since they wear quickly on hot dry pavement. So I thought the Nokian winter tire would be a good comprimise especially being we have a solid 5 months of winter here with poorly maintained roads. If only I could find a Nokian dealer within striking distance.
I know that one all too well. It took me a while to find a dealer in the US that carried them. I ordered my nokian tires from tiresbyweb, which is the online portion of a michigan store called Tire Factory. I had a hard time choosing between the hakkapelitta 8's (studless version/winter tire) and the hakkapelitta wr g3's (all season). I went with the wrg3's because I didn't want to have to buy a set of summer tires on top of that. There was no way I was dealing with studded tires (hakkapelitta 8 has a studded option).