My car handles great in the snow with the stock 17" Goodyear Eagle RS-A's. The biggest problem is it gets so damn dirty
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ditto on the nokias. my last set saw 6 winters (about 30,000 miles) and were still going strong. quiet at crusiing speeds and handle resonably well for snow tires - i'd rather been on my summer rubber for an emergency maneuver, but i've dodged a few deers on the Nokias with no problem.
I have a 5 speed GLX and use Blizzaks. Everyone will chime in on how they don't handle well in dry conditions but they're not as bad as they're made out to be. To me the whole point of a "snow" tire is to sacrifice some dry road handling for ice & snow performance. I make that comprimise for a few months per year to have great ice & snow traction and I'd think up in your area that would be more of a priority.
I have a GLS v6 tip with Kumho 7400series snow tires. I'm very happy with them. No problems what so ever
I'm a firm believer in Nokians. I have 3 year old 16" Nokian NRWs on my Passat Wagon 1.8T 5 speed, and my wife's Passat Wagon 1.8T Tip is riding on brand new 16" Nokian WRs. With the ESP and the Nokians, my wife's car feels invincible in snow - which is exactly how I want it to be. Both sets are rated for extreme conditions AND provide excellent dry-road performance with minimal noise.
I have a set of Semperit snows. Unfortunately, I don't think you can find them any more, because Continental was closing out that line last year. I've always tried to use European snow tires, like Gislaved, Vredestein, or Nokian, because they seem to do better in nasty weather, and are reasonably quiet on long commutes.
Precisely the reason why I looked for the Conti's on my quiet, silky smooth ride new car. Until I ride in someone's car with better ones, I'm happy.
We have Michelins on our 02 and Continentals on our 03. Performance wise (both wet, dry, snow & ice) they are pretty close to equals. We just don't have enough miles to compare wear yet.
Personally, I think a Hakka 1 or Hakka 2 is too agressive a tire for an AWD NJ daily driver unless your commute is only a couple of miles. They'll corner like you have four gum-erasers mounted and at least double your road noise.
Honestly, the Michelins are generally more recommended here over the Conti's... and after 35k on my 99, the best thing I ever did was get rid of the frickin Michelins, and replaced 'em with Bridgestone Potenza's... SOOOO much better wet traction
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