My son is going to transfer to University of Vermont this fall. He dislikes the south in general and his heart condition favors cold weather.
I grew up in the rust belt but moved south in 1997. I haven't driven in snow regularly since then.
I hoped to send kid up there without a car but it appears he will need a car since he is in 3rd year and no dorm available.
Car choices are a 2012 highlander FWD and a 2015 Mazda 6 also FWD. The Mazda has 225/45 tires - wide flat cross section. Highlander has 245/65. I'm thinking the Highlander is better choice but interested in how GRM would evaluate this situation...
(Happy Independence Day to the dorks from the US)
Ugh, dont want to think about winter yet...
That said, I put a set of Blizzak WS90 on my car last winter to good result; I think they were amonf the higher rated and not too expensive. You do know you're on snows but they arent ridiculously noisy.
Car-wise I'd vote for the highlander, more sidewall and I'd imagine more ground clearance.
Is he going to swap tires seasonally or just run the one set all year? If the latter, I'd be looking at some of the new all-seasons with the "3 peak mountain snowflake" rating - I think Michelin and Vredstein make some. And Highlander over Mazda for Vermont.
I'm in CT and have had very good luck with General Arcticmax (I think that's what they're called) for winter tires. That said, he's going to be quite a bit farther north than me. Unsure if studs are necessary up there.
docwyte
PowerDork
7/4/22 12:16 p.m.
As someone earlier posted, is he going to swap wheels/tires? If so, than a set of Blizzak's or Hakkapellita full on snow tires are the way to go. If not, then Nokian makes another Hakkapellita that's an "all season" but much more of a foul weather oriented tire compared to most of the other all seasons. I'd choose that one and then be very careful about avoiding driving on the really bad days
The Highlander will be pretty much the dream vehicle for the area, even at just fwd. Put on some good tires. I'd too recommend the new style aggressive "all year" snow tires.
Don't try to go with a bigger tire to fill up the wheel wells. Stay with factory size. You need those open wheel wells to leave room for some "snow pack" in the wheel wells.
Boy, your kid didn't just go a little north. He went nearly all the way north. 
Hoping not to swap wheels. Highlander has brand new all season tires.
What's the road salt situation up there?
Your brand new tires will be fine for his first season. Maybe even a few seasons if he drives little.
I will guess the road salt situation is...lots of it!
So, second advice is send the car you like the least since compared to Atlanta, its a death sentence. But, since rust will be the norm on either, a rusty Highlander up there will be worth more than a rusty Mazda sedan.
In the future, sell the cars up north to northerners who expect rust and continue to buy replacements cars in Atlanta where there is no rust.
Yes, salt. All of it. A thorough rustproofing prior to exposure should stave off the effects for a couple years.
All-seasons are OK for most of the winter if, and it's a big if, he doesn't have time-sensitive driving requirements. If he can find a place to live near campus (it's right in Burlington, so it should be possible, but I have no idea what costs are like), he can walk in, or I think Burlington has a pretty extensive bus system. But if he wants/needs to drive at any time regardless of conditions, buy new tires or make sure your collision insurance is sufficient.
The Toyota will likely be more resistant to rust than the Mazda 6, just based on the rustiness of samples a bit further south here in CT. I've run Blizzaks on FWD vehicles (multiple sets on a Honda Odyssey and a Toyota Camry) and they've done really well in this area. I ran a set of Michelin Ice-Xs on a Saab and those worked really well, as well. I'd say the key is switching from an all-season to a dedicated winter tire is the key, the dedicated snows do much better at going and stopping than an all-season.
If sticking to all seasons, I've had good experiences with the Michelin Defender LTX. A bit more tread depth than most, and they've held up well through all four seasons around here. I'm currently running them on all of our vehicles (Rav4, Odyssey, Pilot), they're not cheap but they're great tires.
Blizzak or the Firestone copy that is cheeper. Since Brigstone and Firestone are related as far as I can tell they are the same tire.
These tires on any kind of AWD care and you will feel invincable in snow. But Be very carful driving them not in winter they will ware out really fast if you drive them to far in to the spring / summer.
I run them on my merc, the saab and the Firestone copys on the Rav4 No issuers at all in winter.
Brotus7 said:
I'm in CT and have had very good luck with General Arcticmax (I think that's what they're called) for winter tires. That said, he's going to be quite a bit farther north than me. Unsure if studs are necessary up there.
Clicked on this thread to recommend these. General Altimax Arctic. They are my favorite snow tires so far. The best part about them, in my experience, is how long they last, even with a fair amount of warm weather driving. My current set of Blizzaks were amazing for the first winter, and have been just so-so after that, rapid drop in performance over time compared to the Generals.
OHSCrifle said:
Hoping not to swap wheels. Highlander has brand new all season tires.
What's the road salt situation up there?
They salt the living E36 M3 out of everything up here at the sign of the first snowflake. With that said my son is doing just fine in a 16 YO Focus in southern Vermont on all seasons. The pavement is usually bare and black 45 minutes after it stops snowing, he should be fine with all seasons as long as he’s not trying to drive long distances in a storm.
If it weren't for road salt, I'd recomm the 6 over the Highlander, that being said, even modern Mazdas start rusting out at the first sign of road salt.
With regards to tires, nearly every manufacturer now offers an all weather tire option, that has siping and is severe duty snow flake rated. These are not to be confused with all seasons, which are absolute crap. If not going with a second set of wheels and designated snows (possibly even studded) an all weather set is likely the way to go. General's offering is the altimax aw365, hankook's is the kinergy 4S, Michelin is onto the crossclimate 2, kumho has the solus HA31, and nokian has the WRG4 any of those options will be decently serviceable in the snow, and will far exceed the abilities of any "all season" option.
+1 for Altimax but really any full on winter tire will be excellent.
Also +1 on Highlander, and a pre treatment of rust prevention. Mazda will practically evaporate in those salt conditions.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
All season doesn't mean good in winter it means will get by but with a whole lot of sliding around.
I live in Minnesota so I completely understand winter snow. You need 2 sets of tires. Those all seasons for 8 months of the year and winter snows for winter. ( temps below 45 degree F ) I buy a set of junkyard wheels and put on Blizzacks. Once the last snow storm of the season passes. Typically in April pull those Blizzacks off and put on the all seasons.
I've tried almost every other tire
I am seacoast NH.
I run BFG ATs on my truck. Fantastic winter tire IMO.
On my "awd" golf I run the Falken all seasons that came with it. Eventually I will run two sets of rims and a gravel or a snow tire on it.
Same with our "awd" Charger as far as all seasons go. If the snow is real deep or slippery my wife can take the truck or the golf.
If the Porsche sees snow in it's Pilot Sports I am an idiot.
My son will attend college in Rochester this Fall, so I'm in a similar situation. I just ordered Michelin Cross Climate 2's. I reason that they only need to be adequate, not great, in snow because if the snow is really serious, he can just stay in his dorm. One of my big concerns (and first hand experiences) with dedicated snow tires is that they are really, really bad on wet roads, and I see that as a greater risk than being bad in snow. The Cross Climate's are, instead, really good on wet roads, really good on dry roads, and supposedly suitable for all temperatures. I have set on my car too, so we'll see.
