I live in San Francisco, and the rainy season is just starting. I started leasing my Spark at the end of April, and have been driving on the stock tires, Bridgestone Ecopia. My daily commute is typically 11 miles. To work is mostly downhill, and the return trip, uphill.
I decided to replace the tires, and then put the originals back on when I return the car, for two reasons: I heard that I would need to replace them anyway when the lease is up, because of the wear, and wanted to get some benefit out of the tires I'd be purchasing. Also, I have a higher tolerance for a decrease in range in exchange for better traction. Otherwise I would drive the gas guzzling car in the rain.
As it stands, according to my OnLink stats, I have 101 MPGe @ 1396 miles. When I use the heater the range is drastically reduced, and for the most part, during August and September, I did not. But now I'm back to using the heater, again.
Because of the great feedback about the Ascend tires, I decided to replace mine with those. But those tires work only on the front (size is 185x55x15). However the rear tires are 195x55x15, and although the salesman said they could put the same, smaller, tires on the back he recommended the larger ones because the battery (weight) is back there. He recommended using the same brand for all four tires, and found one called an Avid Envigor. It looked good, but I hadn't researched it. I decided to go for it. They changed my front tires, but I need to go in next week for the Envigors.
Today, I read some not-so-glowing reviews of the Envigor. Most of the complaint wouldn't impact me. For example I don't put a lot of miles on the car (apparently they can wear down within 30k miles) and I don't drive in snow ( they don't perform well in the snow).
My main concern is driving around hilly, slick curves, and still being able to take advantage of the torque.
Any advice on whether I should change my order?
A side note is that driving back with the Ascends up front, the ride felt better, and I didn't hear any squealing from the front when I would come to a stop. Cannot comment on the range, yet.
