[venue1947]

because I'm retired and do not have to drive in all kinds of weather to a job, I can pick the time when I will drive some where in the winter months...I don't have my Venue yet to see how good the tries are on it from the factory...I now they say they are mud and snow which could be good enough for winter...I've always used Michelin all season tires on my daily driver, and as well my daily driver is a standard where I have much better control than an automatic in the snow and ice, and a standard gives you better braking if you do it right...the Venue I'm getting is the Ultimate model in Canada and is the Limited in the US, and they are automatics...when I have to make a tire change I'm seriously thinking of getting the tires that can be used year round and they also have the winter rating...as of now I know of 2 tire manufactures that make these kind of tires, which are Michelin Crossclimate2 tires, and Firestone Weathergrip tires...here in Canada tires that are for winter will have the snow flake marking on them, and both of these 2 tires I mention have the snow flake marking, so they are recognized as winter tires as well as the other 3 seasons...if you have ever seen these or want to look them up you'll see a different tread on them and as well the material that they are made of will be different then the standard non winter tire.

so my question is, have any of you that will have some winter driving to do have ever gotten these type of tires or know anyone who has, and if they do the job...here in Canada some provinces make it mandatory that in winter you have to have snow tires that have the snow flake...because of the cost of owning 2 sets of tires is not what I want to do, so one set is good enough for me and especially because I don't have to drive in snowy conditions...I know these type of tires are fairly new so there probably is not many people that have them, and as well by the time I wear out my tires that will come with the car, the manufactures will have more of these and more then likely have made them better as well.

 

[Essential_22_MT6]

My 2 cents:
My Venue Essential came with Hankook Kinergy GT's which are ok for most year; except in Icy or Heavy Snow conditions.
Next Winter Season I will get Firestone Winterforce 2 tires which are my favorite tire for even all weather. I had them in my 2009 Subaru Impreza for 3 years, put about 30000KM on them and when I traded the car they still had 80% thread; and I even had them on for 2 summers and they performed well; everyone was telling me "You are gonna wear them off quickly if you run them in Warm/Hot weather."; I think they were as good as any 'All Season' tire with the benefit of the 'Snowflake 'for Winter Driving. Granted, the AWD capabilities of a Subaru made it great in Winter driving, on more than one occasion I saw stranded cars in Snowy weather while my Subaru was just going and going.

Another thing to consider is that the Venue is a FWD only; and some models come with 'Snow Mode' Driving; mine does not since is the basic model. I understand, is a nuisance to have 2 sets of tires.

 

[venue1947]

My 2 cents:
My Venue Essential came with Hankook Kinergy GT's which are ok for most year; except in Icy or Heavy Snow conditions.
Next Winter Season I will get Firestone Winterforce 2 tires which are my favorite tire for even all weather. I had them in my 2009 Subaru Impreza for 3 years, put about 30000KM on them and when I traded the car they still had 80% thread; and I even had them on for 2 summers and they performed well; everyone was telling me "You are gonna wear them off quickly if you run them in Warm/Hot weather."; I think they were as good as any 'All Season' tire with the benefit of the 'Snowflake 'for Winter Driving. Granted, the AWD capabilities of a Subaru made it great in Winter driving, on more than one occasion I saw stranded cars in Snowy weather while my Subaru was just going and going.

Another thing to consider is that the Venue is a FWD only; and some models come with 'Snow Mode' Driving; mine does not since is the basic model. I understand, is a nuisance to have 2 sets of tires.

View attachment 1236

mine will have the snow mode and I'm sure at some point I'll more then likely get the new type of year round tire like the Firestone Weathergrip tires especially because of my driving needs.

 

[imaddicted2u]

I've never put winter tires on a car in my life, until the Venue. My insurance company has a discount for running winter tires. I bought the cheapest winter, non studded, tires I could find. Bought them at Canadian Tire. They provide a road hazard warranty. Most tire manufacturers only cover manufacturing defects nowadays. They rotate for free every 8000km and fix flats for free. I paid $200 for all four 15" tires. The combination of winter tires on and snow mode made me almost too confident this winter...found myself driving way too fast for conditions.

 

[mayo]

I’ve heard good things about the cross climates and if I was driving in your conditions, would probably go with them. I drove this winter in West Virginia on the stock all seasons, and with snowmode had no issue with traction in the snow here. That driving mode is the tits in any low traction environment.👍🏼

 

[venue1947]

I’ve heard good things about the cross climates and if I was driving in your conditions, would probably go with them. I drove this winter in West Virginia on the stock all seasons, and with snowmode had no issue with traction in the snow here. That driving mode is the tits in any low traction environment.👍🏼

over the years I have never had snow tires either and mostly had all season Michelin tires and they did the job and probably mostly because the car was 5 speed standard and front wheel drive where I could use 2nd gear to pull away in heavy and slippery snow, and I drove accordingly to the conditions and also used the transmission to help braking...I live with about 5 months of winter snow and have read testing with the snow mode and how it really works, so glad to see you are happy with it...I'm getting the Ultimate model, do you shut off traction control when you use snow mode or does the computer take over what traction control normally does, or does the mode add to the traction control workings...the reason I ask is that the snow mode I believe starts in second gear mode and with traction control on there may be a conflict between the two control modes?

 

[imaddicted2u]

If it wasn't for the insurance discount and the cheapness of the winter tires, I would have run the stock tire in winter.
Here in Nova Scotia winter tires are not mandated, at least not yet but there is a push to change the law. Snowflake tires are required in British Columbia and Quebec so keep that in mind if you plan on traveling there in winter.

 

[imaddicted2u]

When in snow mode everything else works normally, as it should. You have to remember to select snow mode each time you start the Venue.

 

[imaddicted2u]

 

[venue1947]

If it wasn't for the insurance discount and the cheapness of the winter tires, I would have run the stock tire in winter.
Here in Nova Scotia winter tires are not mandated, at least not yet but there is a push to change the law. Snowflake tires are required in British Columbia and Quebec so keep that in mind if you plan on traveling there in winter.

I'm just thinking of the extra expense of having 2 sets of tires and the pain in the butt having to either change them out twice a year and re-balancing them or buying a set of cheap wheels to put the snows on and doing the swap of wheels and tires myself or having a garage to do it...but being retired and having the option of only driving when I want to and when road conditions are good I just want to have one set of tires and with the newer types that are now out there that qualify for winter as well as the rest of the year that's a better option for myself, and as well the Venue Ultimate fits the bill for me and it's my daily driver...I have a 1999 Camaro SS convertible with the LS1 engine in the garage that has never see a winter that I bought it new and is 1 of 63 that was built for Canada to take care of my needs that the Venue won't give me and in reality the Venue takes care of my needs that the Camaro won't do for me 😁...here in Ontario they haven't mandated the snow tires yet, but like governments changing things so often, that might change here as well.🙄

 

[imaddicted2u]

I bought a set of rims from an old Accent for the winters to live on so no remounting and I change them over myself. My insurance savings for running snowflakes will pay for my "cheap" winter tires over a couple of years.

 

[imaddicted2u]

So when I went back to the car with my first Android phone, it wouldn't connect again.
Deleted both phones and re-added the first phone. So far so good. I'll re-add the other phone after this one works for a bit.

 

[denysefrizzle]

When I use my auto start on those cold mornings, when I get into the car, the screen only intermittently works. Sometimes it doesn't work, only when I use the auto start. In fact, when I touch the screen it'll beep like it's awake, but still shows black and does nothing. Other times it'll come on before I get to work, super randomly. Most times it just doesn't come on. And sometimes it turns on when I get in the car, as it should, and works fine. Anyone else having that issue?

 

[Chicago Jake]

I haven't heard of anyone using snow tires since the 1970s. Of course, I live in Chicago, not Canada. Our winters are bad, but I'm sure yours are worse.

 

[venue1947]

When I use my auto start on those cold mornings, when I get into the car, the screen only intermittently works. Sometimes it doesn't work, only when I use the auto start. In fact, when I touch the screen it'll beep like it's awake, but still shows black and does nothing. Other times it'll come on before I get to work, super randomly. Most times it just doesn't come on. And sometimes it turns on when I get in the car, as it should, and works fine. Anyone else having that issue?

I've had my 22 Ultimate for 6 months now and so far everything is working as it should so I'm just taking a guess here...first of all you're still under warranty so if it still acts up take it to the dealer.

Is you vehicle at the latest software and is anything plugged into any of the USB's or even the 12 volt connection when you are trying to start you vehicle...the reason I ask is that before shutting off your car you're recommended to remove anything plugged in to the USB connections and you're not suppose to plug anything in until you start the car according to the manuals...I use the left side USB for my music that's on my USB thumb drive and I don't always follow the manual and many times leave the thumb drive in after shutting down and starting the car and so far I haven't had any problems but the manual does say you could have problems.

I know that with the cars of today that they need a good battery with a good charge to run everything but your battery should be in almost like new condition unless there is something causing a drain on it while the car is shut down...like I say, I haven't had any condition like you're experiencing I'm just pointing out a few things that may be the cause.

I know from experience that if the battery isn't at the charge rate needed for today's cars you can get some really strange things happening...the only time I've experienced strange things was with my 1999 Camaro SS convertible and it was happening just a few weeks after I took possession of it...it wouldn't start at times so I put my charger on it and then when I started the car my gauges would go crazy and the computer was doing crazy stuff and the fix was to give it a deep charge to get it back to full capacity and then to keep the battery fully charged...I was putting the top and windows down using just the battery and playing the entertainment system on the battery when I was doing things like polishing the car and I only drove the car on nice days because I had a daily driver and when I did drive it the battery wouldn't get fully recharged to what I drained out of it...because today's cars use so much power and the engines don't recharge low charged batteries like they use to it's important to so you might have to put a charger on the battery now and then or get a battery tender.

Best of luck just checking a few things but because you have a warranty you might have to get your dealer to figure it out.

 

[imaddicted2u]

On my previous car I used the General Altimax RT43 all season tire. Ran them year round and they never let me down. I bought them based on these test results.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=251