Michelin MXV4 195/65R15 Review

F8L did such a good job of reviewing the MXM4 for his 17" tires that I thought I would try to copy his format for my MXV4 15" tires. I am not that much of a tire person but I will give it my best shot.

My OEM Yokohama Avid S33D tires were down to 4/32" at 31,000 miles so it was time to replace and Michelin had their $70 discount in affect. I always use Sam's Club for tires due to cost and being open nights and weekends for rotations and balance. They did not have the Energy Savers in stock and the MXV4's had the highest rating of the tires that they did have in stock. My wife's 2007 Honda Accord came with these tires and I had just recently replaced the OEM tires with a new set of these. These rode and handled great on the Accord so I thought they would do as well on the Prius.

Michelin Primacy MXV4 (Luxury Touring All-Season)
UTQG = 620, A, A, 44 psi, 11/32", 22.3 lbs., 832, $124

Noise: The immediate impression out of the door is the quietness of these tires versus the Avid's. Night and day. Driving to work the next day on the highway I was able to lower the radio volume from 15 to 12 due to the lack of tire noise. Even on rough surfaces they are much quieter than the Avids. On smooth surfaces there seems to be no road noise at all.

Handling: I started out with 40/38 psi just like the Avids for true comparison. Like F8L said about the MXM4's these tires stick like glue. I have an exit ramp where it does a full 180 degree left turn and crosses back over the road below. At the tightest part of the turn, just as it begins to straighten out, there is a transition from asphalt to concrete right at the overpass bridge. There is a slight dropoff and at 60 mph the car tends to bounce and on the rebound up the Avids tended to lose their grip and car wanted to slide sideways. I had to slow down if I had another car to my outside lane. With the MXV4's, the first time I slowed a little but the tires never lost their grip. The next time I actually powered in to the bridge with a car to my outside lane and the tires felt like they were gripping even harder. Great improvement.

Traction: We have had some hard rains since I bought the tires and I have been able to test the traction on wet roads. They were equally as impressive in wet conditions.

Mileage: I had an initial 4 mpg drop but I seem to be recovering some since I have about 6k miles now. I seem to be recovering mpg more at highway speeds after the tires are warm than around town at lower speeds. My mpg loss is at about 3 mpg now.

Michelin rates these tires at a 10 for Fuel Efficiency, the same as the Energy Savers. Tirerack lists some of the 16 and 17" tires as LRR but not the 15" which I do not understand. I have sent emails to Michelin Customer Service and their response is that my tires are LRR and should have the Green X marking but they do not. My tires say made in Romania and they say that the factory there may not have adopted the Green X markings yet From the loss of mpg I would have to say that they are not LRR but, like dhanson865 says, they are probably just below LRR.

Price: I paid $124 for the tires plus $15 per tire to install, lifetime balance and rotate and Road Hazard Warranty. The total with the Michelin $70 discount, taken at the register, was $532.65.

Summary: Michelin lists these tires for luxury sedans like the Accord and the Camry. For those that want a typical Michelin comfortable ride at the expense of mpg, I would highly recommend these tires. If I can get 60,000 miles out of these tires and gain back my lost mpg by the time I am halfway through the tread life I will be satisfied that I made the right choice. The comfort, handling and quietness of the ride greatly outweighs the loss of mpg to me.

 

The Energy Savers are definitely better LRR tires when they are available. Glad they were available for you. They were my first choice.

For the time being there are very few available, if you can even find them, and Michelin cannot even say when they will be available in the US in the near future.