Crossclimate 2 10,000 mile review

Ws6

Joined
Mar 7, 2008
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6,125
Location
South Central US
I just crossed 10K miles in my Rav4 Prime. I put 235/55/19 105H rated CC2's on it when new.

The tires have been exceptional in every way.

-Sound: They are quiet. On everything. No pavement types made this tire sound loud or annoying in any way. It is the most uniformly quiet tire I've driven on in an SUV/CUV.

-Vibration: This tire had none. Like glass. Either that, or the Toyota dealer and RAV4 Prime are just good like that.

-Impacts: This tire is somewhat firm and sporty. Impacts weren't bad, but it won't just absorb them like a soft touring type tire.

-Water: This tire dealt both with wet roads and standing water VERY well. I would say it's average for adhesion to wet pavement, among premium peers I've used (LX20, LX25, RT43), but nothing compares to how it cuts through standing water with poise and a very planted feel at all times. There are spots I drive through that on new LX25's would make my CX5 skitter a bit due to water running off over the road. In heavier rain at higher speeds, these CC2's on my Prime just cut it. I forget it's a "bad corner" with these. Peerless.

-Dry: These tires offer very good traction (I can floor my R4P from a stand-still on clean pavement and it dead hooks. This is an "issue" for this vehicle). Cornering stability is excellent. The tires have progressive break-away accompanied by audible feedback and a very progressive nature. Dare I say they are sporty.

-Steering feel: After the initial mould release wears off, steering feel on-center is excellent. The tire has no bad habits or "vagueness" even having no defined center rib.

-Snow and Ice: I have not tested these in deep snow or on glare ice. New vs New on plowed roads with snow compacted into "ice", they perform near identical to LX25's. I suspect that in deeper snow, they would excel, as the tread really picks up a lot of snow and doesn't allow the tire to just "spin in it" like longitudinal sipes/tread does.

-Tread life: This tire arrived with an initial depth of 10/32. At 5K miles, it was down to 8-9/32 depending on F/R. I had them rotated. At 10K miles, they are now at 8/32 all around. This compares equally with LX25's on my CX5 turbo, even though I bet my Rav4 Prime is harder on tires due to much more and instant torque.

-MPG: I have had these since new, but my battery range was showing the advertised 42mi total this summer. I would opine that these will not alter factory mpg by any noticeable amount in and of themselves, but you may find yourself pushing the vehicle more with a better tire.
 
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Ws6, I share your thoughts on the CC2 tires. I have had them on my All Track for almost two months and find the same behavior you have observed. A great tire and I strongly endorse it.
 
I think Michelin hit a home run with this tire. I just can't get over the cheese grater look. I am in need of tires for my old BMW but I think I'm going to go with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06+. I live in Georgia and simply don't need the snow traction.

How are the CrossClimate 2s with regard to noise?
 
I think Michelin hit a home run with this tire. I just can't get over the cheese grater look. I am in need of tires for my old BMW but I think I'm going to go with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06+. I live in Georgia and simply don't need the snow traction.

How are the CrossClimate 2s with regard to noise?
Per my review.
 
I found the CC2’s to be failing a bit in deeper snow (on top of packed snow) with Toyota’s hybrid AWD system.

In eco mode, it’s not going anywhere

Had to put it into “Trail” mode to get the car moving
 
Day 1 on CrossClimate2 on a 2015 Honda Pilot and 8” of powder snow to play in. Work great thus far. Confident enough to let my 16 year old new driver drive a few miles down road to friends for a bit.
 
Good to know. My brother just put a set on his 2019 Rav4 hybrid XSE. The bearings and alignment on his rav4 have been unreliable. Tires wore to the wires on the inside rear in 40k miles. Very noisy riding. Hopefully Toyota fixes that so these tires dont get eaten through.
 
I found the CC2’s to be failing a bit in deeper snow (on top of packed snow) with Toyota’s hybrid AWD system.

In eco mode, it’s not going anywhere

Had to put it into “Trail” mode to get the car moving
Does eco even enable AWD?

If I was a system designer, Id limit the superfluous use and energization of added drives and motors, which all have a parasitic draw. Since FWD is perfectly OK in 99.9% of anybodys' notional use of a car based "SUV", to save energy, Id want to align the system to minimize losses in an eco mode. Those scenarios may not be conducive to the 0.1% of the time where AWD is actually needed.

Dont some faux AWD systems like are used in car based AWD also get tricked, and arent locked together, so one wheel slips and the others cant move? Thought there was a thread on that related to, IIRC, Honda.

Such drive energization and bias decisions can have a real effect that arent the tires' fault...
 
Does eco even enable AWD?

If I was a system designer, Id limit the superfluous use and energization of added drives and motors, which all have a parasitic draw. Since FWD is perfectly OK in 99.9% of anybodys' notional use of a car based "SUV", to save energy, Id want to align the system to minimize losses in an eco mode. Those scenarios may not be conducive to the 0.1% of the time where AWD is actually needed.

Dont some faux AWD systems like are used in car based AWD also get tricked, and arent locked together, so one wheel slips and the others cant move? Thought there was a thread on that related to, IIRC, Honda.

Such drive energization and bias decisions can have a real effect that arent the tires' fault...
Yes, Eco still uses the rear motor to drive the rear wheels.

Most of the current FWD-based AWD systems will engage the rear axle upon start-off from a stop, then tapers down to FWD once up to speed. Even Audi Quattro with Ultra technology will decouple the rear axle as needed for better fuel economy.

The previous gen-CRV is that you're referring to, on a Swedish test, but that was with 2 front wheels on rollers. The current Real-time AWD fixed the problems of the previous generation.
 
I have dedicated winters and (all-season) summers, but I'm going to recommend these to my parents and anyone else I know who's too cheap or lazy for a real winter set. I've heard a lot of good things about the CC2's.
 
Yes, Eco still uses the rear motor to drive the rear wheels.

Most of the current FWD-based AWD systems will engage the rear axle upon start-off from a stop, then tapers down to FWD once up to speed. Even Audi Quattro with Ultra technology will decouple the rear axle as needed for better fuel economy.

The previous gen-CRV is that you're referring to, on a Swedish test, but that was with 2 front wheels on rollers. The current Real-time AWD fixed the problems of the previous generation.
As far as FWD based AWD systems some things are documented and some are not. My wife's car is a 2014 Rav 4 and my car is a 2018 Hyundai Kona 1.6T AWD tuner car that we tow with both. She gets the ultra lite weight pop up camper ( 1,500 lbs loaded) and I tow the boat with my car. Toyota has documentation on when sport mode is engaged it "holds" a 95% front and 5% rear AWD percentage, so some reduced form of full time AWD. When you hit sport mode in the Rav4 you feel a little push when it engages the AWD.

With my car when I engage sport mode, I get the same push. Both these cars act the exact same with sport mode is engaged. Hyundai has no documentation I have found on it's AWD, but my findings are it mimics the Rav 4's to a T. While the Rav 4 is not setup for the corners as my car is you can feel you have some sort of AWD engaged when throwing it around in the corners. You can definitely feel the AWD in the corners in the Hyundai Kona if you toggle in and out of sport mode/AWD. These modern day FWD bias AWD have great advantages even when not built extra heavy duty like Audi's non FWD bias AWD.

This is the case also with with no power being added as FWD AWD with electronically engage the AWD with medium to full engine load. While being in sport mode and coming into a high speed "on camber" sweeper where you have to lift off the throttle, the car is planted and 100% balanced and you do the same corner at the same speed and lift off the throttle the rear becomes a tad unsettled as the the AWD is not engaged. There are so many corners where the AWD pushes you out of the corner and reduces understeer by a good margin. Every bit helps having some form of power added to the rear wheels, as a tire can only grip 100%. So in a FWD car you get understeer, add 40% power to the rear and you have a good percentage of more room to add steering input or more power

When I tow my boat with the Kona AWD (1,500 loaded.) Ausi/Europe spec for a braked trailer is 2,850 lbs for this car. I always tow in sport/AWD as I get a front diff "load noise" from the transaxle if it is in "normal" FWD mode and all the load is being carried by the front diff, hit sport mode and both cars push some of the load to the rear diff and all load noise is gone. The Rav4 also has a slight sound too when towing when not in sport/AWD mode.

While nothing will match a true high end Audi/Torsen system, Subaru AWD system, and the other high end AWD systems, the modern day FWD bias system, at least how I use it for performance driving/towing is still a massive plus and I won't will live without it. Plus, since my car is a daily in Minnesota it has the advantage on snowy days/snow packed roads too. I would own a FWD bias AWD system in the Las Vegas desert, just because the advantage it gives you in the corners.
 
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