CAR and Driver - March 2017

All-season tires are largely

a North American phenome-

non. Audi product manage-

ment says: “Our U.S.

customers expect to drive

their Audi in all weather

conditions without the added

complexities involved with

owning a second set of tires.

With this, we have seen a

greater preference in all-

season tires and have

packaged [our cars] accord-

ingly.” Slightly more than 5

percent of new cars in the U.S.

and Canada are sold with

summer tires according to

IHS Markit, and Michelin

estimates that just 2 or 3

percent of U.S. drivers change

to dedicated winter tires

because the rest either live

outside the Snowbelt or their

winter is regularly mild

enough not to warrant the

effort. Another factor is the

lack of government oversight.

In many European countries,

winter-tire use is compulsory,

though some Old World resi-

dents are adopting “all-

weather” tires that are safe

year-round and meet winter-

traction requirements. If

these more extreme all-

season tires are what you

want, look at the Toyo Celsius

or the Nokian WRG3.

—K.C. Colwell

Explained:

How come vehicles in the U.S. are

almost always equipped with all-

season tires? Even the high-perform-

ance cars get all-season tires. Why

aren’t these equipped with summer

(or three-season) tires?

I can imagine the reason for the

North and Midwest is the cold, wet,

and snowy weather, but I noticed that

the cars in the warmer regions, such

as California and Florida, also come

with all-seasons.

For performance cars, it defeats

the purpose, or maybe there is a

grand plan behind all this. When I ask

owners or car dealers, nobody seems

to know. —Marc van Sprang

Brussels, Belgium

comparo to be disap-
pointing [“Yacht
Rock,” December
2016]. Giving the
S-class an exterior-
styling score of 6 is
really a head
scratcher. A 6? For
the same car you
listed in the 10 most
beautiful cars online?
When you tested the
S63 coupe, you said it
was “over the top in
every way imagin-
able.” And get this:
You’ve even said, “It’s
virtually impossible to
find fault with the S
coupe’s design.”
Doesn’t sound like a 6
out of 10 to me. And
not only did you give
this ridiculous score,
but because of it, the
S-class lost. If that
category had even
been tied, the S-class
would’ve won.
—Jacob Bryant
Fairfax, CA
Removing the top
takes a lot away
from the S-class
coupe’s handsome
silhouette; it begins
to look like a
stretched-out
C-class cabriolet.
And if you don’t like
that, you really won’t
like that Robinson
kept calling it the
Toyota Camry Solara
convertible—Ed.

Your recent articles
on Mercedes are

stupid. They con-

stantly smart-mouth

expensive cars and

expensive-car buyers.

I drive enough to need

a safer, more expen-

sive car. Mercedes

has a “Guard” car that

I may need. But your

reviewers constantly

smart-mouth the

high-end car buyer.

What fools your

writers are not to see

the value in these

cars. You have no

credibility.

—Dave

In the USA

This sounds like a

vote for more expen-

sive cars—Ed.

NO SUBSTITUTE

The other no-cost

options you forgot in

the Porsche Boxster S

review [“Skinny Legs

and All,” December

2016] are the seat-

belts and the license-

plate screws.

—Jean-Charles Plante

Trois-Rivières, QC

BEAT THIS

I wanted to write and

say how much I

enjoyed “The Battle of

the Off-Road Beaters”

[December 2016].

The article already

has me poring over

Craigslist posts,

trying to find an old

Geo Tracker. I am the

owner of a 2016 Jeep

Wrangler Willys

Wheeler who uses the

vehicle for its

intended purpose. It

makes me wonder

how a vehicle like

mine would have

stacked up. Perhaps

the next time you

attempt such a

challenge, you should

include a new vehicle

for “benchmark”

purposes.

—Kelby

Internet Land

Make Beard an offer.

Interesting trades

considered—Ed.

A little over four years

ago, I was paroled

from a 15-year stint

with Jaguar Land

Rover, first as a

dealership technician,

then working on the

technical helpline for

its North American

operation. With

therapy I will eventu-

ally be able to fit into

society, but the

experience allows me

to make an observa-

tion: I doubt your

Discovery’s ticking

noise is a pushrod.

There are three

likely sources of the

noise, listed in order

of increasing cost and

aggravation:

1. The pushrod
   cups in one or more of
   the rocker arms are
   loose. Most manufac-
   turers work continu-
   ously to improve the

“YOUR RECENT

ARTICLES ON

MERCEDES ARE

STUPID. THEY

CONSTANTLY

SMART-MOUTH

EXPENSIVE

CARS AND

EXPENSIVE-

CAR BUYERS.”

8. CAR AND DRIVER. MAR/2017 Sic your dogs on us at: [email protected] or join: backfires.caranddriver.com