Initial Impressions Review
Given
96%
while driving a
Honda Odyssey
(235/65 R17)
on
for 100,000
miles
So these weren't my tires, my fiancée had them on her Honda Odyssey, actually had 2 sets over its lifetime.
I have driven that vehicle likely 10,000 kms myself so I think I can provide some feedback myself.
My fiancée shows dogs for a living, as well as grooming and breeding, so, her van was almost always packed under heavy load. The Defender 2s performed excellent. Probably the best all season tire I've ever used, especially in a bigger vehicle and under heavy load. She's literally drove all across Canada and the US with Defender 2s, and there was never a problem. The only slight negative is during heavy downpours, at higher speeds, and say 25° or more in turns/bends, you need to slow down quite a decent amount. But, that's a pretty specific issue. And also, that's IF your under heavier load than normal. It's not like the tire slips, but you can feel that the stopping power isn't as good as it is under even normal wet conditions. Again, that's a VERY specific sort of circumstances, and aside from a tire like the CrossClimate 2, I wouldn't expect any tire to do any better.
We had a mid tier tire on the Odyssey about a year and a half ago, while we were waiting for our new Defenders to come in, and the differences were pretty crazy, I definitely felt a lot less stable, safe and confident when driving. Even though the Defender 2s aren't really an Ultra Premium Tire, they DO feel like they are on the right vehicle. I haven't driven a lot of SUVs/vans, but the ones I have driven, none of them felt as good as those that didn't have Defenders. Amusingly enough, I didn't know what tires my fiancée had on, but we did a 500 km drive before I thought to look... I said to her, "I don't know what tires you have on, but they feel great to me." I got out, and looked, and wasn't surprised when I saw what they were. Even then, that tire probably had close to 65,000 kms on them... And again, that's under heavy load. So, you'll wesr through tires faster, but it was still going strong.
