We are originally from NY, where the few people that drive and own cars mostly use all season tires, and very few people change to winter tires. When we relocated to northern New England several years ago, we found out quickly that won't cut the mustard. When we asked people for recommendations on winter tires, the unanimous response was Nokia Hakkapeliitas.

The brand is now called Nokian. My understanding is that they are the same company, or at least part of, Nokia, the cell phone company from Finland. Whatever the corporate connection, the Finns have got it down when it comes to winter tires (or tyres as they call them). We installed 4 Hakkas on our AWD Subaru Outback Sport. While the tires can be studded, we did not do so. With these tires, our Subaru is a great winter vehicle. As long as you use common sense and still slow down when you hit an icy road, you will have significantly increased traction and braking power. Our all season tires for the Subaru (OEM) are Bridgestone Potenza RE92. Those tires simply cannot compete with the Nokias for winter grip.

When we first moved up here, our second car was a Saturn SL2, which is a front wheel drive vehicle, not an AWD car like our Subaru. We wanted to conserve some funds, so instead of putting Nokias on both cars, we put Cooper Wintermasters on the Saturn (another popular tire where we live). The Saturn's grip and handling in the winter with the Coopers, however, was just no comparison with the Nokia shod Subaru, but that may have something to do with the FWD vs. AWD. I have only gotten the Subaru stuck once in the winter, when I wandered onto an unplowed dirt road by mistake into about 2.5 feet of snow. The Saturn, however, gotten stuck a few of times in winter, even on plowed roads, lost grip in turns, skidded when braking into intersections, and would spin wheels when leaving intersections, even with the Coopers and with both ABS and traction control.

Keep in mind that the Nokias are not cheap. I was able to get them for about $100 each, installed, and that is without studding. You may also have a hard time finding them. Where we live, you can get them practically everywhere, but in NY many people have never even heard of them. They are also noisier than my all season tires, so we generally take them off in April and put them back on after Thanksgiving. We have since sold our Saturn and bought an SUV, which came with all season BF Goodrich tires. Even though I am sure that Nokians for the SUV will be quite expensive, I will probably end up getting them.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 100 each