It's personal preference whether you feel a particular summer tire has better cold/dry and cold/wet traction than a particular all season tire. However, I would suggest looking at the Tirerack actual road tests when making this judgement. Actually, for me the Potenzas have accpetable cold/dry and cold/wet traction for the conditions here in Richmond, VA. The traction is not great, but it also doesn't stay below 40 for much of the year so its not a real problem.

Regardless, you still don't want to run summer tires in snow and ice. If it snows here, I park the RX-8 until it melts.

 

I didn't see any test data on the OEM Potenzas on Tire Rack, but the owner survey data sure wasn''t reassuring in comparison to other tires in the same class. See, eg, this test data, especially for the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2 Ultra High Performance tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...mes_charts.jsp

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/longer_names.jsp

 

Unfortunately Tirerack has not run a test on the stock Potenzas so it is hard to compare directly with other "summer" tires. I always take the owner surveys with a grain of salt as different people are looking for very different things in a tire.

The T/A KDW-2s are fine tires. Check out the "Wheels, Tires, Brakes and Suspension" section of RX8Club.com for info on other good tires.

FWIW, my personal opinion is that the Potenzas are an excellent compromise between performance and daily driving. Yes, you can switch to a different tire to improve one area of performance but that it will mean giving something up in a different area of performance. However, many people may not agree with this point of view.

Regardless, you will note that Tirerack doesn't even bother to rank "winter" performance for "summer" tires, so if it snows you had still better park the 8.

 

I've been too busy or it's been too cold to fix an annoying rattle in my beloved 15+year-old Miata. It's been driving me absolutely crazy for the past couple of weeks, not too hard to fix, just a lovers' quarrel really.

So last night I went out and fixed it for my long trip today. Left early in the morning in my trusted old friend, let her warm up a little, no rattle, but as soon as I red-lined it at 7k it for the first time this morning on my old country road I was struck by a profound sense of guilt and betrayal. I was on my way to pick up an RX-8.

Finally. I've wanted one for years ever since I first test drove one January 2nd, 2004.

But I could never imagine getting rid of my Miata. It's been my daily driver since the day I left the monastery in 1996, my older brother had helped me buy it used with only 9k miles on it. Two kids later, I really should have a family car. But instead I bought a hard top, reupholstered her torn seats with leather, upgraded the stereo, bought her 7-lb wheels and super sticky summer tires, put on stronger sway bars and end-links, replaced the leaky power steering rack with a brand new manual rack, added nice chrome and polished aluminum accents inside and out, removed 100+ lbs of unnecessry weight, raced her on the track a few times. I could never get rid of this car ... ever. She knows that. She'll always be there in the barn garage, ready to go topless every weekend in the summer. In less than 10 years, I'll be able to race her in vintage sports car hill climbs.

But I've got two boys and only one sports car and I can only take one of them for a drive at a time with the Cars soundtrack blasting away and both of us bouncing back and forth smiling. Life is a highway ... When I die, which one would inherit the Miata? Depends on who's most interested in helping me bolt on a turbocharger I guess. But both of them LOVE to help me work on my car.

Only one thing left to do. Gotta get a 4-seater sports car. So I did it. Finally.