I've been shoping for new tires for my 2003 Civic, and wanted to make sure that whatever I replace the OEM's with had a Low Rolling Resistance. I found this report from greenseal.org that is pretty good. The Sumitomo HTR 200 look surprisingly good. I did a comparison between the Sumitomo, Bridgestone and the OEM Dunlops
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...&startIndex=10
and as expected, the OEM Dunlops didn't fair too well. The Bridgestones are way expensive considering what you get. The Tempature rating is a B as is the Traction rating. Sumitomo rates A/A with a longer treadwear at about 1/2 the price. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for, but I can't figure out why the Bridgestones are so much more expensive. The Sumitomo is listed as a 'High Performance Summer' tire whereas the Bridgestone is 'All-Season' but given the traction rating for the Bridgestone, I don't think there would be much difference in light snow.
Does anyone have any experience with either Sumitomo HTR 200 or Bridgestone B381.
P.S. Not that it matters with a Hybrid, but the Sumitomo also has a higher speed rating, H vs. S (130 miles per hour vs. 112mph).