It comes down to tires

I have to admit, I love good tires on our cars. Not 'good' as in long-lasting, necessarily, but in qualities that enhance performance and safety in all types of weather.

Consider the winter. I much prefer four modern snow and ice tires over all-wheel drive. Remember, you must do 3 things with any car -- accelerate, turn, and stop. All-wheel drive helps only with one of those -- acceleration -- and actually degrades the other two.

As this ABC News story my sister shared reminded me, though, it's also the age of your tires that matters. In short, tires age start to age the day they're made, and old tires can fail in ugly ways. I checked our cars and the tires were all less than 6 months old when we bought them, with the oldest set now almost 5 years old.

The Tire Rack, where I've bought most of our tires, has a good article on tire aging. The article has some good points about how tire inflation, speed rating, and where the car is stored can all affect a tire's lifetime. You'll also find a complete description on determining the age of your tires.