Saucony Kilkenny XC4

Name: Saucony Kilkenny XC4
Brand: Saucony

Daily trainer · Neutral · Road

Discontinued — we no longer see this shoe in stock. The Saucony Kilkenny XC5 replaced it

How it ranks

The Saucony Kilkenny XC4 sits about average for daily trainers in our data. Value and comfort are its strongest sub-ratings. The rating rests on 2 runner reviews and 3 other rated shoes in the Kilkenny product line. Another 10 reviews would set the confidence on this shoe's own reviews.

Current estimate: Decent

79/100

Overall

Decent 79

Value

Excellent 94

Comfort

Very good 91

Appearance

Decent 76

Cushioning

Decent 73

Durability

Bottom-tier 60

Confidence

How settled the rating is against every other rated shoe. A shoe can rate high on confidence with relatively few reviews of its own when its product line has a long record and external ratings from retailer sites agree. Confidence will score low when we have few ratings or when runners disagree.

See the product line's history

Confidence

19/100

Very low 19

Based on product-line history, external ratings, and 2 runner ratings.

Where to buy

No offers available

Affiliate links included. They never affect our ratings.

Prices updated daily. Last checked Sep 14.

Pros

Both reviewers so far rate comfort and value 5 out of 5, over track and off-road running.

Cons

Durability draws 3.5 out of 5 in the two reviews so far, the lowest mark of any dimension.

Kilkenny XC4 rates 79. This shoe has very low certainty. See how we rate shoes.

Better Shoes Rating of prior versions of the Saucony Kilkenny

Each dot is one version of the Kilkenny, placed by its rating and release year. The gold dot is this shoe.

Rating

40 60 80 100

79 2014 91 2014 81 2018 78 2022

Release year

We use the reviews of past versions to inform this shoe’s rating. See why.

Kilkenny XC9

2022 · 0 reviews

78 Decent

35 Confidence
Kilkenny XC7

2018 · 1 review

81 Good

22 Confidence
Kilkenny XC5

2014 · 3 reviews

91 Very good

47 Confidence
Kilkenny XC4 This shoe

2014 · 2 reviews

79 Decent

19 Confidence

Reader Ratings

2 ratings

5/5 1

4/5 1

3/5 0

2/5 0

1/5 0

See written reviews Write a review

Specs & fit

Sizing and ride details at a glance.

Release: 2014

Runner reviews

Write a review

Good shoe!

5/5

Overall

This spike has great bounce and energy return. I use it on the track because my geezer feet need more support than a mid-d spike. I injured my posterior tibialis tendon using this shoe without an orthotic; but now that I put a Powerstep in it things are back to good. That said, I had to get a size 9 shoe and I usually wear a 7.5 in street shoes. So these do run small. I just had to return the newest version Kilkenny XC7 because they are much smaller and narrower than XC4. Even getting a bigger size wouldn't solve the narrow issue...and the laces were too short! I wish I could still get the XC4's.

SpringChicken · Sep 27, 2018

12 mpw training for middle distance

Comfort: 5/5
Cushioning: 4/5
Durability: 4/5
Appearance: 4/5
Value: 5/5

Reader review

4/5

Overall

I have been wearing Sauconys for about 20 years, and with a move to minimal footwear (and doing most of my running offroad) 4 years ago, found that these shoes are exactly what I want. (I also do a lot of my running without shoes.) Since they are racing flats and not marketed as "minimalist" shoes, I can buy them for about $50 (and occasionally much less) online. My wife and kids all wear them as sneakers.

Anonymous runner · Aug 28, 2014

25 mpw training for a half marathon