My friend in his first gen ACR ran 615's for 2 years (granted in the spring-fall when snow was no longer an issue) and they were a great tire. He got them used and they still lasted 2 years. He also used them for about 3 or 4 autox events.
He has now moved on to Hankook Ventus R-S2, again he got them used and they lasted all summer and he should have enough tread for this summer as well.
Ive also talked to a customer with a WRX and he actually ran RE010s for awhile and he switched back to 615s. Dont really know if that means anything to you but I figured Id throw it out there.
IMO I would get a set of 615's. Its really the only max performance summer tire I have had personal experience with for a decent amount of time. They are pretty much tried and true and sell for a decent price.
Next in line would be the XS's, RE010, and Dunlop Z1 Star Specs.
Oh, as far as experience I have 2 years of working at Discount Tire under my belt, not much I know but I do deal with more tires in one week then most people will in their entire lifetime.
I would check out tirerack.com and read a lot of the reviews on the tires you may be interested in. Its really the best resource short of talking to consumers of these type of tires in person. Ignore UTQG ratings unless your comparing them to the same manufacture.
The problem with UTQG Treadwear Grades is that they are open to some interpretation on the part of the tire manufacturer because they are assigned after the tire has only experienced a little treadwear as it runs the 7,200 miles. This means that the tire manufacturers need to extrapolate their raw wear data when they are assigning Treadwear Grades, and that their grades can to some extent reflect how conservative or optimistic their marketing department is. Typically, comparing the Treadwear Grades of tire lines within a single brand is somewhat helpful, while attempting to compare the grades between different brands is not as helpful.
I kinda want them to last over a year. 
