Test Summary | |
Wet Braking | Michelin CrossClimate |
Dry Braking | Continental WinterContact TS 860 |
Wet Handling | Continental WinterContact TS 860 |
Wear | Continental WinterContact TS 860 |
Rolling Resistance | Nokian WeatherProof |
Noise | Continental WinterContact TS 860 |
Snow Handling | Continental WinterContact TS 860 Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200 Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2 Toyo Celsius |
First, they're testing in the most popular 205/55 R16 size using a FWD Audi A3, which represents a large slice of our car market. Secondly, they've managed to include ten all season patterns, which is more than most all season tire tests manage, but the icing on the cake is the winter tire included for reference is the multiple award winning Continental WinterContact TS 860.
We've mentioned a number of times that the Continental WinterContact range is not only consistently the best tested winter tires on the market, but could also be considered as the best "winter-bias all season tire" available due to its remarkable ability to work well in the snow, and the wet. This test confirms that, but it faces close competition from the only summer-bias all season tire on the market, the Michelin CrossClimate
Dry
There are no surprises during the dry testing. The summer-bias Michelin CrossClimate makes good on its promise of behaving like a summer tire in dry conditions, and aces both the dry braking and dry handling tests by some margin.
BF Goodrich have a good showing, placing second under dry braking and third in dry handling, and the Continental WinterContact TS860 and Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 2 both finish mid pack in a closely contested group.
Wet
The wet braking confirms why the Continental WinterContact TS860 is currently unbeaten in winter tire testing, it wins the wet handling lap by over a second, and finishes joint first in wet braking. While the Michelin couldn't quite match the Continental and Goodyear during wet braking, it still finishes a respectable fourth place overall, and places second overall in wet handling.
Snow
The Goodyear all season tire managed to beat the Continental winter tire during the snow braking test, and the Nokian all season tire just edges out the Continental during snow handling. The summer bias Michelin managed a respectable fifth place during the snow braking, despite its summer bias, but the lack of sipes were highlighted in the snow handling test, where the Michelin could only finish ninth overall.
Other
The Nokian proved to have the lowest fuel use on test, and all eleven tires were within 2db during the external drive by noise test.
Results
1st: Continental WinterContact TS 860 | |
| Excellent performance in the snow (better than any of the all-season tires), good braking and handling in the wet, low rolling resistance Poor dry handling Read Reviews |
1st: Michelin CrossClimate | |
| Good acceleration and braking on snow, good in the wet, very short dry braking, excellent dry handling Weak snow handling Read Reviews |
2nd: Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 | |
| Even better than the winter under snow braking, excellent snow traction, good wet braking, low rolling resistance Relatively long dry braking and poor dry handling Read Reviews Buy from £80.27 |
3rd: BFGoodrich g Grip All Season 2 | |
| Good acceleration and braking on snow, good handling on wet and dry roads, low rolling resistance Poor snow handling Read Reviews |
4th: Nokian WeatherProof | |
| Almost as good as a full winter in the snow, good aquaplaning resistance, low rolling resistance Average braking and handling in the wet Read Reviews |
5th: Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert | |
| Good snow handling, good wet braking, good resistance to aquaplaning Longest braking in the dry, and poor dry handling Read Reviews |
6th: Vredestein Quatrac 5 | |
| Good wet and dry handling Weak resistance to aquaplaning, poor lateral snow grip, loudest tire on test Read Reviews |
7th: Falken EUROALL SEASON AS200 | |
| Good wet handling Weak grip in the snow, long dry braking, high rolling resistance Read Reviews |
8th: Pirelli Cinturato AllSeason | |
| Good resistance to aquaplaning and good wet braking Understeer in the dry, longest braking distances in the snow Read Reviews Buy from £95.99 |
9th: Hankook Kinergy 4S | |
| Good dry handling Poor snow handling, longest wet braking, poor wet handling Read Reviews |
10th: Toyo Celsius | |
| None mentioned Poor snow handling, long dry braking Read Reviews |