| Test Summary | |
| Wet Braking | Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125 |
| Dry Braking | Bridgestone Turanza T005 |
| Rolling Resistance | Giti GitiSynergy E1 |
| Noise | Avon ZV7 Vredestein Sportrac 5 Fulda EcoControl HP Bridgestone Turanza T005 |
| Snow Braking | Fulda EcoControl HP Michelin Energy Saver |
| Snow Handling | Infinity Ecosis Vredestein Sportrac 5 |
It's worth keeping in mind, the twenty tires chosen for this test have been through a 51 tire wet and dry braking pretest. This means the tires included in this test are some of the best tires available on the market, had Auto Bild included some of the worst tires in the pretest, the gap between the best and the worst tires overall would have been much larger.
Dry
In the dry the Hankook dominated, winning both dry braking and dry handling tests. Firestone, which is a midrange brand developed by Bridgestone, beat its parent company to finish second in both dry tests, and the Maxxis Premitra HP5 was third best overall.
Wet
While Bridgestone couldn't match its subrange Firestone in the dry, it dominates in the wet. The first showing of the new Turanza T005 proves Bridgestone have finally got on top of their wet weather issues, and win both wet braking and wet handling tests.
Uniroyal, a brand well known for their wet weather performance manages second during wet braking but struggles during the wet handling test, probably due to it's extremely soft sidewalls affecting the handling, while Hankook proves you can make a tire which works in both the wet and dry with the Prime 3 finishing third place in both wet braking and wet handling.
What the Uniroyal lacked in wet handling, it makes up for during aquaplaning testing, finishing a long way ahead of the second and third placed Avon and Goodyear.
Environment
The new brand, Giti prove to have the lowest fuel use on test by a significant margin, where Bridgestone blends low fuel use and wet performance better than any other tire.
Cost
While the Infinity and Maxxis are some of the cheapest tires on test (see third chart below), the Maxxis in particular proves to be very poor value due to having the highest wear.
The Fulda has the second lowest purchase price and the best projected wear, meaning the cost per 1000km is by far the best.
Results
The magazine scoring and testers notes below. As always, you can check out the Auto Bild website for the full details (in German)
1st: Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125 | |
| Test winner with excellent all round driving qualities. Strong in the wet and wet with precise steering and short wet and dry braking. Good comfort, good value for money. Average aquaplaning result. Read Reviews Buy from £61.99 |
2nd: Continental Premium Contact 5 | |
| Excellent premium tire without fault. Good steering and balance in the wet, short wet and dry braking. Quiet. Expensive. Read Reviews |
3rd: Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun | |
| Excellent aquaplaning safety, good steering precision and stable handling in the dry. Short wet and dry braking. Low wear. Relatively high rolling resistance. Read Reviews Buy from £68.70 |
4th: Firestone RoadHawk | |
| A well priced summer tire with excellent handling, good steering precision and short braking in both the dry and wet. Good comfort. Noisy. Read Reviews Buy from £59.99 |
5th: Michelin Energy Saver | |
| Lowest wear and excellent rolling resistance. Short braking distances and precise handling in the dry. Poor curved aquaplaning, high purchase price. Read Reviews Buy from £75.54 |
6th: Pirelli Cinturato P1 Verde | |
| A well balanced premium tire with safe handling in all conditions. Short wet and dry braking distances, good mileage. Poor curved aquaplaning. Read Reviews Buy from £61.18 |
7th: Bridgestone Turanza T005 | |
| Top wet result, short wet and dry braking distance, stable dry handling, low wear and ow fuel use. Average aquaplaning result, high price. Read Reviews Buy from £62.98 |
8th: Fulda EcoControl HP | |
| Very good aquaplaning, good handling and excellent steering in the dry, lowest wear on test and lowest price. Average wet braking. Read Reviews |
9th: Vredestein Sportrac 5 | |
| Balance performance in the dry and wet, short dry braking distances, low noise, low wear. Average aquaplaning result. Read Reviews |
10th: Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance | |
| Best curved aquaplaning result, stable handling in the wet and dry. Average fuel use, average mileage. Read Reviews |
11th: Dunlop Sport BluResponse | |
| Good aquaplaning result, stable handling in the wet and dry. Average fuel use, average mileage. Read Reviews Buy from £61.46 |
12th: Uniroyal RainExpert 3 | |
| Best straight aquaplaning result, short wet braking distances. High levels of understeer in the wet and dry. Read Reviews |
13th: Infinity Ecosis | |
| Stable dry handling, low noise, low price. Average aquaplaning result, average mileage. Read Reviews Buy from £60.15 |
14th: Avon ZV7 | |
| Good aquaplaning result, good comfort. Understeer in the dry, average price. Read Reviews Buy from £57.99 |
15th: BFGoodrich gGrip | |
| VEry low wear, low rolling resistance, low fuel use. Poor wet grip. Read Reviews |
16th: Cooper Zeon CS8 | |
| Balance performance in the wet, good comfort. Understeer in the dry, average wear, high rolling resistance. Read Reviews |
17th: Giti GitiSynergy E1 | |
| Good comfort, good wear, lowest fuel use in test. High understeer in the dry. Read Reviews |
18th: Kleber Dynaxer HP 3 | |
| Low wear, good comfort, good value for money. Limited wet grip, long dry braking. Read Reviews |
19th: Nokian Line | |
| Short braking in the dry, low rolling resistance, good comfort levels. Poor curved aquaplaning result, high wear. Read Reviews |
20th: Maxxis Premitra HP5 | |
| Short dry braking, balance wet performance. Very high wear making the tire the worst value on test. Average comfort. Read Reviews |
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