In this article we will be looking at independent tire test data, and real world driver reviews of the Continental VikingContact 8 and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 to find out which tire is best for your own driving.
The good news is that both the Continental VikingContact 8 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 are Premium Touring Winter tires designed to be fitted to Passenger Cars, which means comparing the two tires is relatively simple.
Both tires are hugely popular in the market place with drivers, and both have been featured in independent tire tests.
Independent comparison tire tests are the best source of data to get tire information from, and the good news is there have been two tests which compare both tires directly!
Out of these two tests:
While it might look like the Continental VikingContact 8 is better than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 purely based on the higher number of test wins, tires are very complicated objects which means where one tire is better than the other can be more important in real world use.
Let's look at how the two tires compare across multiple tire test categories.
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one dry braking tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 stopped the vehicle in 0.48% less distance than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Dry Braking: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Dry Braking winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:31.2M | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 31.35M |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one subj. dry handling tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 scored 25% more points than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Subj. Dry Handling: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Subj. Dry Handling winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:4 Points | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 3 Points |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one wet braking tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 stopped the vehicle in 4.34% less distance than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Wet Braking: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Wet Braking winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:40.1M | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 41.92M |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one wet handling [s] tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 was 1.2% faster around a wet lap than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Wet Handling [s]: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Wet Handling winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:41.2s | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 41.7s |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 performed equally well in straight aqua tests.
Best In Straight Aqua: Both tires performed equally well
See how the Straight Aqua winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:59.8Km/H | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 59.8Km/H |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 was better during one snow braking tests. On average the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 stopped the vehicle in 2.04% less distance than the Continental VikingContact 8.
Best In Snow Braking: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5
See how the Snow Braking winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:12.72M | ✓ Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 12.46M |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one snow traction tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 accelerated 0.24% faster than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Snow Traction: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Snow Traction winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:4.19s | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 4.2s |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 performed equally well in snow handling [s] tests.
Best In Snow Handling [s]: Both tires performed equally well
See how the Snow Handling winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:79.7s | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 79.7s |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 was better during one ice braking tests. On average the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 stopped the vehicle 5.01% shorter than the Continental VikingContact 8.
Best In Ice Braking: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5
See how the Ice Braking winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:11.97M | ✓ Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 11.37M |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 was better during one ice traction tests. On average the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 accelerated 5.09% faster than the Continental VikingContact 8.
Best In Ice Traction: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5
See how the Ice Traction winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:8.44s | ✓ Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 8.01s |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one ice handling [s] tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 was 0.62% faster around a lap than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Ice Handling [s]: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Ice Handling winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:64.6s | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 65s |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 was better during one noise tests. On average the Continental VikingContact 8 measured 0.14% quieter than the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
Best In Noise: Continental VikingContact 8
See how the Noise winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
✓ Continental VikingContact 8:71.8dB | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 71.9dB |
Looking at data from one tire tests, the Continental VikingContact 8 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 performed equally well in fuel consumption tests.
Best In Fuel Consumption: Both tires performed equally well
See how the Fuel Consumption winner was calculated >>
2024 Nordic Friction Winter Tire Test 225/45 R17 |
Continental VikingContact 8:5.3l/100km | Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: 5.3l/100km |
Tire Reviews also collects real world driver reviews for the Continental VikingContact 8 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
In total the Continental VikingContact 8 has been reviewed times and drivers have given the tire 0% overall.
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 has been reviewed 8 times and drivers have given the tire 90% overall.
This means in real world driving, people prefer the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5.
In conclusion the Continental VikingContact 8 performed better in dry braking, subj. dry handling, wet braking, wet handling [s], snow traction, ice handling [s] and noise, while the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 performed better in snow braking, ice braking and ice traction.
Interestingly, both tires performed equally well in straight aqua, snow handling [s] and fuel consumption, showing that they are closely matched in these areas.
Which tire is best for you depends a lot on your driving style and situation, plus what you want from the tire. Comparing all the data in the tire reviews database, on balance Continental VikingContact 8 seems to be the best tire overall.
However, it's important to note that both tires have their strengths.
Remember, the best tire for you might depend on which of these factors are most important for your specific driving needs and conditions.
Overall Winner: Continental VikingContact 8
This page has been developed using tire industry testing best practices. This means we are only comparing tests which have had both tires in the same test.
Why is this important? Tire testing is heavily affected by things like surface grip levels and surface temperature, which means you can only compare values from the same day. During a tire test external condition changes are calculated into the overall results, but it is not possible to calculate this between tire tests performed on different days or at different locations.
As a result you will see other tests on Tire Reviews which feature both the %s and %s, but as they weren't conducted on the same day, the results are not comparable.
Lots of other websites do this sort of tire comparison, Tire Reviews doesn't.