Given
77%
while driving a
BMW 320i
(225/40 R18) on
a combination of roads
for 40,000
average miles
Just following up on another review I wrote about these tires many years ago with my BMW - the tires have finally reached end of life, but I'm not complaining as I've had literally 4.5-5 years on this set of tires, with a mix of spirited and regular commuting type driving, as well as a few road trips. For the price point I still think they're a phenomenal mid-range tire (start of the mid-range perhaps?) for everyday use, but if it's a weekend car where wear is less significant then perhaps something with more grip may be a better suit. Also worth noting I haven't got a particularly powerful car so they don't have to handle a lot of power going down, just grip in corners. I've just had a look and I've done 60,000kms on each pair of tires I put on (one about 1 month before the other) so I'm pretty happy with the longevity. Towards the end though I did feel myself wanting more grip, especially as finances were less of a consideration and so I was happy to spend more on a higher performing tire. For their grip level they're well balanced I feel, but at the end of the day they still have less grip than some of the higher performing equivalents out there.
Would I buy again? Depends on the application - my car probably not as I want more grip going forward (and the Continental MC6 seem to be a good balance of price/performance so they'll take up the mantle the AU5 had for the minimum level of tire for my car, as the Conti's weren't as competitive when I bought the AU5's), but for any of my family's cars it's an immediate buy for the AU5 if they're available in the size, as long term the pricing and grip/safety element works out brilliantly in regular commuter cars. Especially in NZ, where I can get them fitted for something like $160 NZD ($97 USD at the time of writing) a tire, and the low quality kill you stuff is priced at $130-140 these days, so it's a no brainer.