Writing about the
Accelera Alpha given
87% (225-45-17-)
Driving on
a combination of roads for 1500
spirited miles
The first thing I noticed is the fantastic straight-line stability on these Accelera Alphas on my year 2000 UK-spec Toyota Previa. I've never liked the lack of response/feedback through the steering on my Previa, (ok, it is an MPV not a sports car!) but these tires make it come alive more than any other rubber I've shod her with. You point it, and the tires take you there flawlessly. I couldn't really care less about comfort/road noise, I like to hear the tires doing their job, which these ones do. You can hear/feel the front end biting in on fast corners; the downside is that I've noticed a tiny amount of grain on the front shoulders. I'm running them at 40 psi, and plan to take them up to 42 psi unless the weather turns really wet and Icy. I've only had them on for around 1500 miles, and not really tried them in earnest in the rain, so if anything changes, will update you here. There seem to be a number of reports about lack of wet grip. Since I don't have a team pit-stop to run in and do a 3 second wheel-change to intermediates or full wets, I can accept a possible lack of wet performance on these summer tires as a fact of life. However, I plan on being a lot more cautious when it DOES rain. Finally, here is some real good news. My mpg has jumped from a very best ever 23 mpg since I bought the car, (and a typical figure of 21.5 mpg) to 31.5 mpg on a recent test, comprising 35 miles of commute, then a 250 mile (leisurely) motorway run, with some very spirited cross-country 'B' road driving thrown in for good measure. That's the equivalent of about 70 miles on FREE gas! Yes, would buy again.