Hot hatches don’t really get much more sizzling at the moment than the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S, whose turbocharged four-cylinder engine produces a hearty 416bhp. As usual, four rubbery rings take on responsibility for transferring all this power to the road – but what’s the best tyre for this job? That depends upon the sort of driving you have planned.
If I were a winter tyre developer at Continental, I’d be getting smug by this point in time. The brand can boast yet another tyre test win, this time with sport auto. The German performance car magazine has named the WinterContact TS 850 P victor of its six-brand test.
German car magazines love a tyre test, and sport auto is the latest to publish its findings on a batch of the current summer products. Using a Toyota GT86 as test vehicle, the performance-oriented sister publication to auto motor und sport evaluated seven size 225/40 R18Y UHP tyres together with three road legal semi-slicks. In consideration of their different focus, the trio were separated from the seven UHP products in the final results table.
The words ‘WinterContact’ and ‘tyre test winner’ seem more or less interchangeable at the moment. Following victories at Auto Express, auto motor und sport and Auto Bild, the Continental winter tyre – this time the WinterContact TS 850 P – now makes an appearance at the top of the Sport Auto test table for a second consecutive year. The German magazine’s test of six tyres also featured one much cheaper product from Indonesia, and this tyre showed that the lowest price doesn’t necessarily equal the lowest performance.
It’s safe to assume a close technological resemblance between blood relatives the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 and Dunlop SportMaxx RT2, even if the first of these is more oriented towards driving safety criteria and the second towards sporting characteristics. The family connection is reflected in the results of a new summer tyre test published by Germany’s ‘sport auto’ magazine. A Ford Focus ST was used for the test of eight size 235/40 R18Y tyres. The Goodyear tyre was crowned the winner and shared a rating of ‘particularly recommended’ with its Dunlop cousin.
Yet another test win for Continental. The tyre maker has topped the tables in the comparative evaluation of seven size 235/35 R19 winter tyres carried out by German publication sport auto. Using a VW Golf R as test vehicle, the W rated tyres were subject to the usual challenges; the Continental WinterContact TS 850P finished first with a ‘highly recommended’ rating.
The latest issue of Germany’s sport auto magazine (5/2015) has published a test of road-legal size 235/35 R19 91Y semi-slicks. Three candidates were mounted on a VW Golf R and evaluated under a range of motorsport-oriented criteria. In contrast to the weighting system commonly seen in tyre tests, dry road surface criteria contributed 70 per cent to the sport auto test’s total score, while wet surface criteria only carried 20 per cent and environmental factors ten per cent. The clear test winner was the ‘particularly recommended’ Pirelli PZero Trofeo R, which finished ahead of two ‘recommended’ tyres, the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 and Dunlop SportMaxx Race.
Although often derided for a lack of ride comfort, many praise low-profile rubber for its influence on steering response and cornering precision. Others just like the way these tyres look. This month, the various characteristics of seven low profile tyres have been put under the ‘sport auto’ magnifying glass. The German magazine has evaluated size 235/35 R19 91Y rubber for the usual wet and dry performance criteria along with ‘eco’ factors such as rolling resistance and noise. The tyres were mounted on a VW Golf R for testing.
The number of motoring publications available in Germany means we are never short of tyre test results. On 17 April, sport auto (issue 5/2014) published the results of its summer tyre comparative test; ten tyres in the popular dimension 225/40 R18 were tested, with sport auto selecting a mixture of UHP and comfort-oriented tyres for evaluation in 14 criteria, including six dry condition criteria (worth 50 per cent of the final result), six wet condition criteria (40 per cent of final result) and two environmental criteria (ten per cent of final result). The tyres were tested fitted to a VW Golf GTI.
