Much like the 225/45 R17 test ADAC published at the same time, the ADAC 185/65 R15 tire test looks at sixteen premium and mid range tires, but this time has selected tires intended to be fitted to smaller town and city cars.
The biggest surprise of the test was this time delivered by Vredestein, with the Sportrac 5 dominating the test, and beating the wet weather master Continental Premium Contact 5 in the wet tests. The Vredestein must have gone through a life cycle update, as in 2015 the best result it could manage was fifth overall, and over placed near the bottom of the tests it took part in.
The Dunlop and Goodyear combination of closely matched premium touring tires once again traded blows in the tests to finish nearly identically overall in third and fourth places, while Hankook rounded out the top five with another balanced performance.
Nokian once again had a good result in sixth place, and Kumho finally had a decent test result, finishing seventh with no real negative qualities of the Eco Wing ES01.
Infinity will be proud they managed to beat Michelin, with the premium French brand pushing the balance between wet grip and wear too far towards wear for the ADAC testers, and Bridgestone struggled to balance wet and dry grip, scoring too highly in the dry, like Michelin losing points in the heavily weighted wet testing.
Full details below, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them at the end of the page.
Results
Vredestein Sportrac 5
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.4 |
| Wet | 8 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.8 |
| Noise | 5.4 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 37.6
Continental Premium Contact 5
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.8 |
| Wet | 7.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8 |
| Noise | 5.2 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 37.4
Dunlop Sport BluResponse
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.6 |
| Wet | 7.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8.4 |
| Noise | 4.8 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 37.2
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8 |
| Wet | 7.8 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.8 |
| Noise | 4.2 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 35.8
Hankook K425 Kinergy Eco
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.6 |
| Wet | 7.6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8 |
| Noise | 5.8 |
| Wear | 7 |
Total: 37
Nokian Line
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.6 |
| Wet | 7.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8.4 |
| Noise | 4.8 |
| Wear | 7 |
Total: 36.2
Kumho Ecowing ES01 KH27
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.2 |
| Wet | 7.2 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.8 |
| Noise | 5.6 |
| Wear | 7 |
Total: 35.8
Sava intensa hp
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6.6 |
| Wet | 7.6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.6 |
| Noise | 4.2 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 34
Infinity Ecosis
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 6.8 |
| Wet | 6.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.4 |
| Noise | 7 |
| Wear | 7 |
Total: 34.6
Michelin Energy Saver+
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 7.8 |
| Wet | 6.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8.8 |
| Noise | 5 |
| Wear | 10 |
Total: 38
Barum Brillantis 2
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 7 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.6 |
| Noise | 5.6 |
| Wear | 9 |
Total: 35.2
Bridgestone Turanza T001
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.8 |
| Wet | 6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8.6 |
| Noise | 5.6 |
| Wear | 9 |
Total: 38
Nexen N Blue HD+
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 8.8 |
| Wet | 5.8 |
| Rolling Resistance | 8.2 |
| Noise | 4.4 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 35.2
Semperit Comfort Life 2
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 7.8 |
| Wet | 5.6 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.8 |
| Noise | 4.2 |
| Wear | 9 |
Total: 34.4
Nankang Green Sport Eco 2
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 7.2 |
| Wet | 4.4 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.2 |
| Noise | 5.4 |
| Wear | 8 |
Total: 32.2
GT Radial Champiro VP1
185/65 R15
All discipline results (5)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5.6 |
| Wet | 1 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7.6 |
| Noise | 5.4 |
| Wear | 9 |
Total: 28.6
Now that the T002 has been released, it will be interesting to see if it has a stabler tread & tauter structure than the T001 (which has a weakness in each of these aspects).
Bridgestone have so far released no details of the T002 (or even the fact it's launched), we'll try and find some information now.
odd that there's no pirelli and surprising that the kh27 doesn't do poorly in the wet - some recent re-compounding perhaps?
Pirelli will have been asked to submit, they must have had a new product due which they couldn't manufacturer in time, and chose not to submit the older tire.
I would have thought that the P7 Blue would be the candidate tire & that it would not be up for modification at the moment. Still, I'll await events.
My curiosity about the KH 27 is motivated by it being about the only tire available in 165/65-15 in Australia & I have been tentatively suggesting it to rear-engined Renault owning acquaintances with 4.5" rims as surely being better than Nankang or Michelin Classic XZX in 145/80 or Xas FF in 155/78 or Vredestein Classic Sprint in 155/80. All of these are rather dire in the wet (a matter of some interest in a rear-engined Renault).
Indeed, the user reviews I've read of this tire are dire! (that rhymes) loads of people saying they are lethal in the wet, a real backward step from the kh17...
It is something that puzzles me however with these tests, they are scientific, but somehow the tires show very differently from the real world behavior. Some come up short in the wet when everyone and their grandmother says they are unstickable, and some which have a huge and deserved reputation for soiling underwear everytime there is a drop of moisture manage to test well, or at least a whole lot better than they should. Other than manufacturers supplying seriously modified sets, how does this happen!?
Different versions of the tire, different test conditions, and sometimes user reviews are simply wrong! This is why it's best to combine user reviews and real world test data to help you pick the right tire.
Well thats exactly what i do personally, but when a singular test says one thing and the majority of users say the opposite, you have to wonder...