Premium Touring Passenger Car Tire Tests

For their 2025 winter tire test, Auto Express have tested eight popular winter tires in 225/45 R17.

As always we suggest you visit the Auto Express website on the link below for the full details, but here is our summary.

This years Tire Reviews all season tire test has 9 of the most popular all season tires, and one of the best summer tires, the Continental PremiumContact 7 and one of the best winter tires, the Continental WinterContact TS870 P as reference tires.

I'm also using a RWD Mazda MX-5 to find out whether rear wheel drive makes any difference to the established results!

A new test conducted by "auto motor und sport" evaluated the performance of the new CrossClimate 3 and 3 Sport all season tires against the traditional summer touring and summer performance tires. The test vehicle was a Golf GTI Clubsport, utilizing a tire size of 225/40 R18 for all tests. 

The tires tested were the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 (ultra-high-performance summer), Michelin Primacy (premium touring summer), Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport (ultra-high-performance all-season), and the Michelin CrossClimate 3 (premium touring all-season). The objective was to quantify performance differences in dry and wet conditions.

Currently, there isn't a lot of EV tire testing performed so EV owners are in the dark about new EV specific options. For this reason, we are republishing data from a TUV report with the new Hankook iON FlexClimate vs some key rivals. 

Usually we wouldn't publish this data as while TUV tests are independant, Hankook would have chosen the size, test vehicle and competitors, but as there's no test data out for the FlexCimate  this is worth a republish. The test vehicle was a Tesla Model 3 Performance for the majority of tests, with the VW T6 stepping in for other duties such as aquaplaning.

I've performed the world's first test of the new Michelin CrossClimate 3 and CrossClimate 3 Sport all season tires, putting them up against two of the leading competitors, the multiple test winning Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 and the excellent dry and wet focused Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6.

As always I've tested them in the dry, wet, noise and comfort, and I have rolling resistance and snow data to show you exactly how the two new Michelins compare to some of the best competition in the segment.

The German motor club ADAC is at the very peak of tire testing, so any new test of theirs is extremely exciting. For 2025 ADAC has tested popular all season tires in the common 225/45 R17 size, and included a wear test and a real world economy test. Sadly this test was started before the introduction of the CrossClimate 3.

Even with ADAC's rather unique way of testing, the winners are not a surprise, with Goodyear, Continental and Pirelli taking the top spots. The most interesting piece of data was the wear result of the Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 - all but matching the Michelin CrossClimate 2 and beating the Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6, but none of the leading tires could get close to the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 impressive wear results.

Michelin has just unveiled not one but two exciting new additions to their all-season tire lineup: the CrossClimate 3 and the all-new CrossClimate 3 Sport. While the CrossClimate 3 represents an evolution of the much loved CrossClimate 2, the CrossClimate 3 Sport is a completely new offering aimed at drivers of sportier vehicles who still want all-season versatility.

Having spent a week testing both new tires alongside the CrossClimate 2, I can explain how these new models perform, and what improvements Michelin has made to their already impressive all-season range.

Car and Driver recently put five all-weather tires to test to find the best option for drivers who want to run one set of rubber year-round. Using a BMW 330i xDrive for dry and wet testing at Tire Rack's South Bend facility and a Genesis G70 for snow evaluations at Michigan's Keweenaw Research Center, the magazine teamed up with expert drivers to collect objective performance data and subjective impressions across multiple driving scenarios.

Every year there's a tire test that makes me stop and wonder how they got to their conclusion, and this year that award goes to the UTAC / Aftonbladet summer tire test.

As a bit of scene setting, Aftonbladet is a Scandinavian newspaper, so UTAC, who performed the testing, focused on the cold weather ability of the tires, which is something I love. However, they did make some interesting statements, and ended up with some interesting findings. In total they tested 14 tires, 10 summer and 4 European spec all season tires, all in 225/45 R17.

In their latest tire test, Motor magazine has taken a unique approach to evaluating summer tires, focusing on models that combine energy efficiency with high performance. The test specifically targeted tires with the lowest rolling resistance ratings, examining whether fuel-saving characteristics would compromise grip and safety features.

The testing team selected seven tires in the popular 205/55 R16 size, a dimension commonly found on vehicles ranging from the Audi A3 to the Volvo V70. Six of the tested models carried the EU label's top "A" rating for both rolling resistance and wet grip, while the seventh tire (Prinx XLAB Comfort EV) featured an "A" rating for rolling resistance but a "B" for wet grip.

Auto Motor Und Sport always pushes traditional tire testing in new directions, and this years summer tire test has a new twist - sustainability. The test focused on the 215/55 R17 size, suitable for midsize sedans, station wagons, and compact SUVs, with particular attention paid to tires achieving at least a "B" rating for rolling resistance on the EU tire label.

Finnish magazine Moottori tested eight mid-range summer tires in size 205/55 R16. They ran the tires through wet and dry braking tests, handling circuits, aquaplaning resistance, and measured noise levels and rolling resistance. The test showed clear differences in grip levels, with Nokian's Hakka Blue 3 taking the top spot over BF Goodrich Advantage DT1 and Hankook Ventus Prime 4.

There's a new comfort bias summer tire to market, the Pirelli Cinturato C3! To see how good the new tire really is, I've tested it against some of its key rivals from Michelin and Continental. I've also added some new tires I've not tested before. 

As usual, all the tires in this test will be tested in the dry and wet, and I'll be assessing the comfort, noise, and rolling resistance (energy use) of the tires to give you a complete overview of which tire is best.

Vi Bilägare has completed their latest winter tire test, evaluating seven dedicated Nordic friction tires and one all-season tire in size 225/45 R17. The reigning champion, Continental VikingContact 7, has been replaced by the VikingContact 8, which is tested against competitors from Goodyear, Michelin, Nokian, and Hankook. The test also included two budget tires, Radar and Greenmax.

The excellent magazine Vi Bilagare tested seven studded tires and one friction (non-studded) winter tire - the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5. Testing was conducted in various locations across Finland and Sweden, using a Volkswagen Golf for most tests.

Below is the data from the Sport Auto all season tire test. Their test vehicle was a sporty Hyundai i20N, and they included named reference summer and winter tires, which is always nice (even if the summer tire was the Asymmetric 3, a tire originally launched over 10 years ago!)

Another key point is that the wet tests were done at cold conditions, "significantly below ten degrees", and around 7c for wet braking. Many of the all season tires out performed the summer tire, however as the summer tire is not current it's hard to say whether a modern summer tire would have performed better.

These are the result from 2024 Auto Express All Season Tire Test.

These are the result from 2024 Auto Express Winter Tire Test

Auto Bild AllRads's 2024 SUV All Season Tire Test tested 12 all-season tires in size 245/45 R18, alongside summer and winter reference tires. The test revealed significant performance gaps between the best and worst all-season tires across various conditions, while also highlighting the compromises these tires make compared to specialized seasonal options.

In dry conditions, the top-performing all-season tires approached the capabilities of the summer reference tire, but couldn't quite match its grip or balance. The Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 demonstrated the shortest dry braking distance among all-season tires at 37.7 meters, though still 2.4 meters behind the summer reference. In contrast, the poorest performing Minerva All Season Master required an additional 5.7 meters to stop. Dry handling tests showed similar trends, with the best all-season tire, the Hankook Kinergy 4S2, achieving an average speed just 1.1 km/h slower than the summer reference, while the slowest Nexen N Blue 4Season 2 lagged by 5.3 km/h.

Below is all the glorious data from the Auto Bild full winter test, in 205/55 R16. These are the top 20 tires that made it through the 53 tire shootout, so they're all essentially good tires, they're just different shades of good.