Bridgestone Ecopia EP25

The tire behaved great for what it is and stayed largely consistent for most of its life.

The standout thing that I'd like to raise some awareness about was how much and how quickly it degraded during the fifth year of its life (the last 4-5k miles of its ~27k mile life) and while still having plenty of tread on it. It was apparent under a few specific recurring circumstances, out of which the most obvious and most common was on tight horseshoe turns. If the front tires were loaded due to braking (just slight amounts of braking, consider that one enters the turn under brakes and gradually lifts so that they are fully released potentially before hitting the apex) they were eager to lose traction and slide outwards when nearing the apex. We are talking about just slight amounts of skidding that required no corrections from the driver. They were essentially just enough to affect your confidence in the car. Still, it was something that started happening relatively suddenly and consistently and we became aware of it both during trips & travels and on familiar corners on known roads where we had been taking the car for years and years.

Other than that most other characteristics remained relatively consistent till the end. That is their noise, their general braking performance (though, luckily, I didn't have the "opportunity" to do much emergency braking), their behavior under high speed turns, their traction under first gear acceleration (say uphill stop and go, or with a heavy foot off a green light).

Lastly, I didn't feel too comfortable riding them in heavy rain lately, but that was a rare enough occurrence that I don't have enough experience to express an informed opinion on.

When I retired it it still had plenty of tread on it so I assume most of the degradation in performance was probably caused by the rubber aging.

These tires are OEM on the car, with Treadwear 200 Temperature B Traction B
and EU labelling C for economy, B for wet braking and 70db.

Taking into account that the tire is an enviromentally friendly tire and not a sports one, here is what I think:

Dry braking is really good with no surprises whatsoever. I had an emergency braking because of a wild hog crossing the road and the tire outperformed the traction of the tarmac and the weather conditions, meaning you could tell it could have decelerated more without losing grip had the asphalt been completely dry and more rough.

Handling is also very good, despite the softness of the tire. This softness is present only in cornering at a high speed, so for normal driving and everyday use the tires are perfectly fine.

Feedback is also very good, you get on the wheel what you see on the road, so happy there, too.

On wet grip, I disagree with other people claiming the tire sucks. Yeah, it sucks if you think you're riding on a UHP tire. Keep in mind it's not a performance tire, with a Traction B rating, so prudence and reservation are mandatory on wet public roads where indifference, incompetence, arrogance and pure stupidity are also present.
Having said that, I think the Ecopia EP25 holds no surprises for the knowledgeable driver. Driving on the wet 20-30km/h less than on dry roads will give you the same results as in the dry.

Wet braking is mediocre at best at lower speeds (up to 80km/h) with the ABS engaging a bit more than I expected. This is the first reason I will not choose them again or recommend them, as well as the wear rate.

On the other hand, straight aqua is surprisingly good, even at 2cm of water, cutting through water ponds easily.

Wear is fast for these tires. In 15.000km of 95% motorway use they have got down to 6,1mm of tread, which is a bad result for me, being an old Michelin user. In comparison, Michelin Energy Saver+ started at 7,2mm losing 0,5mm of tread every 10.000km on the same conditions (mind you, the Michelins are Treadwear 400).

Noise is annoying. Only on newly-paved surfaces will there be silence in the cabin; otherwise, get ready for a continuous roar or get a pair of ear-plugs.

All in all, I would choose my Michelin Saver+ over the Ecopia25 time and again, simply because they are better.

EP25's are the standard fitment tire on the Toyota Yaris in Australia since 2011 on all hatch variants (3 and 5 door).

Although they're about $200 each and I've yet to have to replace them at 25,000miles they are definitely worth the price for a quality made-in-Japan low rolling resistance tire.

I drive on all roads however at least half of my road time is spent on highways (100/110km/h respectively).

On the highway the tires are quiet, absorb road imperfections nicely, have little vibration & most importantly have EXCELLENT resistance to aqua-planing even during torrential rain at 110km/h where you cannot see 3 car lengths in front of you.

Their braking performance is also very impressive.

The only downside to these tires is something you get with all high quality low-rolling resistance tires and that's the price - the fact they're made in Japan means a lot - many lesser tires are made in China, Thailand, Malaysia etc and you can tell the difference.

These tires are great because in Australia - snow/winter tires are not sold so when the temperature drops below 8C most tires harden up and lose their grip - the special compound of these Ep25's keeps them supple even as the temp outside nears freezing so you still maintain grip during the winter months - very important when you can't buy winter tires in Australia.