Given
50%
while driving a
Mazda mx 5
(205/45 R17) on
mostly town
for 3,000
spirited miles
These are oem tires fitted to a 2019 Mazda mx5. The car has 5000km's done, and mostly driven on city roads with the odd dual carriageway blast here and there.
My initial thoughts were that they felt like a hard compound tire. The rear wheels have lost traction when conditions were damp under mild acceleration numerous times. Traction control has kicked in a lot during wet weather. Car has skidded out sideways (a little) on many occasions, but not enough to cause serious concern, however its enough to warrant removal of tires.
On occasions where I've had to accelerate hard from a standstill these tires spun in wet and damp conditions,
But they managed to grip ok whilst dry.
Under normal weather conditions they perform adequately but still aren't a match for the calibre of the car they are fitted to.
Ive noticed poor road feedback at speed, high noise, and theyre not very accurate in terms of road position. The response is very slow and not confidence inspiring.
At times ive felt like my car is not a sports car. I've had landsail tires on a Hyundai coupe that performed better than these potenzas.
While road conditions are poor in my country, there's no excuse to be fitting these tires as oem equipment. Combining these tires to the Irish climate, Irish roads, and finally to a tail happy rear wheel drive car is asking for trouble.
I do not recommend these tires unless you live in a warm/moderate climate and only do motorway trips.
They are not suitable for my car or it's driving environment.
I will be changing these tires asap.