Nexen N Fera AU5

Just following up on another review I wrote about these tires many years ago with my BMW - the tires have finally reached end of life, but I'm not complaining as I've had literally 4.5-5 years on this set of tires, with a mix of spirited and regular commuting type driving, as well as a few road trips. For the price point I still think they're a phenomenal mid-range tire (start of the mid-range perhaps?) for everyday use, but if it's a weekend car where wear is less significant then perhaps something with more grip may be a better suit. Also worth noting I haven't got a particularly powerful car so they don't have to handle a lot of power going down, just grip in corners. I've just had a look and I've done 60,000kms on each pair of tires I put on (one about 1 month before the other) so I'm pretty happy with the longevity. Towards the end though I did feel myself wanting more grip, especially as finances were less of a consideration and so I was happy to spend more on a higher performing tire. For their grip level they're well balanced I feel, but at the end of the day they still have less grip than some of the higher performing equivalents out there.

Would I buy again? Depends on the application - my car probably not as I want more grip going forward (and the Continental MC6 seem to be a good balance of price/performance so they'll take up the mantle the AU5 had for the minimum level of tire for my car, as the Conti's weren't as competitive when I bought the AU5's), but for any of my family's cars it's an immediate buy for the AU5 if they're available in the size, as long term the pricing and grip/safety element works out brilliantly in regular commuter cars. Especially in NZ, where I can get them fitted for something like $160 NZD ($97 USD at the time of writing) a tire, and the low quality kill you stuff is priced at $130-140 these days, so it's a no brainer.

I've had these on my car for approximately 2 years now, having come down from the SU1's (mainly a daily driver and the SU1's wear a fair bit quicker). You definitely notice that they have less grip than the SU1's, but equally I don't find myself wanting for grip either since I've had my Bilstein shocks installed (coming from Koni's). My car isn't particularly powerful, so it's more about agility and carrying the speed you have, which these do nicely. Done about 40,000km on them, and they're about half worn. Handling at the limit is rather progressive, they don't snap on you which is nice and you can feel them unloading. They're generally quiet, and in the wet don't have as much grip as in the dry, but if you're looking for something for a daily to take up a hill, and you're not in a super powerful car, for the money I'd certainly say these are at least worth a try - I think much better value for money than a lot of the cheaper stuff out there.