In January 2013 I bent my nice new company Skoda Fabia estate on a stone wall near where we live in the Pennines to the west of Huddersfield. It was snowing, I wasn't driving, I'd parked up to shovel snow on a slight incline and the car slid back, all its wheels locked until the open drivers' door caught the stone wall. I had got through the bad winters since 2007 using snow chains on company cars. These are great and can get you almost anywhere but putting them on and taking them off is a pain, the maximum speed is 30 mph and as soon as you get back on tarmac, off they come; they are of little use on the mixed snow/ice/slush combination that we get on the UK's roads in winter. Unlike a lot of people round here, I don't like to park my car half a mile away on the main road; it could get hit by an skidding vehicle, it will get covered in salt and might get sprayed with wet snow from a snow plough that freezes and makes getting into the car the morning after somewhat difficult. The company won't, as a matter of policy, fit winter tires, which were the obvious solution, so I the best I could do was argue for a set of Goodyear Vector4Season tires. These were fitted in November 2013 when the original Dunlop SP's finally wore out after 50,000 miles. Then it didn't snow in the 2013/14 winter, even up in the Pennines but the wet weather performance and the summer dry weather performance were tested to the full. On these measures the tires are good. In the wet weather they felt much more stable and didn't have any tendency to aquaplane no matter how much water was on the road surface. They didn't slip on the steep and turning road that approaches our house when the Dunlop's frequently spun, even in dry weather. In the dry, I didn't notice any difference but then I am not into “exploring the outer limits of handling of the car†as I was asked once in a well-known national chain of tire fitters so perhaps I wouldn't notice any difference – well it is only a 1.2 diesel.
But it was the snow performance that I really wanted to test and I had to wait for 34,000 miles and 13 months until 27th and 28th December 2014 to see how the Goodyear's performed on snow and ice. Finally, we woke to 5-10 cm of snow and the need to go somewhere early in the morning. I reversed down the road past the house and onto the side road that leads to the A62. This side road is never gritted or ploughed and it is steep and twisty. We negotiated it with without difficulty, got onto the A62, realised we had forgot something and went back, driving right up to the house without so much as a twitch of the traction control on the snow. We went over Scapegoat Hill, to over 1,000' up and onto the snow covered A640, overtaking a 4x4 making slow progress on the way. With a clear wide road covered in snow and going downhill, I did a couple of hard braking tests and the car stopped in a straight line, with no fuss, no sliding and no drama.
On the way into Leeds, a dual carriage way had the left lane clear and full of cars doing 20 mph. The right lane was snow covered so I nudged the Fabia into the snow covered second lane and went past them all. The feeling of stability and control on the snow was amazing.
On the 28th, a beautifully sunny day, we went up to the top of the A62 on Standedge, took pictures walked around then drove back along the snow covered hilly back roads to the see various relations. There was a lot of black ice around and the tires coped well going uphill, and when driving appropriately with due regard to the conditions, went downhill in control. No non-studded tire will give good grip on ice – I have driven in Sweden in the depths of winter on studded tires – but at least the Goodyears with multiple Vee shaped cross grooves gives you a better chance of finding some traction on ice compared to the normal summer tires with their big circumferential grooves and tiny water clearing cross grooves.
In short, the best tires I have ever had on a car. They have lasted well, so far with 34,000 miles and still 5-6 mm of tread. It will be an interesting comparison when the car goes back in February 2015 to be replaced by our own Mini which be coming with a set of winter tires – Goodyear don't make a Vector4Season in the size for the Mini. Any negatives? The fuel consumption got worse dropping from 67ish to less than 64, both figures being well short of what Skoda promise for its Greenline models but that is another story.
But it was the snow performance that I really wanted to test and I had to wait for 34,000 miles and 13 months until 27th and 28th December 2014 to see how the Goodyear's performed on snow and ice. Finally, we woke to 5-10 cm of snow and the need to go somewhere early in the morning. I reversed down the road past the house and onto the side road that leads to the A62. This side road is never gritted or ploughed and it is steep and twisty. We negotiated it with without difficulty, got onto the A62, realised we had forgot something and went back, driving right up to the house without so much as a twitch of the traction control on the snow. We went over Scapegoat Hill, to over 1,000' up and onto the snow covered A640, overtaking a 4x4 making slow progress on the way. With a clear wide road covered in snow and going downhill, I did a couple of hard braking tests and the car stopped in a straight line, with no fuss, no sliding and no drama.
On the way into Leeds, a dual carriage way had the left lane clear and full of cars doing 20 mph. The right lane was snow covered so I nudged the Fabia into the snow covered second lane and went past them all. The feeling of stability and control on the snow was amazing.
On the 28th, a beautifully sunny day, we went up to the top of the A62 on Standedge, took pictures walked around then drove back along the snow covered hilly back roads to the see various relations. There was a lot of black ice around and the tires coped well going uphill, and when driving appropriately with due regard to the conditions, went downhill in control. No non-studded tire will give good grip on ice – I have driven in Sweden in the depths of winter on studded tires – but at least the Goodyears with multiple Vee shaped cross grooves gives you a better chance of finding some traction on ice compared to the normal summer tires with their big circumferential grooves and tiny water clearing cross grooves.
In short, the best tires I have ever had on a car. They have lasted well, so far with 34,000 miles and still 5-6 mm of tread. It will be an interesting comparison when the car goes back in February 2015 to be replaced by our own Mini which be coming with a set of winter tires – Goodyear don't make a Vector4Season in the size for the Mini. Any negatives? The fuel consumption got worse dropping from 67ish to less than 64, both figures being well short of what Skoda promise for its Greenline models but that is another story.