2019 Auto Express All Season Tyre Test

Test Summary
Wet BrakingContinental Premium Contact 6
Dry BrakingBridgestone Weather Control A005
Wet HandlingContinental AllSeasonContact
WearContinental WinterContact TS 860
Rolling ResistanceContinental AllSeasonContact
Snow HandlingContinental WinterContact TS 860
The weekly UK publication Auto Express has just published their 2019 all season tyre test! This year Auto Express tested nine all season tyre patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf.

As in previous years, Auto Express have included a summer and winter tyre as reference. Shockingly, the summer Continental PremiumContact 5 was the best in dry overall, near the best in wet, and fell apart in snow. Things get more interesting when we compare the winter Continental WinterContact TS860 to the all season tyres on test.

If you ignore the dry braking result (a break down of all the data can be found on the Auto Express website here), the winter tyre was as much an all season tyre as the best all season tyre on test! While this won't apply to all winter tyres, it's a good example of how close a winter bias all season tyre, and a full winter tyre can be!

Of the all season tyres, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-2 just edged out the Continental AllSeasonContact for the test win. Both tyres had excellent, balanced performances, with the Continental a little stronger in the dry and snow covered roads, and the Goodyear having the edge in the wet.

The summer bias Michelin CrossClimate+ was the strongest all season tyre overall in dry conditions, coupled with the sportiest handling. It matched the best in the wet, and while couldn't quite keep up with the winter-bias all season tyres in the snow, it was still an order of magnitude better than the summer tyre.

Interestingly the Bridgestone A005 again scored well in the braking tests, but as over tests have started to show, it doesn't quite have an all round ability like the best all season tyres on tests, largely due to a very weak snow performance and high rolling resistance.

Results

Sadly Auto Express don't provide any raw data, instead scoring the best in each test one hundred percent, and working down from there. You can check out the full test on the Auto Express website here.

1st: Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2

Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 871
  2. Dry: 186
  3. Wet: 195
  4. Snow: 197
  5. Rolling Resistance: 93
  6. Noise: 100
  7. Overall: 100
A great all round performance, excellent in the wet and snow.
Not the sharpest during dry handling.

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1st: Continental WinterContact TS 860

Continental WinterContact TS 860
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 871.4
  2. Dry: 183
  3. Wet: 195
  4. Snow: 197
  5. Rolling Resistance: 93
  6. Noise: 103
  7. Overall: 100.4
Best in the wet overall, very strong in snow.
Weak in dry braking.

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2nd: Continental AllSeasonContact

Continental AllSeasonContact
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 869.5
  2. Dry: 189
  3. Wet: 191
  4. Snow: 200
  5. Rolling Resistance: 100
  6. Noise: 90
  7. Overall: 99.5
Lowest fuel consumption, excellent in the snow and wet, good in dry.
Not quite as good as the Goodyear in the wet, but still very good.

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3rd: Michelin CrossClimate+

Michelin CrossClimate Plus
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 860.4
  2. Dry: 200
  3. Wet: 193
  4. Snow: 184
  5. Rolling Resistance: 93
  6. Noise: 91
  7. Overall: 99.4
Best in the dry with the most sporty handling, very good in the wet, good snow traction.
Weak in snow braking and snow handling, but still much much better than the summer tyre.

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4th: Nokian WeatherProof

Nokian WeatherProof
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 860
  2. Dry: 197
  3. Wet: 188
  4. Snow: 198
  5. Rolling Resistance: 94
  6. Noise: 84
  7. Overall: 99
Very strong in the snow, good aquaplaning results, low rolling resistance.
A little weak in the dry, high noise.

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5th: Bridgestone Weather Control A005

Bridgestone Weather Control A005
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 845.5
  2. Dry: 194
  3. Wet: 196
  4. Snow: 176
  5. Rolling Resistance: 88
  6. Noise: 93
  7. Overall: 98.5
Good wet and dry braking.
Very weak in the snow, high fuel use.

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6th: Falken EUROALL SEASON AS210

Falken EUROALL SEASON AS210
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 837.3
  2. Dry: 188
  3. Wet: 182
  4. Snow: 188
  5. Rolling Resistance: 86
  6. Noise: 96
  7. Overall: 97.3
Good in dry handling and straight aquaplaning, low noise.
High fuel use, poor snow grip, long wet braking.

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7th: Hankook Kinergy 4S2

Hankook Kinergy 4S2
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 842.2
  2. Dry: 192
  3. Wet: 182
  4. Snow: 187
  5. Rolling Resistance: 99
  6. Noise: 85
  7. Overall: 97.2
Excellent in the dry, low fuel use.
Long wet braking, poor performance on snow.

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8th: Cooper Discoverer All Season

Cooper Discoverer All Season
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 846.9
  2. Dry: 188
  3. Wet: 180
  4. Snow: 191
  5. Rolling Resistance: 93
  6. Noise: 98
  7. Overall: 96.9
Low noise, good snow handling.
Poor wet grip.

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8th: Continental Premium Contact 6

Continental Premium Contact 6
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 771.3
  2. Dry: 203
  3. Wet: 187
  4. Snow: 108
  5. Rolling Resistance: 92
  6. Noise: 86
  7. Overall: 95.3
Best in the dry.
Did not perform in snow.

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9th: Nankang Cross Seasons AW6

Nankang Cross Seasons AW6
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 819.6
  2. Dry: 183
  3. Wet: 166
  4. Snow: 192
  5. Rolling Resistance: 93
  6. Noise: 92
  7. Overall: 93.6
Cheap, good in snow.
Very poor wet and dry grip.

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