I have used these tyres for two winters in the harsh climate of the Bulgarian severe snowy and icy winter with temperatures between -25 and +10-15 degrees and have very elaborate observations.
So, the tyre is perfect on wet and frozen roads below 0 degrees. Actually it slides and drifts on deep snow when it cannot touch the asphat intil the cuts become filled with snow. After that the grip is perfect.
It slides on ice but hardly is there a tyre that does not slide on smooth ice at all. Anyway the grip even on smooth ice is satisfactory.
On light and wet snow it is perfect and the grip is even better than on dry road. You feel as if you are driving in a summer day with perfect tyres. No difference. You forget that it is winter and the conditions outside are harsh and you just wonder why your colleageus drivers are drifting around you with their tyres and it is more difficult to avoid driftings cars than gripping the road.
There is one disdvantage of these tyres - they ARE NOT good for warmer temperatures. As soon as the temperatures go over around 10 degress the tyres become so soft that you are virtually glued to the road. The car starts torturing itself. The acceleration falls sharply and the car becomes slow and lazy although my car i 245 hp and 480 NM torque. The grip is so strong that you feel as if the car loses at least 30% of its power and acceleration only because of the grip of the tyres. These tyres are incredible for super low temperatures but bad for warmer ones. My advice is to swap them some time between middle of March and the beginning of April for the moderate climate zone.

I bought these on steel wheels for my wife's BMW 320D Hardtop Cabriolet. In East Sussex we've had no real snow this year but plenty of cold wet weather. In the rain and wet these tyres are superb and there have been no problems at all with a few patches of ice. I struggled (in play) to get the wheels to slip at all on large sheets of white ice. By contrast,I am running Continental Wintercontacts on my BMW X3. They are good but these Goodyears are far better in really wet conditions. There is no sign of aquaplaning or any movement at all. Sheets of water over the road are easily dispersed without barely any pull on the steering.

At first they seemed a little soft so I recommend going a few PSI on the high side of their rating, whereupon they feel firm and planted. Fuel economy is surprisingly good and braking and handling give enormous confidence in cold/wet conditions. I'll be interested to try them in snow as the ADAC test rated them rather average in snow yet the Bild test rated them very highly. My gut feeling, from all other indications, is they will be a very competent tyre in the snow. These tyres and matching steel wheels have turned a posing summer car into a very competent winter sports car. I can't wait for snow covered roads with a bright sunny day, cruising with the roof down.

For my experience I find these tyres very comfortable, I can slightly hear the difference between summer tyres. Furthermore I never noticed any difference in fuel consumption. The road feedback it's ok but not the best. They thend to oversteer on cornering. For my experience wet grip is good as the tyre have no more than two/three years, especially on cornering but I find this a common behaviour in all winter tyres. The wear is uniform, I suppose I may use these tyres for another 16000 miles. Definitely they're good tyres.
Would I buy them again? Yes if snow period is long. The last two years snowed just a couple of times so I'm more oriented to an allseason tyre for the future.

Had these on a Kia Ceed SW 2013 all year and not much wear .
The side walls do flex a bit if you push into the corners too hard in the dry, but actually the fuel consumption is great, wet road and snow handling is fantastic. I usually swap summer/winter so I'm used to the differences between the two types of tyres but really with all the rain in the UK why bother as these give much more confidence in the wet.

My only problem with these tyres (on a BMW F48 X1 M-Sport) is the excessive noise. Speed related and it completely overwhelms the radio at 50mph. Otherwise a great improvement on the original show-off 19" wheels

I chose these tyres for Winter, based on other reviews and also because i really like the way Goodyear tyres feel and handle on the road (my summer tyres are Goodyear EfficientGrip). There is less feel than a summer tyre, but that is to be expected with the big tread blocks, but it is really not a big issue. My bulky, 2-wheel drive Peugeot starts to handle less predictably in wet, cold conditions, particularly in snow, so i routinely fit winter tyres. These Ultraprips are superb and like all quality winter tyres are terrific when the temperature drops and it gets wet. Snow and slush on the road last night was simply no issue. Pulling out of snowy side roads was undramatic - no wheel spin if you're gentle. These tyres simply glide through any form of snow build-up on the road and they are particularly predictable if they break-away on the limit, because they quickly regain grip. Also seem relatively good on ice - hit a patch and had to brake gently, and although they initially slide, ABS kicks in and the car quickly stops - seems to track in a straight line as well, so these tyres are predictable and consistent - highly recommended.

Superb tyres, one of the best you could ever fit to your motor, nothing I've tried before comes near to these for grip and quality and believe me I've tried several makes over my years of driving. Fit these with confidence and make sure you never become stuck in the winter months :)

Running 215 width tyres on 16" rims.

Dry grip good but lacks a bit of feedback. Wet grip superb. Got my first go on snow with them this morning with 3 inches of wet snow on the ground and they shone. On slush it's like the slush isn't there. On snow there's a bit of wheelspin unless you are gentle with the clutch (mine is an auto so it's a bit tricky persuading the car to be gentle!). However it's the stopping power of these tyres on the snow I was very impressed with. Yes they slide (but not very much!) if you jam the brake pedal to the floor but braking normally with a bit of caution it's not far off driving on a snow free road. Going round corners and up hills the car felt planted to the road and any sideways wiggle was easily corrected. I've got a heavy diesel engine up front helping with traction too.

They are very soft sidewalls and were a bit squishy at first but an extra 3 psi above normal and the handling was improved.

They run quietly and and are very comfortable too. Would definitely recommend.

After my summer tires(bridgestone turanza 001) goodyear ultragrip performance tires are more confortable and quite. Rolling resistance is also surprisingly better than bridgestone. Despite the fact that this is a winter tyre its gives a smooth and quiet drive. My tires are also suitable for Extra Load(94) but still gives a good response in bad road settings. The handling and stopping distance on wet and dry surfaces is way better than bridgestone. I still couldnt try it on snow but it looks like its also going to be at least more than enough.

So i can absouletly recommend that so far!

Updated from earlier impressions:

Having spent the weekend criss-crossing the Scottish Borders during intense storms and heavy flooding, I still cannot fault these tyres. Wet grip is truly impressive; the car feels totally sure footed, and can be pushed safely to the limits. Dry handling is also proving to be extremely good.

Though not powerful, the MX5 has finely balanced handling which is very sensitive to tyre choice.
It was therefore with some trepidation that I changed the summer Michelins for a set of Goodyear's latest Gen1 winters.
First impressions were encouraging: more comfortable than the unforgiving (but responsive) Michelin's; quiet too.
Now that they are fully bedded-in, I am still exploring the limits of grip available, but suffice to say cold greasy roundabouts can be approached with great confidence... Regards handling, there is perhaps just a little hesitation in initial steering response, but nevertheless the car feels just as nimble and willing to turn in as ever, with perfect balance - and I haven't even experimented with different pressures yet.
Standing water is scythed through with ease. Snow performance is yet to be tested, but I can confirm that grip on sheet ice is stable and predictable enough to allow for safe progress (or messing about!). In short I can wholeheartedly recommend these new Goodyears - 10 out of 10 so far...