Given
84%
while driving a
Volkswagen
(205/55 R16) on
a combination of roads
for 3,000
spirited miles
Despite the price point for these tyres being somewhat high, I find them to be a ridiculously comfortable, well-balanced and extremely willing tyre (in terms of "spiritedness" per se).
In the dry, these things are exceptional right until their end of life, I'm on my second set (of fronts, 1st set still on the rear at 13k miles) on my VW Golf 6, and I don't think I'd go to anything else, whilst on the standard wheels that is. These tyres allow for quite spirited driving, have plenty to give in turns and hold really steady. On open Welsh country lanes with the cruise control set to the speed limit (mostly national speed), I find them to be stable, comfortable, and more importantly find myself in complete control.
In the wet, however, it's almost the same. Of course being in the wet, mainly off the mark, you'll find yourself slipping. Obviously they wont grip up the same as in the dry, however it's not too far off at all. In the smashing down rain, of course there's a degree of care and common sense to pull the reigns on said "spiritedness", however in the damp, its almost 1-to-1 what they do in the dry.
The road noise is a little bit loud, but nothing crazy when you've got some music on in comparison to other tyres, barely noticeable.
As mentioned in the dry and the wet, they handle really well, nuff said really!
As far as wear goes, they do tend to be on the longer lasting side in all fairness, I've had my fronts changed recently, hence the 3000 mile test as they're still pretty new on the car, but the rears from the first set (now on 2nd set) have done almost 13k miles and still have loads of meat on the bone!
When it comes to comfort, you can see where the more "performance" aspect of the tyres come into play. They can get a bit bumpy but they're quite reasonably comfy compared to others, but I'm going to assume it's due to the profile of tyre I'm running (quite a bit of sidewall of course being a 205/55).
I would 100% buy these again, as I said, can't see any reason not to considering what you get for the price. Oh, also, they're run-flats! Can't go wrong!