AutoBild Allrad recommends 4 ‘exemplary’ all-season SUV tyres

AutoBild Allrad’s 2023 test of 10 all-season SUV tyres gave four tyres the top “exemplary” grade, with two joint-winners. In Germany, all-season tyres have grown with the most recent product generations’ improved technology, despite the traditional strength of its seasonal tyre change market. The magazine, one of Germany’s leading consumer automotive publications, said the top-ranking tyres in its latest test have “matured into true heroes of road traffic.” At the other end of the scale, three of the size 235/65 R17 108 V/W tyres were described as “not recommended”, while three other tyres gained “satisfactory” and “good” final verdicts. So which all-season products could AutoBild Allrad “unreservedly recommend” to motorists?

The two joint test winners were Bridgestone’s new Turanza All Season 6 and the WhatTyre Tyre of the Year winner, the Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV. With an overall grade of 1.6, they shared first place in the product comparison, despite the Bridgestone tyre’s “slightly increased rolling resistance” and the Michelin tyre’s “high price level”. The Turanza All Season 6 has “impressive driving qualities in all weather conditions” combined with very short wet braking distances, AutoBild Allrad said, while the strengths of the CrossClimate 2 SUV are its balanced performance potential, with convincing winter and dry performance as well as very good aquaplaning reserves.

The “slightly extended dry braking distances” for both the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 SUV and the Hankook Kinergy 4S² led to rankings slightly below the top tyres. Their otherwise convincing performance characteristics were still enough for the “exemplary” rating.

Behind them, Vredestein’s Quatrac Pro + came in fifth with an overall 2.5 grade enough for a “good” rating, although the traction on snow, which the testers rated as moderate, and only “satisfactory aquaplaning qualities” prevented the tyre from achieving a better result.

AutoBild’s testers Henning Klipp and Dierk Möller consider the overall performance of Falken’s EuroAll Season AS220 Pro and Toyo’s Celsius AS2 to be “satisfactory”, with overall grades of 3.0 and 3.1. The only detriments to a better ranking were “satisfactory driving characteristics on ice and snow, moderate safety reserves in the event of aquaplaning” for the Falken tyre, and “understeering handling on snow and dry slopes, moderate snow traction, limited comfort” for the Toyo.

‘Not recommended’ products

Three tyres were given AutoBild Allrad’s thumbs-down. Uniroyal’s AllSeasonExpert 2 showed “limited cornering and understeering handling on wet and dry roads” as well as “significantly longer braking distances when dry”. Snow-covered and wet roads proved problematic for the Imperial All Season Driver, with a 4.2 rating bolstered by quiet passing noise and a low price.

The final tyre in this group and in the test as a whole is Kenda’s Kenetica 4S SUV KR609, with an overall rating of 4.5. AutoBild Allrad criticised the tyre for “heavily understeering snow handling, delayed steering response, long braking distances in the wet, increased noise when driving past,” which on the other hand are only offset by good aquaplaning safety. The tyre, like the Imperial product before it, passed the high-speed test according to legal requirements, but not the more stringent AutoBild conditions.

These issues at the bottom of the table aside, the overall conclusion of AutoBild Allrad’s tyre testers was that all-season tyres’ increased popularity is being achieved “for good reasons: They meet the requirements for winter tyres, make the annoying tyre change unnecessary and get better every year.

“Our top candidates are a safe alternative, especially for all-wheel drive drivers,” the testers concluded.