Whether VW Golf, Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia, or Audi A3, nearly all compact car base models come with 205/55 R16 tyres. This tyre size dominates Europe’s aftermarket sales, and its popularity has led to a wide range of available products. However, this extensive selection can make it difficult to choose the best replacement tyre.
The Continental WinterContact TS 870’s strength in wet and dry conditions proved just enough for Auto Express to make it the winner of its Winter Tyre Test 2023. Competing against six other global manufacturers’ products, the Conti tyre beat the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-005 – the reigning champion of many European tyre tests and Tyrepress’ sister consumer tyre advice website, WhatTyre’s Winter Tyre of the Year – by a narrow 0.3-point margin overall. None of the seven tyres tested disgraced itself, with the last-placed Vredestein Wintrac Pro only 3.2 points out of 100 behind the Conti tyre: the differences between seven of the top-performing winter tyres proved largely down to different interpretations of what performance characteristics a winter tyre should target; both by the manufacturers and Auto Express test lead Kim Adams. The tyres were tested in size 225/45R17 at Pirelli’s Sottozero winter testing facility in Flurheden in northern Sweden and at Continental’s Pferdsfeld proving ground. In its report, Auto Express detailed the shipping challenges associated with sourcing tyres to conduct tests have not yet fully relented; while manufacturers supplied their own tyres for the winter tyre test, the top three were checked against tyres bought on the open market.
After selecting the 20 best-performing tyres in wet and snow braking tests from a starting field of 50 candidates, Auto Bild has subjected the finalists to further evaluations of their capabilities in a range of situations. As well as looking at how each tyre influences handling and braking in dry, wet and snowy conditions, the publication’s test team examined rolling resistance, mileage, tyre-road noise and cost factors. Here’s what they found.
Continental has launched the new WinterContact TS 870, a winter tyre for small to medium sized cars, at an event in Kittilä, Finland. The tyre is the successor to 2016’s WinterContact TS 860, which has been widely recognised for the quality of its performance in tyre tests. The new tyre, which has a newly designed high-technology tread design and a new iteration of Conti’s Cool Chili compound with optimised crosslink density, features balanced performance improvements over the TS 860, notably five per cent shorter braking on ice and grip on snow, seven per cent increased tread life, and best-in-class noise, represented by one-wave (70dB) on the EU tyre label.
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