Michelin CrossClimate2

All-season tyres make a lot of sense for drivers of smaller cars who spend most of their time on urban roads, so it’s surprising that few tyre tests focus on tyre sizes suited to these vehicles. Tyre Reviews has addressed this in its 2023 all-season test by looking at ten tyres in the dimension 195/65 R15. Site founder and resident tester Jonathan Benson fitted the tyres to a VW Golf 7 and evaluated their performance in dry, wet and snowy conditions, and also appraised their comfort and value.

As promised, Auto Bild has subjected the 16 remaining tyres in its 2023 all-season test to further and more intensive scrutiny after booting out 19 products that didn’t make the grade in a preliminary round of wet and dry braking tests. The motoring publication’s expert testers gave five of these size 225/45 R17 tyres their highest recommendation – an ‘exemplary’ rating – and declared a further three ‘good’ tyres. The remaining eight finished testing with ‘satisfactory’ or ‘conditionally recommended’ ratings.

300,000 tyres, 700 brands and 9 categories later it is virtually impossible to choose and outright winner. But the 2023 WhatTyre Tyre of the Year awards wouldn’t be what it is without, well, a flagship Tyre of the Year. So, a decision must be made, and this year Michelin’s CrossClimate 2 SUV is the worthy winner of our overall accolade. Before we get into the detail of why the Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV has won, it is also worth setting that particular tyre’s victory in some overall context.

Demand for all-season tyres has shot up since Michelin launched its initial CrossClimate in 2015. 27 million all-season car and SUV tyres were sold in Europe in 2020, up from 11.2 million in 2015. As demand has grown, so the product has evolved. For example, the new CrossClimate 2 offers a 10 per cent reduction in rolling resistance when compared to its best-selling predecessor thanks to a Cool Running Sidewall designed to improve fuel efficiency or electric vehicle battery range...” amongst other enhancements.