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.
Having won the Tyre Reviews all-season test in 2021 and 2022, a third victory for the CrossClimate 2 – also WhatTyre’s 2023 All-Season Tyre of the Year – felt all but inevitable. The Michelin tyre didn’t disappoint. Three other tyres gained Tyre Reviews’ Highly Recommended rating and one the Recommended rating.
Almost a king
Jonathan Benson awards victory to the CrossClimate 2 together with a plea to Michelin to bestow “more wet performance” upon its next generation of all-season tyres, even if this comes at the expense of snow capability. Do this, says Benson, and the all-season segment “will have an unrivalled king once again.”
There wasn’t much between the top three tyres. Tyre Reviews shares that the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 “would probably have won the test” had it delivered just a “little more dry braking.” As for the third-placed Hankook Kinergy 4S2, Benson says this “has the balance of an all-season I really like.”
Tyre Reviews also highly recommends the Kleber Quadraxer 3. Kleber is a Michelin sub-brand, and Jonathan Benson comments that the tyre “performed exactly as I would expect a slightly cheaper Crossclimate 2 to perform.”
The 2023 all-season tyre test has one Recommended product, and this is the Vredestein Quatrac. Although showing some weakness in wet braking, Benson describes the Vredestein tyre as a “good product” that he’s “glad to recommend at its price point.”
Further down the results table, the sixth-placed Firestone MultiSeason Gen 02 delivers a “good effort,” while Tyre Reviews says the Falken Euroall Season AS210, which finished seventh, is “not a bad tyre, but perhaps a tyre suited to a milder winter climate.” The Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert 2 provides the best aquaplaning resistance of the ten tested tyres, but its grip “wasn’t up to the standard of the best in the group” in the dry, wet or snow. The Toyo Celsius AS2 was “ok in the dry” but “didn’t really jump out in any category.”
Last place belongs to the Leao iGreen AllSeason, which has the dubious distinction of finishing behind the summer reference tyre that was evaluated alongside the all-season candidates. “It was really let down by its braking, which is key to safety,” writes Jonathan Benson. “But it is cheap to buy and does have a low rolling resistance making it very good value, as long as you aren’t expecting grip.”
Test winner
Michelin CrossClimate 2
+ Best in dry & snow braking, very good dry grip, very good aquaplaning resistance, best snow traction, fastest snow handling lap, very good comfort levels, very low rolling resistance.
– Average wet braking & handling.
Highly Recommended
Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3
+ Very well-balanced tyre, excellent dry handling, best in wet handling, very short wet braking distances, good snow performance, best comfort on test, low rolling resistance.
– Average dry braking.
Hankook Kinergy 4S2
+ Best dry handling, short dry braking distance, shortest wet braking distances, very good comfort levels, low rolling resistance.
– Poor aquaplaning resistance, average snow performance.
Kleber Quadraxer 3
+ Very good dry braking, good wet braking, good aquaplaning resistance, very good snow grip, excellent comfort.
– Average wet handling, above-average rolling resistance.
Recommended
Vredestein Quatrac
+ Good dry braking & handling, very good wet handling, good snow performance.
– Average wet & snow braking, above average rolling resistance.
The other contenders
Firestone MultiSeason Gen 02
+ Very good wet handling, excellent snow grip, low rolling resistance.
– Extended dry braking distances, comfort slightly below average.
Falken Euroall Season AS210
+ Good dry handling, short wet braking distances, good wet handling.
– Extended dry braking distances, poor aquaplaning resistance, highest rolling resistance in the test.
Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert 2
+ Best aquaplaning resistance, good snow performance, good comfort levels.
– Weak in the dry with long dry braking distances, average wet braking.
Toyo Celsius AS2
+ Good dry braking, reasonable aquaplaning resistance.
– Low levels of wet & snow grip, high rolling resistance.
Leao iGreen AllSeason
+ Okay dry grip, okay snow braking, good aquaplaning resistance, lowest rolling resistance in the test.
– Very long wet braking, unstable handling in the dry & wet, low levels of comfort.
