SUVs now account for 37 per cent of all car sales. The Nissan Qashqai is the UK’s most popular model. Most people are familiar with what Range Rover and VW have to offer in this space, but more recently SUVs made by Seat and Dacia have increased in popularity as well. With SUVs as popular as ever, SUV tyre sales have been on the up-and-up too. So the question for many motorists is: what tyres should I buy for my SUV?
The first thing you need to do is find your tyre size. Once you have that, you can search our database of over 170,000 tyres. But in the meantime, here’s our guide to best SUV tyres in a market-leading size.
Because the most popular SUV in the UK is the Nissan Qashqai, let’s use this model as our reference point. The Qashqai comes in four main sizes:
Since 215/55 R18 is the second most popular SUV tyre size in the UK, and because the Nissan Qashqai is the most popular SUV, our 2019 SUV tyre review focuses on this 215/55 R18.
The top 5 SUV tyres 2019 (215/55 R18)
Cooper’s Zeon 4XS Sport shares the same score as the Hankook Ventus Prime 3, but it is also the quietest tyre in our top five and has been ranked in one of the most recent tests. The Cooper Zeon 4XS Sports’ performance comes by virtue of a special “functionalised polymer” and silica compound, which the company says is “formulated to give enhanced wet grip, tread wear and promote fuel saving”.
South Korean manufacturer Hankook here demonstrates that it can compete with longer-established European brands by achieving 7.58 on the Tyrescore. This result comes by virtue of a C grade in fuel consumption and an outstanding A in wet grip. Add in the fact that the tyre has been tested in numerous magazines group tests, and you can see why.
With a strong Tyrescore of 7.54, third place goes to the Continental PremiumContact 6. It offers a decent showing in fuel consumption (C) and a top A grade in wet grip. But the plaudits don’t stop here. The Continental PremiumContact 6 has been recommend and/or won numerous magazine tyre tests across Europe.
According to the manufacturer, Michelin’s Primacy 4 is designed to be a high-quality, high mileage performance tyre. However, its tyre label suggests it is also strong in the wet (B) and outstanding in terms of fuel consumption (A). Put these together and the Primacy 4 is doing much to close the seemingly impossible performance triangle between these three attributes and attains an impressive Tyrescore of 8.48. However, considering the Primacy 4 is a relatively new tyre, it wouldn’t be a surprise if future test results find in favour of the this product and consequently the Primacy challenges its own stable-mate for the title.
Oddly enough, the Michelin Primacy 3 is the highest scoring tyre in our system this time round. Not only does it feature a B, A rating on its tyre label, it has also received “recommended” ratings from both the respected Autobild and Autozeitung tests in Germany. Indeed, in 2017 the Michelin Primacy 3 topped the Autozeitung tyre test. Overall, the Primacy 3 is a deserved winner, with the outstanding score of 9.09 out of 10.
