What’s the Best Touring Tire for Premium CUVs? – 2024 Test 2 With Winter Update
This previously uploaded video now includes our 2024 winter testing. If this is your first time watching, welcome and please enjoy! If you're returning for our winter test results, you can use the chapters feature to jump straight to that section right after our road wet and dry results summary. All right, Brent, here we are. It's our first crossover SUV touring all season tire test of 2024. It's our first test with our brand new Alfa Romeo Stelvio test platform, right? We have a dedicated crossover SUV, touring all season tire test vehicle, We have a couple fresh faces that have never been tested before, but other than that, it's the best of the best in crossover SUV touring all season. Right I know I'm looking at the lineup here just reviewing and like you said, it is the top of the survey category for the tires that are ranked.
We want to know how they differentiate our customers want to know what the differences between these tires are. And, you know, we're going to build to find out. Because now with our new test program and our methodology, we don't have to compare just three tires.
We're comparing, in this case up to eight tires, eight different tires. So we're going to get a broad snapshot of, like you said, the best of the best. Yeah for sure. And there's a tire here for everybody. You know, no matter what you want, there is something that'll do. so let's get started on the road rides. Right.
We'll check out some road. Right? Yeah. And this is the Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra. What are you feeling so far? Little bumps, little cracks are a little more apparent than maybe I would expect on a luxury, sporty SUV like the Alfa Stelvio. right? It doesn't mask a whole lot of what's going on on the road surface. You kind of feel most things, right? Yeah, And noise.
it makes a little bit of, I call it a warbling sound. You call it, what? Make that make that sound on camera. yeah.
That's got a little bit of a cyclical tone variation that can sound like a warble. On the on ramp and off ramp, it kind of wakes up in your hands. You can feel that. It kind of builds a little bit of, you know, cornering traction. And then then you know, it it increases kind of, not linearly but progressively, in a way that you would expect. So I would say that steering is a pretty high point for the tire.
Yeah. Great. Continental CrossContact LX25 it's nice on the road right. It's a nice blend of controlled and composed in terms of noise, you know there's some interaction with the roughness of the road. I noticed a little bit of, reverberation over impacts. but over the smooth stuff particularly, it's it's pretty quiet.
Yeah. And there's not a lot of tonal variety, not a lot of harmonics, And in terms of what you would want from a premium tire. the steering is pretty nice too. on the sportier side of the crossover category. So if that's what you're looking for.
Then this could be a good choice, right? Picking things up on the Cooper Discoverer EnduraMax a little stiff. big hits. You feel them. Yeah. Little hits.
You feel them. You know, you just you kind of just feel everything. if you're really looking for, a cushiony, pillowy ride, this isn't really the one for you. It's done a pretty good job of soaking up some of that resonance that we will get on the crosscut concrete. I mean, right now it is completely silent. It's We're not moving. Right. Answer.
okay. Explains it. yeah. No way. It does a great job of soaking up some of those resonances that we do here you know, when I turn the wheel, I get to where I'm going, but it's not just like, yes, I feel every, you know, every millimeter of of this travel. So, so not inappropriate for category, but, it's got some work to do compared to the others.
Here we are on the road driving the Michelin CrossClimate2 it's very composed. It just feels like it leans towards the sporty end of the spectrum. The controlled, the compose, the tight end of the spectrum. Does a great job controlling the vehicle's body motions. It never feels jiggly. It never feels out of control.
It's just one and done concise, which is it. Can be considered comfortable right. You know it's the ultimate cushion is how does it feel overall. What's the what is the ride quality? All right. Moving on. Let's talk about noise.
It's decent. There. It has some noise. Right. And also one thing that it does better than most other tires in this test is it eliminates any kind of reverberation over impacts. There's no impact ring. There's no buzzing in the cabin, quick, it's precise. It's weighted nicely.
Yep. Has a nice, strong on center feeling. Doesn't feel like it wants to wander. Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3. man, is it good. if you're looking for comfort in terms of ride, this is it.
And it doesn't give up any No. Oh sure. That's I get it right. So I want to say it's like they found like the magic formula here.
Right. I will say, all right. So it can't be all 100% sunshine and rainbows over the biggest impacts and over very repetitive impacts. There's maybe just a tiny bit of kind of quiver of the tire just a little bit. I mean, it's.
It's you'd have to be looking for it to find it, which we are. we are. Yeah. That's, that's what we do here. So, even on the course concrete, it's nice and quiet. It soaks it up about as well as you could ask the tire trail.
sure. And you know what I love the steering to. it just feels right.
It reacts, but it's not like super pointy and direct to where it feels like it's. It's hyperactive, it's balanced, it builds weight as you as you, you know, add steering input. it's just right for a touring tire. We're on the road with the Pirelli Scorpion WeatherActive. And I'm pretty excited about this one. So we have the Scorpion AS Plus 3 and the Scorpion WeatherActive, both from Pirelli.
Both kind of in the same place, but the Scorpion WeatherActive is an all weather tire. It's three peak mountain snowflake branded. So we get to have this direct comparison of kind of the pros and cons between the two. And man, this one feels really good too. But a little bit more performance focused. Maybe. Just a little bit.
It's like they said, hey, we like this. Come on, a little sportier. It's just dialed over here just a little bit more. Yeah, still really nicely composed, still rounds over bumps very well, but it's just a little bit tauter. noise is is still very good and maybe slightly higher.
More a little more interaction. A little bit, the steering is again, a little bit lighter and maybe feels a little bit sportier because of it. It's a little quicker ramp up in response. Right.
which I personally like, I think a lot of other people would as well. Second to last tire the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058. It's nice on the road It is good just back there on the on the larger bumps. It was well cushioned. What do you think about noise? Right does a good job. state even mitigating any kind of tones.
noise level isn't too high. where the steering is. Nice. it feels direct.
It feels like it does what I want it to. It's just, you know, it's not quite as sporty and responsive as some. And it's not quite as, you know, perfectly matched to the vehicle characteristics as others. on the Geolandar CV4s which is an all weather tire. So it's three peak mountain snowflake branded. I'm feeling a little bit more
of those kind of traditional trade offs that you would expect for an all weather tire versus, just a straight touring all season tire. the ride isn't quite as refined. you know, some of the big hits hit a little harder. It's just not as polished as some of the the best in the test. And kind of a similar story for noise comfort as well.
there's a little bit of a recall shock, that you can hear in the background, over some of the coarser surfaces. It interacts a little bit more. Yeah, you just hear more of the tire doing its thing down there.
What do you think about steering. Speaking of that, kind of more of the same story, what you would expect from that, perhaps slightly from a better. Softer, pattern? Yeah.
things are a little lighter, maybe slightly less precise. not as composed and sporty The tires in our test were mostly tightly grouped in dry objective capability, which isn't uncommon when comparing products from the same performance category. The CrossClimate2 set the shortest braking distance, but also the lowest lateral traction figure by a small margin.
The Scorpion WeatherActive was something of an inverse from the Michelin, delivering the highest lateral traction and braking distances near the back of the pack. The Discoverer EnduraMax and the Alenza AS Ultra were at the bottom of the list for dry traction, while their skidpad performance could be considered mid-pack, the nine foot difference in 50 to 0 braking between the Bridgestone and the test-leading Michelin is a significant figure in the dry So in addition to those purely objective metrics, the 50 to 0 braking and lateral traction around the skidpad, We also wanted to incorporate, kind of a maneuver to see how the tires put all those metrics together to see how they're going to perform in an emergency situation. Right. So to complete the emergency lane change that we've developed, each tire enters the first set of cones at 45 miles an hour. We then have to abruptly swerve to avoid whatever would be, you know, in our lane into what is essentially oncoming traffic. so then you have to swerve to, to make your way back to your original lane of travel. And in addition to whether or not each tire can, you know, simply do that, we also keep track of if we hit any cones in the process when we're doing them.
Yeah. And it's not just about, you know, did you miss the cones? Did you make the lane change maneuver happen? We're also going to evaluate it subjectively. How did it feel when it was in transitioning from lane to lane. The CrossContact LX25 and Geolandar CV G058 both passed the emergency lane change test with ease. Nice. And... Pull back, and...
All right, look at that. Passed with no problem. The Continental’s steering felt more eager and alert, but that strong front end also engaged the rear axle. The rear wanted to rotate a little bit before the traction control stepped in and locked it down.
The Yokohama, on the other hand, felt more stable and planted, essentially drama free from beginning to end. That's what you want in an emergency maneuver? Yes. Just no drama. Just stable. And does exactly what you want it to. Yeah.
The Discoverer EnduraMax and Geolandar CV4S completed the maneuver successfully, if not quite as easily as the top two tires. Both felt a little softer in their response to initial steering input, but otherwise were composed and capable. Still more push on the front end than I would like. I'd like it if it, you know, was more authoritative coming back in the opposite direction.
It felt pretty good on that. You know, initial avoidance, the initial input. The two Pirelli tires felt remarkably similar in this exercise. They also completed the lane change successfully, feeling toss able and eager to change direction, but also planted in stable. Yeah. All good. Rather uneventful on that one.
Michelin's CrossClimate2 two reacted positively to the initial steering input, but it struggled to recover and return to the original lane of travel because the front axle quickly saturated in a stubborn understeer. Input understeer, slow recovery and then understeer on the way back too. It made it, though. Ultimately, it had about a 50/50 success rate in cleanly completing the maneuver. The Alenza AS Ultra had the most difficulty navigating the emergency lane change. There was some delay in its response to inputs, requiring a bigger turn of the wheel to initiate the change.
Here it is. And back and, straddled that cone, which is a fail. Throughout the exercise, it felt uncertain, as if it wasn't as firmly planted and stable as most of the other tires. With the group of tires we assembled, our test was essentially an evaluation to find the best of the best in the crossover SUV touring all season category. So we had high expectation for their wet performance. as it turned out, the top performers were all very tightly grouped in both 50 to 0 braking and lateral traction.
There was less than five feet separating the top five tires and braking, and with the CrossContact LX25 earning the top spot, the CrossClimate2 the two Yokohamas, and the Scorpion WeatherActive rounded out the top five. The Lens Ace Ultra required an additional three feet to stop with the Scorpion ES, plus three another three feet back from their. The Discoverer EnduraMax lagged significantly behind, requiring over ten feet longer to come to a stop than the next closest Pirelli and a significant 21ft further than the top performing Continental. The story was similar on the skidpad, with only three hundredths of a G separating the top seven tires and the Cooper trailing by a comparatively large margin.
While ultimate lap times likely aren't the deciding factor in the crossover SUV touring all season category, the objective numbers can provide a picture of each tire's overall capability, which can make all the difference in a tricky situation on the road. Here again, the CrossContact LX25 set the bar, distinguishing itself slightly from the rest of the group. Strong traction, strong steering response. Everything's balanced. It's stable. Just a tiny little bit of understeer Just does it all, right? The Geolandar CV G058, CrossClimate2 , Geolandar CV4S and Scorpion WeatherActive all performed at a very high level as well.
Here's the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058. It's balanced, it's tossable but planted, it feels like a willing partner. Michelin CrossClimate2 It does everything at a high level, like objective wise.
it's not fun to drive in the wet right. It defaults to understeer It won't combine inputs, especially on corner exit. Yokohama Geolandar CV4S yeah, I mean, predictable, good traction, easy to drive, easy to maximize. Pirelli Scorpion WeatherActive, This is, it's a little, I don’t want to say edgy, cause that sounds.... Yeah. it's harder to maintain
that that cornering traction. You know that that limit traction. The Alenza AS Ultra and Scorpion AS Plus 3 were capable, if not standout, performers, and the Discoverer EnduraMax struggled due to the relatively limited traction available. Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra. Ready? Go. What do you think? not too shabby.
Its balance and it's traction delivery. It's just a little low in its traction levels, right? here we are. The Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 Oh, yeah, and it is. What can we say?
It feels great, It feels really nice. Everything is precise and predictable and playful and responsive, the traction isn't as strong as some of the other competitors. Next up. Cooper Discoverer EnduraMax. The front end, you know, you try to change directions and it just slides for a little bit before it slows down enough to have enough grip.
You can feel that the rear end wants to step out quite a bit. And then traction control just locks you down and you're not going anywhere. It's acceptable.
But man, there's a lot better out there right now for sure. Yeah, definitely. That was a cool test. Like we said it was a shootout basically of the best tires in the category. Not only that, but we got to compare a few tires that aren't necessarily always considered direct competitors. On top of that, we compared the Pirelli and Yokohama.
They're all season versus are all weather counterparts in the same category. Right. And you know maybe that results or the results from that comparison might have turned out the way people expected. You know, the all season tires were a little bit more refined on the road, right.
Like a little bit quieter, a little bit more comfortable. But the real story, I think, is the all weather products were so close. They were so good, you know, just barely behind that. Maybe by the time we add in the winter testing component, they might surpass their all season counterparts. Yeah, but don't forget about the Yokohama Geolandar CV G058, proper product name.
Very good. really good. It was really close to those. And that's a tire. That's not always in the same conversation as the Michelins.
And the Pirelli's right. Like we said a bunch of times, this was a best of the best shootout and that Yokohama belongs there. And because these are all very good, highly rated tires, they were all, you know, pretty closely grouped. They were tightly grouped in our warm weather testing, but now it's time to find out how these tires compare on the ice and in the snow. And our Stelvio’s all-wheel drive and similar to what we've found with other modern all wheel drive vehicles, it can get up to speed surprisingly quickly, even on slippery surfaces. But when it comes time to turn and stop, we know that's all about the tires.
So we test braking at our local ice rink, and then we head up north to a dedicated winter testing facility where we test acceleration and braking on packed snow, as well as how each tire feels around the handling circuit at and beyond the limit. Our winter testing program is designed to move beyond differences in drive, train or traction control technology. It exposes the tire’s real performance.
It's a very thorough evaluation. So let's see how these tires stack up. In our 12 to 0 braking test on the ice, The CrossClimate2 lead the group, followed closely by the CrossContact LX25, and Scorpion WeatherActive, which all came to a stop and less than 50ft. The Alenza AS Ultra, Scorpion AS Plus 3, and Discoverer EnduraMax were grouped in the middle, and the two Yokohamas delivered essentially identical braking traction at the back of the pack, a little more than 11ft longer than the best in the test We test 0 to 12mph acceleration and 25 to 0mph braking in the snow, and we measure both in feet, so we report the distance required to accelerate from a stop to 12mph, and the distance needed to bring the vehicle to a rest from 25. This allows us to add both measurements together to come up with a single number that's representative of each tire’s straight line traction in the snow. In pure acceleration and braking, the group was surprisingly closely matched, with only 11ft separating the combined distance of the test-leading CrossClimate2 from the Alenza AS Ultra at the bottom of the list.
Acceleration and braking traction are part of the total equation of a tire's snow capabilities. We're also interested in how well it turns, how drivable it is, and how it behaves when pushed up to and beyond the limit of grip. Our subjective handling laps, combined with the objective lap time from each tire, tells us the rest of the story. When it came time to turn the steering wheel, we found significant differences among the group.
Here, the CrossClimate2 differentiated itself from the other tires in the test, with strong lateral grip and front axle authority that confidently pointed the vehicle where it needed to go. The Scorpion WeatherActive and Alenza AS Ultra were a small step back objectively and subjectively, with credit to the Bridgestone in particular for its cohesive, drivable nature that overshadowed its last place acceleration and braking traction. The Scorpion AS Plus 3 and Geolandar CV 4S ended up in a very similar place, but got there in different ways. The Pirelli had lower outright traction but was very easy to drive, while the Yokohama had more grip but didn't put it all together as well.
Similarly, the Discoverer EnduraMax that performed so well in objective acceleration and braking suffered from an imbalance caused by a lack of lateral grip that made it rather unsatisfying to drive the Geolandar CV G058 immediately felt down on cornering traction and even lateral stability under acceleration or braking, requiring our drivers to slow down and be gentle with all inputs. Ultimately, it was a sizable step back in lap time and nearly two full subjective points behind the leader. So even in this test, with the mix of all season and all weather tires, acceleration and braking numbers were pretty darn close. But we found big differences in lateral traction and subjective behavior at the limit. Yeah. And with these all season and all weather tires, chances are you're going to be driving them year round.
So it's not just finishing with the winter performance, we're putting them all together for an overall four season ranking. Here's where each tire finished on our road, wet and dry evaluation Adding in the winter portion of our testing, There are a couple noticeable shifts. The CrossClimate2, which was held back a little by some tread noise on the road, took a big jump up in the standings thanks to its impressive light snow traction. On the other hand, the Geolandar CV G058 that was really nice to drive in warm weather struggled in the winter and it dropped from second to sixth overall. When taking year-round performance into consideration, the two Pirelli tires were essentially tied at the top. As you may have expected, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 is still the recommendation for year-round use in mild climates and the Scorpion WeatherActive should be strongly considered.
If light snow is a part of your winter driving experience. So we hope you've had as much fun as we have testing each of these tires, seeing what they may offer if you put them on your vehicle. Because that's really the why behind why we test. So you as drivers know what to expect if you choose any product that we've tested.
We're going to do this again next season with more tires and anything new that comes out between now and then. So until then, as always, thanks for watching.
2025-04-06 06:40
