The test of 18″ summer tyre models was weighted towards wet performance
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The Pirelli P Zero PZ5 has won a second independent tyre test, beating eight other products in the bestselling 225/40 R18 92Y XL size on the 2025 Auto Express summer tyre test. Launched this year, the test confirmed the market-leading performance of the Pirelli flagship tyre, which led to its debut test win in Tyre Reviews’ performance tyre test and its top ranking in WhatTyre’s 2025 Supersports Tyre of the Year Award. The tyres were tested on a Volkswagen Golf GTI in a range of wet and dry conditions.
Auto Express opted to weight wet performance at 50% of the marks, while dry tests accounted for 40%. The remaining 10% of the marks were awarded for fuel economy (via rolling resistance), internal cabin noise and “refinement”, Auto Express’s term for the subjective ride comfort of each tyre.
Each of the top eight tyres from established global brands finished with an overall mark within 2% of the winning P Zero PZ5. The test was, on the face of it, no disaster for the ninth-placed tyre, the SportDrive from Indian manufacturer Ceat, a mere 7.5% down on the PZ5. However, the fitted purchase price on test sponsor Blackcircles’ site made the Ceat tyre less expensive than only two of the competitor products. Based on this, the Ceat SportDrive could struggle to win UK admirers, though it performed reasonably well.
Auto Express said that pricing had only a “limited impact” on the final result. This was just as well for the winning Pirelli tyre, which was substantially more expensive than any other tyre on the test.
Pirelli P Zero PZ5 ahead of the pack in wet and dry handling
Pirelli P Zero PZ5 (Photo: Pirelli)
The Pirelli P Zero PZ5 came out on top in wet handling and cornering, as well as dry handling. In wet conditions, Auto Express called the tyre “agile and stable,” offering “decent traction”. While other tyres “felt sharper and grippier,” the tyre set the pace on the wet cornering course and had the second-shortest wet braking distance.
The P Zero PZ5 came into its own in the dry. Testers called the tyre “composed, confident and effective” in setting the equal-best lap time with the Bridgestone Potenza Sport. Testers said the tyre offers “strong grip and useful throttle adjustability” in dry conditions, while its dry braking was reasonably close to the leading result from the Yokohama Advan Sport V107. Quiet and comfortable, the only slight weakness in the PZ5 was its rolling resistance, though even this doesn’t stand out compared to competitors.
Like the Bridgestone Potenza Sport in second place, the tyre covers both the UHP and UUHP market segments, which potentially gave it an advantage over the tyres primarily targeting the 19”-plus UUHP market, whose 18” variants fitted to a Golf GTI were less in their comfort zone, and whose performance is generally more geared towards stretching performance limits in the dry. This test demonstrates that the Pirelli and Bridgestone UHP-oriented tyres hit the sweet spot at the lower end of their size ranges.
Bridgestone Potenza Sport extremely close to pipping the new rival
Bridgestone Potenza Sport (Photo: Bridgestone)
Auto Express noted that the Bridgestone Potenza Sport prevailed the last time it tested 18” tyres in 2022 and despite being in the market for around four years, the ultra-high performance flagship offered the strongest overall competition to the new PZ5, only 0.1% behind the Pirelli tyre overall. the tyre was clearly out in front on the wet braking test, with only the PZ5 getting within 5% of its result. It also got reasonably close to the winning Pirelli tyre in handling and cornering in damp conditions, with Auto Express calling the tyre “agile… despite some tentativeness.” Like the Pirelli tyre, its aquaplaning resistance was not particularly strong, but no cause for concern.
In the dry, the Potenza Sport matched the PZ5’s excellent handling, delivering “strong grip”. Auto Express called the tyre “crisp in the transitions,” demonstrating “strong traction.” It was also reasonably quiet. Rolling resistance was its only real weakness, finishing second-bottom in the test. At nearly £30 per corner cheaper than the PZ5 at Blackcircles, the Potenza Sport offers plenty of reason for consumers to look beyond the test winner.
Hankook Ventus Evo
(Photo: Hankook Tire)
Hankook Ventus Evo and Michelin Pilot Sport 5: great tyres close to the top of the test
Ultimately, all of the eight tyres from established global brands proved their qualities based on this test, with the differences between the top two and those further down the list relatively small.
The Hankook Ventus Evo and Michelin Pilot Sport 5 were within 1 percentage point overall of the PZ5. Both tyres were extremely consistent, offering strong competition to the leaders in the wet and dry disciplines, while besting them both in the noise and refinement and rolling resistance tests.
The Pilot Sport 5 won the straight and curved aquaplaning tests with the Ventus Evo close behind, making the tyres the test’s safest in severe wet conditions. Considering the Hankook tyre can be acquired and fitted for less than £100, more than £20 per corner than the Michelin tyre it closely matched, UK consumers may draw their own conclusions from this test.
Kumho Ecsta Sport PS72: a value champion
The true “value champion” of the test though, may just be the Kumho Ecsta Sport PS72, which offered plenty of performance for its very low Blackcircles price.
While testers found the tyre represented a compromise in wet braking, the tyre was very close to top in the dry, with a test leading dry braking score. The tyre is very comfortable too, beating all competitors in noise and refinement, while its low purchase price is matched by low running costs in the form of low rolling resistance.
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 and Yokohama Advan Sport V107: contrasting strengths and weaknesses
The tyres from Goodyear (Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6) and Yokohama (Advan Sport V107), still within 2% of the lead, also showed decent all-round capabilities without fully impressing in any disciplines. On the wet circuit, the Goodyear tyre “demanded subtle throttle inputs out of tight turns to avoid flares of wheelspin,” according to Auto Express, though it remained effective enough to “set a lap time within a second of the best.” It was similarly middling on this test in the dry, though was “clean and precise with great traction out of the hairpins and useful composure through the transitions.” Comfort was less impressive, but the tyre does offer decent fuel efficiency.
The Yokohama Advan Sport V107 had one particularly strong result in dry braking, ahead of all competitors, while it was also described as “grippy and tidy” on the dry circuit. Its wet traction was “a little lacking” for Auto Express, though it was still not a million miles behind the competition. It also offered below par rolling resistance.
Continental SportContact 7 (Photo: Continental)
Continental SportContact 7: more suited to powerful cars in dry conditions?
The Continental SportContact 7 is a serial winner of independent tyre tests, but for Auto Express’s wet-focused demands, the tyre came up short, finishing in eighth. Its dry performance was close, but still behind, the top two on the dry handling track.
The tyre is strongly focused on the 19”-plus range, and this test suggests that the “crossover” 18” models may have stronger alternatives. Still, in the dry, testers said the tyre “felt impressive around the whole lap, with strong, stable grip and superb precision, backed up by outstanding traction and composure,” showing that the tyre built for driving pleasure offers exactly this in the right conditions.
Ceat Sport Drive: not bad, but not good enough at this price
Meanwhile, Auto Express did not rate the Ceat Sport Drive alongside the more vaunted names in the test. The tyre delivered table-topping rolling resistance a handy distance ahead of competitors but was also last in six disciplines.
Despite performing “tolerably well overall,” Auto Express was critical of the Sport Drive’s wet performance in particular. Testers said the Golf “felt light at the wheel on the Ceat tyres, generating little cornering grip and scrabbling for traction.” Its wet braking was also off the pace. Still, the tyre offers decent refinement to go alongside its low running costs, so this was by no means a catastrophic last-place finish, which is exactly where readers would expect the tyre to finish in this company anyway.
Vredestein and Maxxis miss this year’s test
Auto Express explained two notable absentees from this years test, with neither the Vredestein nor the Maxxis brands represented.
Both brands have been hits in previous editions of Auto Express’s annual tests but “stocking issues” prevented a suitable Maxxis tyre being tested and Vredestein is apparently “readying its replacement for the Ultrac.” With the Ultrac Pro’s size range starting at 18” and targeting high rim diameter fitments, perhaps this test would not have hit the sweet spot for that model.
