Under the heading of “Mud Wars” the Allrad (off-road 2/14) issue of Auto Zeitung magazine published a test of six SUV summer tires. The journalists had put together a series of 20 test disciplines – off-road and on wet and dry asphalt – and the ContiSportContact 5 SUV emerged from their comparison of products from European, US and Asian manufacturers as best-in-test.
Commenting on the product from Continental’s tire developers in Hanover-Stöcken, the magazine wrote: “Best under braking and top for traction on gravel” – that was in the off-road tests. On wet roads, the verdict was “There’s no beating the Conti when it comes to braking. Fast and safe in the handling test and on the wet circle.” And in the dry, the testers said: “The SportContact 5 SUV offers the lowest rolling resistance and best braking performance.” Overall, the Continental SUV tire finished top of the pack on account of its “good braking properties across the board and low rolling resistance”. The outcome showed that, facing the kind of diversity of test disciplines that is crucial in terms of what it tells consumers, the best products are the ones with performance characteristics at a very high, balanced level.
The testers were less enthusiastic about a discount tire from a Korean manufacturer. While it turned in an acceptable performance with good traction on grass and sand, in all other disciplines this model trailed far behind the field, scoring less than half as many points as the second-to-last performer in the rankings. Summing up, the magazine called it “a catastrophic performance” that left “a disastrous overall impression.”