Winter tyre test 215/65 R17 - Autozurnal 2025

Winter The test took place in Arvidsjaur, Swedish Lapland, a renowned automotive industry winter testing hub offering stable, optimal conditions for snow, ice, and subzero temperature testing.

2025

Year

7

Tyres

The tyres were tested on compact SUVs analogous to Volkswagen Tiguan, Škoda Karoq, Hyundai Tucson, and Kia Sportage; exact vehicle unspecified, but test context implies a current mainstream compact SUV platform.

Winner

Michelin Alpin 7

Best Value

Barum Polaris 6

Test Vehicle

VW Tiguan

Tested tyres

7

article

Autozurnal’s new winter tire test tested the new budget snow specialist

Test days took place around Arvidsjaur in Swedish Lapland, where the industry migrates each winter for reliable ice, snow and sub-zero conditions. The field mixed budget and premium names, plus two “twins” that share the same tread: Kormoran SUV Snow and Riken SUV Snow (both under Michelin’s umbrella and produced in Serbia). The rest of the lineup: Barum Polaris 6 (new CZ model, belonging to the Continental Group as we wrote eariler), Michelin Alpin 7 (brand-new premium), Tomket Snowroad SUV 3 (marketed as Czech, made in China), Lassa Competus Winter 2+ (TR), and CEAT WinterDrive SUV (IN).

read the full article

Results

Agenda:

Best value in test

Better than average value

Worse than average value

Worst value in test

Dry braking results were not detailed in the excerpt, but the test includes assessment across dry, wet, and snowy disciplines.

1

Michelin Alpin 7

Rating: Very good

£156

99 H

mytyres.co.uk

+1 More sizes →

103H · £170

Wet103.6

Dry102.2

Snow97.6

Wet

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#1/7

Wet Braking#1/7

Wet Circle Cornering#1/7

Wet Handling#1/7

Aquaplaning Cross#2/7

Dry

Dry Braking#1/7

Dry Handling#2/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#3/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#1/7

Snow

Snow Handling#1/7

Snow Braking#4/7

Snow Traction#5/7

2

Barum Polaris 6

Rating: Good

£109

99 H

mytyres.co.uk

+2 More sizes →

99V · £109 103H · £119

Wet100.0

Dry100.0

Snow100.0

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#2/7

Wet Handling#2/7

Aquaplaning Cross#4/7

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#4/7

Wet Braking#4/7

Dry

Dry Braking#2/7

Dry Handling#6/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#1/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#2/7

Snow

Snow Braking#1/7

Snow Traction#1/7

Snow Handling#2/7

3

Ceat WinterDrive SUV

Rating: Good

Wet100.1

Dry99.2

Snow98.0

Wet

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#2/7

Aquaplaning Cross#3/7

Wet Braking#3/7

Wet Handling#4/7

Wet Circle Cornering#7/7

Dry

Dry Braking#4/7

Dry Handling#4/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#2/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#4/7

Snow

Snow Traction#2/7

Snow Braking#3/7

Snow Handling#3/7

4

Lassa Competus Winter 2+

Rating: Weak

Wet100.7

Dry97.4

Snow96.1

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#1/7

Wet Braking#2/7

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#3/7

Wet Circle Cornering#3/7

Wet Handling#3/7

Dry

Dry Handling#3/7

Dry Braking#5/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#7/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#7/7

Snow

Snow Braking#6/7

Snow Handling#6/7

Snow Traction#7/7

5

Kormoran SUV Snow

Rating: Weak

Wet94.6

Dry96.2

Snow98.8

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#4/7

Aquaplaning Cross#5/7

Wet Braking#5/7

Wet Handling#5/7

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#6/7

Dry

Dry Braking#7/7

Dry Handling#7/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#5/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#6/7

Snow

Snow Braking#2/7

Snow Handling#3/7

Snow Traction#3/7

6

Riken SUV Snow

Rating: Weak

Wet94.5

Dry96.4

Snow97.0

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#4/7

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#5/7

Wet Handling#5/7

Aquaplaning Cross#6/7

Wet Braking#6/7

Dry

Dry Handling#5/7

Dry Braking#6/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#6/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#5/7

Snow

Snow Handling#3/7

Snow Braking#5/7

Snow Traction#6/7

7

Tomket Snowroad SUV 3

Rating: Poor

Wet87.2

Dry99.9

Snow94.9

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#6/7

Aquaplaning Cross#7/7

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#7/7

Wet Braking#7/7

Wet Handling#7/7

Dry

Dry Handling#1/7

Dry Braking#3/7

Comfort

Noise Exterior#4/7

Economy

Rolling Resistance#2/7

Snow

Snow Traction#4/7

Snow Braking#7/7

Snow Handling#7/7

Same size tyres not featured in the test

Tests usually don't cover the whole market - here is our selection what not to miss when shopping for tyres in this size.

#	Name	Our rating	Segment	Price
1	Premium GoodYear UltraGrip Performance SUV Gen-1 95%	95%	Premium
2	Premium Michelin PILOT ALPIN 5 94%	94%	Premium	£166 99 H
3	Premium Dunlop Winter Sport 5 SUV 91%	91%	Premium	£119 99 V
4	Premium Pirelli SCORPION WINTER 90%	90%	Premium	£163 99 H +3 More
5	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-005 90%	90%	Premium	£150 103 H +1 More
6	Premium Continental WinterContact TS 850P SUV 90%	90%	Premium	£160 99 T +5 More
7	Goodyear Ultragrip Performance+ Suv 90%	90%		£140 99 V +2 More
8	Premium Michelin ALPIN 5 89%	89%	Premium	£175 99 H +2 More

9	Upper-middle Kleber KRISALP HP3 89%	89%	Upper-middle	£128 99 T +1 More
10	Upper-middle Nokian WR SUV 4 89%	89%	Upper-middle
11	Upper-middle BFGoodrich G-FORCE WINTER 2 87%	87%	Upper-middle	£135 99 T +1 More
12	Premium Pirelli WINTER SOTTOZERO Serie III 86%	86%	Premium	£173 99 H
13	Premium Bridgestone Blizzak LM-001 84%	84%	Premium	£153 99 H +4 More
14	Upper-middle Firestone Winterhawk 4 84%	84%	Upper-middle	£106 103 H
15	Budget Semperit Speed-Grip 5 81%	81%	Budget	£117 99 H +3 More
16	Upper-middle Nokian WR SUV 3 81%	81%	Upper-middle

17	Upper-middle Falken EUROWINTER HS01 SUV 79%	79%	Upper-middle
18	Upper-middle Toyo Observe S944 79%	79%	Upper-middle	£135 103 V
19	Upper-middle Toyo Snowprox S954 78%	78%	Upper-middle
20	Upper-middle Hankook Winter i*cept evo3 X W330A 76%	76%	Upper-middle	£118 99 V +2 More
21	Upper-middle Kumho WinterCraft WS71 75%	75%	Upper-middle	£111 99 T +2 More
22	Upper-middle Hankook Winter i*cept evo2 SUV W320 75%	75%	Upper-middle	£110 99 H +1 More
23	Upper-middle BFGoodrich G-FORCE WINTER 2 SUV 75%	75%	Upper-middle	£127 99 H +1 More
24	Upper-middle Uniroyal WinterExpert 65%	65%	Upper-middle	£123 99 V

25	Upper-middle Yokohama Bluearth Winter V905 62%	62%	Upper-middle	£153 99 Q +1 More
26	Budget Matador MP93 Nordicca 56%	56%	Budget
27	GT Radial WinterPro2 Sport 51%	51%
28	Budget Apollo Aspire XP Winter 49%	49%	Budget	£126 99 H +3 More
29	Budget Linglong Sport Master Winter 48%	48%	Budget
30	Budget Fortune FSR901 40%	40%	Budget
31	Budget Platin RP70 Winter 34%	34%	Budget
32	Budget Imperial SnowDragon UHP 25%	25%	Budget