Best small car tyres 2025: the safest tyres reviewed and rated

Most people don't pay much attention to those four strips of black rubber between their car and the ground, but they should; that rubber is vital in keeping you safe on the road.

According to research by tyre safety charity TyreSafe, 989 UK motorists were killed in accidents caused by tyre-related problems in 2023, and 159 of them died as a result of a crash caused by defective tyres. And yet, TyreSafe’s data reveals that one in five drivers have never checked their car’s tyres.

It’s vital to monitor the tread depth of tyres and replace them before they wear down too much. It’s also crucial that you ensure they’re correctly inflated; our research shows that driving on under-inflated tyres can substantially increase your car’s braking distance, as well as making it far harder to control, especially in the wet.

Fundamentally, though, it’s always best to choose good-quality tyres that will grip and brake well in wet and dry conditions, and that’s what we’re testing here. We found a difference of nearly three metres in wet-weather stopping distance between the best and poorest-performing tyres. That distance is the length of a small car, and it could easily mean the difference between your car avoiding a collision or crashing into another vehicle or person.

The difference that good tyres can make to a car’s handling is hugely important, too. The best tyres lose grip gradually, giving the driver the time to react and ease off the accelerator, or to steer into the skid to regain control of the car. The worst tyres let go of the Tarmac without warning, and that means a far higher risk of your car ending up in a ditch or worse.

We appreciate that tyres are expensive; the cheapest on test cost £65 each and the priciest £122. Since you’re likely to replace two at a time, you could pay out up to £244. But you can’t put a price on safety, plus the pricier tyres we sampled tended to be quieter on the road or comfier over bumps than the cheapest.

There’s a dazzling array of tyre brands and specifications around, but to help you find a tyre you can trust, we tested examples from five different brands in today’s most common tyre size: 205/55 R16. This is the size of tyre fitted to a large number of small and family cars, and we used three representative models – an Audi A3, a Skoda Octavia and a Volkswagen Golf, all with 1.5 TSI petrol engines – to put our selection of tyres through their paces.

This is our second tyre group test, our first was for tyres suitable for larger family-sized SUVs, such as the Volkswagen Tiguan.  

Best tyres reviewed: the best tyres for family cars, including family SUVs

1. Continental PremiumContact 7 - the best family car tyre

What Car? rating 5 stars

Price (per tyre, fitted) £103

Established in 1871, German brand Continental is one of the world’s oldest tyre brands and is said to equip one in every three new cars sold in Europe. The PremiumContact 7 is an all-rounder, and it scored the highest in all of our handling and braking tests.

The Continental put in the fastest lap of the wet handling track and remained entirely predictable up to its limits, with a progressive loss of grip that proved reassuringly easy to control. It was also the fastest on the dry handling circuit, with the test car remaining stable and well balanced through all corners.

When the Continental did begin to lose grip, it did so gradually, giving the driver plenty of opportunity to ease off the accelerator and let the car regain its equilibrium. It also provided more feel through the steering wheel than any of the other tyres in our test.

In the wet braking test, the Continental stopped the test car in 28.5m – almost three metres shorter than the worst performer in this test (the Triangle). In the dry, the Continental stopped the car from 62mph in 35.9m; that’s 1.8m less distance than the Triangle covered.

The Continental tyre didn’t come out on top in all areas, though. It was beaten into second place by the Pirelli in the straight-line and cornering aquaplaning tests. It was also noisier at a cruise than the Bridgestone, and while it was marginally comfier than the Triangle, all of the other tyres here rode more smoothly.

It's also not the best for economy: with a rolling resistance rating of 7.44kg/t, the Continental tyre is third best for economy and 9% less fuel efficient than the best tyre tested. 

However, our ratings give more weighting to the handling and braking abilities of each tyre than their value, comfort, noise or economy ratings because these are the most important factors when it comes to safety. So, although the Continental tyre didn't ace all our tests, it's still our overall winner. 

2. Michelin Primacy 5 - best tyre for fuel efficiency

What Car? rating 4 stars

Price (per tyre, fitted) £122

Founded in 1889, French tyre company Michelin is a global player in the tyre business. Its Primacy 5 is the most expensive tyre here, so is its price premium justified?

Well, the Michelin felt just as predictable as the Continental in the wet handling tests, inspiring real confidence with controlled, reassuring handling close to the limit. It showed almost as much outright grip as the Continental and noticeably more than the others.

The Michelin was less than a second slower than the Continental on the dry handling track; when it happened, loss of grip was undramatic and could be recovered from quickly. It didn’t deliver quite as much steering feel as the Continental, but it proved more communicative than the others here.

The Michelin’s braking performance wasn’t up with the best, though. It came third in the wet, taking 30.2m to stop the car. This was 1.7m more than the Continental, and meant the car was still travelling at 11.6mph when the Continental would have stopped it.

The Michelin finished fourth in the dry braking tests, taking 37.6m to bring the car to a halt. Consequently, the car was still doing 13.2mph at the 35.9m mark, at which the Continental would have stopped the car.

The Michelin was quiet at a cruise, second only to the Pirelli. Comfort was generally good, too, and a match for the Pirelli, but the ride wasn’t as smooth as on the Bridgestones.

It's also the top scorer for fuel efficiency. Its rolling resistance result of 6.85kg/t is 20% better than the least economical tyre tested, the Pirelli. 

3. Pirelli Cinturato C3

What Car? rating 3 stars

Price (per tyre, fitted) £100

An Italian company established in 1872, Pirelli is known around the world for its performance-focused tyres. The Cinturato C3 scored the highest in the straight-line and lateral aquaplaning tests, maintaining traction exceptionally well in flooded conditions.

It was also the second-best tyre in both the wet and dry braking tests – behind the Continental. It took 36.6m to stop the car in the dry, which meant it was still doing 8.8mph when the best tyre had stopped. The Pirelli stopped the car in 29.2m in the wet – so the car would be travelling at 7.7mph when the best tyre would have brought it to a halt.

However, the Pirelli inspired little confidence in either of the handling tests. On the wet track, it felt unpredictable at its limits and required a lot of driver input to keep it under control. There was plenty of traction under acceleration, but the rear tyres were quick to relinquish their grip as the driver eased off the accelerator when cornering. The car also felt unbalanced in fast changes of direction and was hard to control on the wet track.

On the dry track, the Pirelli was far more dramatic than the Continental and Michelin. Pushed hard, it lost traction abruptly, and the driver had more of a fight to corner at speeds that its better rivals coped with more easily.

At a cruise, though, the Pirelli was the quietest tyre here, and we felt only a little more roughness than with the Bridgestones. However, it was also the least fuel efficient, according to our tests. With a rating of 8.35kg/t, it requires 20% more energy to drive than the Michelin tyre. 

4. Bridgestone Turanza 6 Enliten

What Car? rating 2 stars

Price (per tyre, fitted) £104

One of the world’s biggest tyre companies, Bridgestone was established in Japan in 1931. The Turanza 6 Enliten is part of its latest premium summer tyre range.

Although it beat the Triangle in some tests, the Bridgestone tyre didn’t excel in any area. It was a little faster in terms of lap times, and it held on longer than the Triangle on the wet handling track, but it lost grip suddenly, and bringing the car back under control was tricky.

The Bridgestone’s dry handling performance was worse than the Triangle’s; it seemed to make the car lean more, leading to it losing grip earlier, with a slide that took longer to bring back under control than was the case with the Triangle and Pirelli tyres.

The Bridgestone also had the joint lowest wet braking score (with the Triangle), taking 31.4m to stop. Dry braking was slightly better, though, at 37.6m, or 1.7m farther than the best tyre tested; the car was still travelling at 13.2mph on the Bridgestones when the Continentals had brought it to a standstill.

In the aquaplaning tests, the Bridgestone’s score was average, yet it achieved the second-best lap time in the wet cornering test.

Although the decibel meter confirmed the Bridgestone to be a quiet tyre overall, the noise emitted is a fairly high-pitched frequency that could become annoying on long drives. It did, though, provide a smoother ride than any of our other contenders. It is an efficient tyre, though. With a rolling resistance reading of 6.91kg/t, it's the second best on test and only just behind the Michelin for economy. 

5. Triangle EffexSport TH202

What Car? rating 2 stars

Price (per tyre, fitted) £65

The Effexsport is a budget tyre from Chinese brand Triangle, which, although you might not have heard of it, has been selling tyres in the UK for around 20 years.

While this tyre fared acceptably well in the dry, its wet-weather performance was a long way short of the others tested. It lost grip far earlier than the other tyres on the wet track, forcing us to reduce speed in order to avoid spinning off the Tarmac. This resulted in an average wet lap time nearly four seconds slower than the best-performing tyre.

Dry handling, though, was better, with grip fading progressively and the car remaining more controllable at its limit than when it was shod with the Bridgestone tyres.

However, the Triangles’ wet and dry braking performances were the worst here. It took 31.4 metres to bring the car to a halt from 50mph in the wet – 2.9m more than the best tyre in this category (the Continental), and the car was still travelling at 15mph when it would have stopped with that other tyre.

The Triangle took 37.7m to stop the car in the dry; although that was only 1.8m farther than the best-performing tyre, it meant the car was still doing 13.6mph when it would have come to a halt on the top-rated tyre.

The Triangle was also the noisiest tyre in our test, and every one of the other tyres provided a noticeably smoother ride. The Triangle tyre doesn't have the best fuel efficiency, either. Its rolling resistance test result of 8.05kg/t puts it second from last; that's a 16% reduction in economy compared with the best tyre tested. 

Tyre handling and braking scores in detail (these account for 70% of the overall rating)

Tyre noise, comfort, value and economy scores in detail (these account for 30% of the overall rating)

Claire Evans, consumer editor for What Car?, said: "Our tyre test demonstrates the safety benefits that come if you’re willing to spend more on your rubber.

"While the Triangle tyre acquits itself reasonably well in the dry, it’s not a strong performer in wet or flooded driving conditions. That’s not to say it’s a bad tyre; it’s just not as reassuring or confidence-inspiring as the Continental in bad weather. In contrast, the consistency of the Continental tyre, whatever the weather, makes it our top scorer.

"The Michelin also handles safely and predictably in both the wet and dry, but it loses marks for its longer braking distances, and while the Pirelli brakes well, it doesn’t have the handling finesse of the top two tyres."

How we test tyres

To properly test a set of tyres, it’s necessary to drive the car on which they’re fitted to the extremes of its handling abilities. So, for safety’s sake, we conducted our tyre testing on a closed test track.

Prior to testing, each car’s traction control system was turned off, making it possible to measure when the car lost grip and how gradual or immediate the loss was, as well as how controllable it was. The test cars were fitted with a digital box that recorded lap times and logged the weather conditions immediately before each test, so that any significant changes in temperature or precipitation could be taken into account.

The tests carried out were dry braking, dry handling, wet braking, wet handling, aquaplaning and noise measurement. A separate test of each tyre’s rolling resistance was also conducted in a laboratory. Each test was carried out three times and the average of the results was used.

Dry and wet braking

We measured the tyres’ stopping distance from 62mph to zero in the dry. The same test was carried out for wet braking, but with the car braking from 50mph. The data enabled comparisons to show how fast each contender was still travelling at the point at which the car with the best-performing tyres had stopped.

Dry and wet handling

The test cars were driven around a one-mile circuit with corners of various types. After three laps, the average lap time was taken. The grippiest tyres enabled the test car to complete the lap faster than those that lost traction when accelerating or let go of the road in corners.

Aquaplaning

Three tests showed how well the tyres coped with standing water. For longitudinal (straight- line) aquaplaning, the car started at 44mph and drove through a section of standing water 9mm deep. The speed was increased by 5mph for every run, ending when the car experienced more than 15% slip.

The lateral (cornering) aquaplaning test took place on a 200m circular track that was mostly dry, with a small section of 5mm deep standing water. This time, tests started at 37mph, rising in 5mph increments, with the sideways slippage measured at each speed. For the third test, the car was driven around a waterlogged 58m diameter circle at increasing speeds until the tyres lost grip.

Noise

The level of noise generated by the tyres at 60mph was measured inside the car using a sound level meter. Measurements were taken on three different surfaces, ranging from smooth asphalt to a concrete surface that’s comparable with many UK motorways.

Comfort

Our testers carried out a subjective assessment of the level of vibration that could be felt inside the car when it was driven at 20mph over two different road surfaces. One featured speed humps and the other had expansion joints like those found on a motorway.

Rolling resistance

This is the friction (or drag) the tyre generates as it rolls along the road. The higher the rolling resistance, the more energy will be needed to keep the car at a given speed, and this has a big effect on economy; a 30% difference in rolling resistance can equate to an increase of 3-5% in fuel consumption.

This test involves each tyre being rotated against a large steel drum at the equivalent of 50mph, with sensors measuring the level of resistance. All tyres were tested with the same load and inflation pressure.

Price

Our prices for each tyre are based on the average of costs – including fitting – gathered from three different online retailers.

Score weighting

Because safety is the most important factor with tyres, the test scores for braking, handling and aquaplaning account for 70% of each tyre’s overall rating. The ratings for noise, comfort and price together account for the remaining 30%.

About the report author

Claire Evans has been a motoring journalist for more than 30 years, much of that time spent specialising in consumer issues. She was a troubleshooting advice columnist for Carweek magazine in the 1990s, helping car owners with faulty cars get the right level of reparation from car makers.

She also spent six years working on motoring content for Which?, and it is here she oversaw the running of the charity's annual used car reliability survey and its regular tyre tests, which highlighted the best and worst tyres for all types of cars and weather conditions. 

Claire launched the What Car? Reliability Survey in 2017, and since then has helped thousands of buyers choose the most reliable new cars and SUVs, as well as the most dependable used cars. The survey data is also shared with car makers, who use it to find out more about issues with models and the areas where they could look provide better customer service.

The perils of being over or under-inflated

Tyre pressure monitoring systems, which warn the driver when the pressure in any tyre drops, have been mandatory on new cars since 2014. However, some systems can be overly sensitive, plus changes in exterior temperature can trigger false alarms. That means some drivers choose to ignore them and carry on driving.

To find out how doing so could affect a car’s handling and braking, we drove an Audi A3 with its tyres inflated to the recommended 36psi (2.5bar). We then drove it with the tyres at 22psi (1.5bar) and finally at 51psi (3.5bar).

Both over and under-inflation adversely affected how the car handled close to the limit of grip. However, things were more wayward at low pressure than when the tyres were over-inflated.

Stopping from 50mph in the wet, the A3 took an extra 1.3m with under-inflated tyres, and the lap was 1.0sec slower. In the straight-line aquaplaning test, excessive slip was recorded 4.5mph slower than with correct pressures. The dry lap, meanwhile, was 1.8sec slower on under-inflated tyres than with the correct pressures set.

We also conducted a final test that replicated a slow puncture by having just one under-inflated tyre on the rear nearside of the car. This upset the balance of the car so much that our test driver wasn’t able to complete the required three laps of the wet handling circuit because the car veered off the track.

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