Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric SUV tyre

Price: £176.99 (255/60R17)

Contact: www.goodyear.co.uk

Goodyear makes our favourite summer tyre for cars, but the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 isn’t available for 4x4s. That’s why the company has launched the new Eagle F1 Asymmetric SUV tyre. We put it through its paces against two key rivals.

The tyre is aimed at owners of cars like the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne. We tried it out on the latter around a track to compare the grip and handling to competitor tyres from Continental and Pirelli.

The newcomer is very grippy in the dry and turns in keenly – in corners, minimal steering inputs are required. The Goodyear also provided the most impressive straight-line braking of our trio, although we didn’t get to try it in the wet.

Around the same circuit, the Conti and Pirelli tyres gave composed performance, and while they couldn’t match the Goodyear, they did highlight one of its failings: it doesn’t give as much feedback through the steering wheel. Still, as the Eagle F1 has more grip, we’d be willing to make this compromise.

As it’s aimed at the more expensive end of the performance SUV market, the Goodyear tyre was always going to be pricey. But at £177 for the smallest 255/60R17 size, it’s much more costly than its rivals.

Verdict

Rating: ★★★★
What's good?
Great all-rounder with strong grip on dry roads. Plus, turn-in is good and ride comfortable.
Not so good?
Doesn’t provide much feedback through the steering wheel, more expensive than rivals.