Continental ContiEcoContact 5

Curiously poor wet road performance isn’t balanced by dry grip and fuel economy excellence.

The ContiEcoContact 5 was only launched earlier this year, and was designed with tyre labelling firmly in mind. So it’s no surprise to see it perform well in terms of rolling resistance – it finished second only to the remarkable Michelin, with both a long way ahead of the rest.

In previous tests, Continental has taken victory with good performances across wet and dry tracks, but this time it was more patchy.

The EcoContact was happiest on dry roads, topping the table in the dry braking assessment and finishing equal second with Vredestein in the dry handling test. It needed a fair bit more lock than its rival in the latter, but felt well planted.

The Conti was off the pace in our wet cornering, braking and handling tests, though – the rear of the car was well controlled in the latter, but the tyre wasn’t as sharp as the Bridgestone. Still, it felt very secure, so its lack of pace on the handling track could be down to poor aquaplaning results.

It was joint sixth for straight aquaplaning, but in the curve, where the water-clearing grooves were distorted, it was last – some way behind the top Goodyear. We expected better from Continental.