Apollo Aspire 4
New cut-price brand promises to shake up the tyre market
Indian maker is a new name to the UK market, having launched just after buying former Auto Express tyre test champ Vredestein.
Apollo will be sold alongside the Dutch brand, targeting budget buyers – so it was no surprise to find it was the cheapest on test. Had we found it at an online retailer, its price advantage may have been even greater. Sadly, we weren’t surprised to see it towards the bottom of the results, either.
The stand-out performance was in wet cornering; the Aspire 4 edged the Vredestein here, which suggests a good wet road compound. It couldn’t repeat the form in the other rain tests; on the wet handling track, it allowed our powerful Golf GTI to break traction or lock all too easily, and had less grip than rivals.
Still, it coped well with the deeper water of the aquaplaning tests, finishing fifth and third here – albeit a long way behind the leader on the curve.
In the dry it was noisy, and required more steering lock than most rivals on the handling track.
Our Verdict
Apollo comes close to the bottom of the results table, but is far from disgraced.
| On test… | Score | Ranking |
| Wet braking | 78.5% | 10th |
| Wet handling | 94% | 10th |
| Wet cornering | 100% | 1st |
| Straight aquaplaning | 96.1% | =5th |
| Curved aquaplaning | 80.2% | 3rd |
| Dry braking | 94.7% | =7th |
| Dry handling | 98.9% | 6th |
| Rolling resistance | 94.2% | 5th |
| Cabin noise | 98.5% | 9th |
| Overall | 97% | 9th |
Contact
Apollo: http://www.apollotyres.com/
