Avon WV7 Snow review

While Avon’s entry lacked performance, especially in the snow, it proved to be one of the quietest tyres

Following its return to our summer tyre tests, Avon makes its debut in our winter assessment. But you can’t help thinking that it would have liked to have done it with a newer design than the WV7 Snow, which was launched in 2016. 

A lot has happened in tyre design since then, and the root of its problems are on snow, where it was four per cent behind the pace-setting Continental. It was pretty close in braking, some half a metre behind the best, but struggled more for traction.

Across the wet tests it was in front of the Goodyear Dunlop pair, helped by good performances in aquaplaning, plus a podium in wet braking. Lateral grip was poor, though, where it finished last in cornering and handling. It was less stable than the best around the handling circuit, requiring plenty of lock and spinning the wheels easily through turns. It lacked sharpness, which was carried over to the dry. There was also a longer wait to get on the throttle to maintain the line. 

Across the dry tests it was last, but with a small gap to the best. A final plus point was it proved one of the quietest on test.

We say: 

The WV7 is a newcomer to our tests, but it’s showing its age in this company and needs to work on snow performance, lateral wet grip and fuel economy to challenge the best.

Blackcircles.com says...

Customers who have purchased Avon’s winter tyre have left very positive reviews, focusing on its winter grip and scoring it 4.6/5 overall.

Avon WV7 Snow    
Overall: 95.50%  
Price: £93.63  
Snow braking: 97.00% 7th
Snow traction: 93.70% 8th
Straight aquaplaning: 96.50% 3rd
Curved aquaplaning: 90.40% 4th
Wet braking: 91.80% 3rd
Wet handling: 95.10% 7th
Wet circle: 95.10% 8th
Dry braking: 94.10% 8th
Dry handling: 97.70% 8th
Rolling resistance: 80.70% 7th
Cabin noise: 99.40% 2nd
Products editor

Kim has worked for Auto Express for more than three decades and all but a year of that time in the Products section. His current role as products editor involves managing the section’s content and team of testers plus doing some of the tests himself. 

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