Although efficiency is important, tires also provide essential traction for *everything* your vehicle does - move forward, stop, corner and also contribute to driving feel (tire flex is part of suspension) and noise (tread).
My 2019 came with ~11,000mi on stock/OE Ecopias, appeared to have "some tread life". General mi/kWh for first few 1000 miles was 4.3 - 4.4 (including winter, etc).
Dry traction wasn't good (noise/squeal at 25mph corner), wet traction was dismal, handling was horrid.
At about 15,000 mi Noticed an *ugly* sidewall bulge/goiter (dry-rot) on one tire and switched all four to Continental Extreme Contact DWS ("High Performance All Season") in 205/55-16.
Significant improvement in dry traction, better cornering, better wet traction (not much change from dry!!), quieter ride and improved handling.
Initial range was around 4.2mi/kWh (around 3% drop, which seemed to make sense, LRR tires only increase range 3-5%) but it was also new tires (taller tread "squirms" and increases friction, older tires are more efficient, regardless of LRR or not) summer (AC use) and didn't have them inflated to 41-42psi as I should've.
Now at 25,000 miles, running average 4.3-4.4mi/kWh, treadlife still looking healthy, tires continue to be solid, quiet, good handling, good ride. Even had reasonable traction in snow and 20-degree when I was out.
To summarize, my opinion is that Ecopia 422 are poor at *everything* a tire should do - go, stop and turn, both dry/wet and "OK" at efficiency.
Continental DWS have been delightful in all respects for what tires should do - go, stop and turn with basically no penalty in efficiency and noticeable quieter/smoother ride.
As they say, YMMV (Your mileage may vary) - but I won't be buying Ecopia (or any other LRR tire) for my eGolf again.
I'll be curious if mi/kW changes (improve?) with lighter wheels and a slight lowering. In which case, all the more support for good (performance) tires - just keep the pressure up!
I pretty much agree with everything above. I got my used 2016 e-Golf with what looked like original Ecopias. Car had 30k miles on it, so probably 50% tread. Used them for half a year (Jul-Jan in SoCal so no real difference in temp from Jan-Apr). I hated them. They'd squeal on starts, skid and lose grip in turns. Heck, my SUV could turn better. They felt dangerous in the rain. Average mi/kWh was 4.6 with daily highs of 5.0.Although efficiency is important, tires also provide essential traction for *everything* your vehicle does - move forward, stop, corner and also contribute to driving feel (tire flex is part of suspension) and noise (tread).
My 2019 came with ~11,000mi on stock/OE Ecopias, appeared to have "some tread life". General mi/kWh for first few 1000 miles was 4.3 - 4.4 (including winter, etc).
Dry traction wasn't good (noise/squeal at 25mph corner), wet traction was dismal, handling was horrid.
At about 15,000 mi Noticed an *ugly* sidewall bulge/goiter (dry-rot) on one tire and switched all four to Continental Extreme Contact DWS ("High Performance All Season") in 205/55-16.
Significant improvement in dry traction, better cornering, better wet traction (not much change from dry!!), quieter ride and improved handling.
Initial range was around 4.2mi/kWh (around 3% drop, which seemed to make sense, LRR tires only increase range 3-5%) but it was also new tires (taller tread "squirms" and increases friction, older tires are more efficient, regardless of LRR or not) summer (AC use) and didn't have them inflated to 41-42psi as I should've.
Now at 25,000 miles, running average 4.3-4.4mi/kWh, treadlife still looking healthy, tires continue to be solid, quiet, good handling, good ride. Even had reasonable traction in snow and 20-degree when I was out.
To summarize, my opinion is that Ecopia 422 are poor at *everything* a tire should do - go, stop and turn, both dry/wet and "OK" at efficiency.
Continental DWS have been delightful in all respects for what tires should do - go, stop and turn with basically no penalty in efficiency and noticeable quieter/smoother ride.
As they say, YMMV (Your mileage may vary) - but I won't be buying Ecopia (or any other LRR tire) for my eGolf again.
I'll be curious if mi/kW changes (improve?) with lighter wheels and a slight lowering. In which case, all the more support for good (performance) tires - just keep the pressure up!
I wasn't trying "lab-certified" testing - back-to-back identical conditions/driving profile/road/same wheels with different tires - that is (for my view) trading accuracy for *relevance*.Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 is a fantastic tire. I have it on my Mercedes adventure vehicle.
I'm having a very hard time believing that your impact was only 3%. This tire is extreme grip by design, the complete opposite side of the spectrum from Ecopia. What was your test mythology?
To exhibit accurate results, you must repeat the runs on old tires (e.g., before dismount), then calculate average miles/kWh.
Next step is is head to a tire shop to mount new tires. Then repeat the same exercise on new tires.
This how I report consistent results because average kWh in last 10k miles is not a good metric to compare to. There are way too many variables that come into play.
- Attempt to do the runs on the same day. It's irrelevant if you are doing this during cold winters or hot summers. As long as the temperature is consistent. Climate control is irrelevant as well. Just ensure that it's consistent.
- Find a road, at least 10 miles long with some rolling hills.
- Accelerate and stop as normally would. Do your best to maintain the same speed. Ideally, when roads are clear of traffic. Sunday mornings is the best, while majority of drivers are still sleeping I did my runs throughout the range (e.g., 0 - 50 mph).
- Ensure outdoor temperature doesn't fluctuate more than ~10 degrees.
- Repeat this exercise 3-4 times and record average miles/kWh consumption.
My assumption is that you know how to reset this in settings, for every drive test your attempt. If not, read the owner's manual.
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