Originally Posted by BHopkins
Originally Posted by doitmyself
Reading the comments of the Youtube video, it seems that the tests were done on OEM all season tires, which throws some huge variables into the results. They should have done the comparison using identical tires on each vehicle since tire quality is a HUGE factor in this.
It has always been a question of mine what the results of car tests would be if all cars were shod with the same tire. However, it seems totally fair to test and rate a car's performance with the OEM tires mounted. After all, the OEM tires are what each manufacturer selected to put on their car. We would all hope that they selected a tire that will make their car shine. Not always true, but hey, If Toyota and Honda selected inferior tires, then they deserve to have been rated worse.
I've also wondered how different the results of car tests would be if each car was shod with identical, purpose-built tires (e.g., summer tires for dry/wet, winter for ice/snow, etc.). Since I have try to have two sets of tires for each of my vehicles (usually one with all-season and another with winter tires), I'm particularly interested in real-world and even extreme testing, performed with dedicated tires. The facts remain, for which I've come to the following conclusios:
1. The OEM's choice of tire is a COMPROMISE, usually geared toward economy for economy-oriented vehicles.
They can't offer a package that gets similar or better MPG to the competition, while also superior in all other aspects (e.g., wet, snow, off-road). Specifically for Subaru, they can offer summer tires for their sporty cars (BRZ, WRX, STI), but would have owners and insurance agents knocking down their doors come winter time here in the north were they to offer these tires for their vanilla vehicles! For economy-oriented vehicles, people expect many things, but at a minimum output of effort and money.
2. Roller/dedicated course tests:
Every tire will perform similarly on a set of rollers. Fair, right? I don't trust things like this, because a course can be specifically placed/designed to show an advantage that may not translate into the real-world, even if one vehicle apparently excels and another miserably fails. This isn't entirely true, of course, but I take fake tests like these with a grain of salt!
3. Dedicated tires for testing:
Not many people off-road their compact car or CUV, so dedicated snow/mud/etc. makes total sense for larger, model-vs-model testing, to showcase real-world ability, for those who will actually be doing this kind of driving. In other words, a snowy, rutted hill-climb isn't very realistic for the majority of AWD vehicle owners, and those who will be tackling similar terrain likely wouldn't be foolish enough to do so with OE tires! It sure as heck will get more views, though, to see something struggle against great odds, right!?
