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!
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