With Nokian’s Hakka Blue 2 showing great performances in wet against Michelin’s Primacy 4, we thought it is time to bring another premium competitor in the form of Continental’s Premium Contact 6. Premium Contact 6 was launch in 2016 and has a winning rate of 12 out of the 31 press test it has entered. Let’s see how Hakka Blue 2 will hold up against such a proven test winner.
Results below were taken from the 2021 ViBilagare summer tire test press test results. 8 tires were tested in the in Goodyear’s test track in Mireval, France. The graph below shows the comparison between Premium Contact 6 vs Hakka Blue 2 based on the relevant performance category. The Premium Contact 6 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective comfort evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if the tire A is graded 4 while tire B is graded 3, A is better than B by 5%. The natural scaling does not really make sense in evaluation whereby the max number is 5. The tire size of interest is 225/45 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A3 and Hyundai Elantra. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Table of Contents
Wet
After such a strong performance against Primacy 4 in wet, we would expect Hakka Blue 2 will put up a good fight against Premium Contact 6. Hakka blue 2 was unable to match Premium Contact 6’s wet braking with a deficit of 3%. The same strong performance in aquaplaning was also shown here with Hakka Blue 2 being 4% better than Premium contact 6.
Hakka Blue 2
- -3% in wet braking
- 0% in wet handling
- +1% in wet circle
- +4% in aquaplaning
Dry
Hakka Blue 2 also trailed Premium Contact 6 when it comes to dry braking. There were however equally matched when it comes to dry handling.
Hakka Blue 2
- -5% in dry braking
- 0% in dry handling
Noise & Comfort
When it comes to subjective noise & comfort, Hakka Blue 2 was totally dominant. Hakka Blue 2 was ranked 4/5 in subjective noise & comfort while Premium Contact 6 only got 2/5 in comfort & 3/5 in noise.
Hakka Blue 2
- +5% in subjective noise
- +10% in comfort
Rolling Resistance
As both of the tires have a “C” label in rolling resistance, the differences in rolling resistance should be quite similar. Hakka Blue 2 trails Premium Contact 6 about 4% in rolling resistance which within the 15% label tolerances.
Hakka Blue 2
- -4% in rolling resistance
Price
In this press test, Premium Contact 6 commands the highest price compared to the other 8 tires. Hakka Blue 2 is 5% cheaper compare to premium contact 6.
Tire size: 225/45R17
Premium Contact 6: : €146.94
Hakka Blue 2: €140.55
Difference: -5% more cheaper for Hakka Blue 2.
Summary
Reviewing the results, it is hard to choose a clear winner. Premium Contact 6 was strong in both wet & dry braking which is usually the main key performance you need from a summer tire. However Hakka Blue 2 is strong in subjective comfort and noise while being 5% cheaper in price compared to Premium Contact 6. In the end both of the tires are top class in our eyes and the decision lies on what requirements you are looking for. 🙂