Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 vs Continental AllSeasonContact: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. However things were only starting to take off in Europe after the launch of Cross Climate in 2015 revolutionizing the whole all season market. Continental responded against Cross Climate with their own AllSeasonContact which was launched in 2018. While Goodyear’s Vector 4Seasons gen 2 was launched in 2015 with the elusive 3 peak mountain logo to match Michelin’s Cross Climate.
Continental over the years has only stuck to AllSeasonContact and it has done fairly well but Goodyear launched a successor product “Vector 4Seasons gen 3” in 2020 to maintain its competitiveness. To find out which is the better tire, we will pit Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 vs Continental AllSeasonContact in a head to head all season showdown!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the 2021 Tyre Reviews All Season Tyre Test. A total of 11 tires were tested this time around including a reference summer & winter tire to gauge the compromises of an all season tire. The winter testing was done in Ivalo, Finland while the summer test was conducted in Wachauring, Austria. The graph below shows the comparison between Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 vs Continental AllSeasonContact based on the relevant performance category. The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires with a 3 peak mountain logo on it, an extensive snow testing was conducted. However ice testing was left out which was quite disappointing to our dismay. Note that for subjective comfort evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%. The tire size of interest is 205/55R16 which is a common tire size for Volkswagen Golf (2018) and the Toyota Corolla Altis (2018) while the test vehicle is the Golf GTI. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. As this is all season, Tyre Review decided to test wet braking at 2 different temperature points. Once at 4°C and the other at 15°C to really test the different conditions which an all season tire will have to face.
The AllSeasonContact did really well @ 4°C and out-brake Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 by 0.65 meters. AllSeasonContact finished a respectable 3rd overall among the competition @ 4°C wet braking. Things were moving in the same direction @ 15°C as AllSeasonContact managed to maintain its advantage by braking 1.89 meters earlier than Vector 4Seasons Gen 3.
While in wet handling, both tires are fairly matched in terms of lap time as AllSeasonContact was slower than Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 by 0.7 seconds per lap. AllSeasonContact was just slightly off in aquaplaning with a 87.8 km/h slip speed compared to the higher slip speed of 88.5 km/h with Vector 4Seasons Gen 3. In lateral aquaplaning, AllSeasonContact has a tiny +0.23m/s2 advantage. Overall in the wet category, AllSeasonContact has an edge in wet braking & lateral aquaplaning while Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was better in wet handling and straight aquaplaning
AllSeasonContact :
- +2.1% in wet braking @4°C
- +6.9% in wet braking @15°C
- -1.4% in wet handling (lap time)
- -0.8% in straight aquaplaning
- +2.7% in curve aquaplaning
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. The testing was done at 2-4°C which is more of the winter side. Results were really close as AllSeasonContact managed a shorter braking distance of 0.32 meters in relation to Vector 4Seasons Gen 3.
The same story continues in dry handling as only 0.2 seconds separated both tires. Overall on dry surfaces, both tires were really similar with AllSeasonContact having a tiny advantage.
AllSeasonContact :
- +0.8% in dry braking
- +0.4% in dry handling (lap time)
Comfort & Noise
In the exterior noise test, Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 has a pass by noise value of 69.2 dB which is 2.2 dB quieter than AllSeasonContact. To our dismay, AllSeasonContact has the worst pass by noise results at 71.4 dB and it firmly rooted in last place among the competition. Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 had a better subjective comfort rating of 10/10 while AllSeasonContact had only a rating of 9.5/10
AllSeasonContact :
- -3.1% in exterior noise (+2.2 dB)
- -2.5% in subjective comfort (9.5/10)
Rolling Resistance
When it comes to all season tires, rolling resistance is definitely not at the highest priority as the engineer has to handle the most important winter vs summer target conflict. However with the sustainability topic being more prevalent, rolling resistance has been widely used as a competitive marketing tool as it could be easily seen in the label values.
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 had a “C” label while AllSeasonContact had a better “B” label. However in terms of results, the “C” labeled Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was in fact better than the “B” labeled AllSeasonContact. This is definitely strange and does not make much sense. Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 had a lower rolling resistance coefficient of 7.62N/kN compared to the 7.82 N/kN value of AllSeasonContact.
AllSeasonContact :
- -2.6% in rolling resistance
Snow
As with most all season tires in the European market, both tires here come with a 3 peak mountain symbol to legally certified them as a winter tire. In layman terms, AllSeasonContact and Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 have to pass a legal snow test in order to certify themselves as a 3 peak mountain tire.
Both tires took turns to display their snow capabilities at different snow tests. Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 showed its strength in snow traction by taking only 5.54 seconds to accelerate from 5-40 km/h while it took AllSeasonContact 5.85 seconds. All the all-season tires took less than 7 seconds to accelerate till 40km/h while the reference summer tire took 20 seconds ! This is the part where you get your money’s worth by not getting stuck in the snow 🙂 .
AllSeasonContact topped the snow braking charts with an 0.69m braking advantage over Vector 4Seasons Gen 3. Both tires were equally matched in snow handling as 0.67 seconds differentiate them in terms of lap time. Overall, both tires are neck to neck in terms of snow performances and no one has a clear advantage.
AllSeasonContact :
- +4.1% in snow braking
- -5.3% in snow traction
- +0.8% in snow handling (lap times)
- -0.6% in snow circle
Price
The tire prices for both Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 & AllSeasonContact are as below:
Tire size: 205/55 R16
Vector 4Seasons Gen 3: €86
AllSeasonContact: €86.6
Difference: +1% more expensive for AllSeasonContact.
Summary
Overall, both tires showed various strengths on different surfaces. AllSeasonContact was good in wet, dry & snow braking while Vector 4Seasons Gen 3 was good in wet handling, noise/comfort, rolling resistance & snow traction. As the results were really close there is no clear winner in this battle. You would need to rely on your tiny preferences be it looks or specific performance category to determine which tires would suit you the best. Enjoy !