Continental Eco Contact 6 vs Michelin Primacy 4: An eco segment tireline has the main focus on comfort & rolling resistance in mind. This segment is generally for the small vehicle owners who prioritize comfort more than anything else. The next level above the eco segment would be the touring segment which consist of mid range price vehicles and with a big focus on wet performances. As mentioned previously, Michelin Primacy 4 will have one last showing in the 2022 press test before being graciously replaced by Primacy 4+. We will pair one of the most successful touring tires against a well established eco segment tire called “Continental Eco Contact 6”. As the main focus of each tire is different, you will tend to notice big performance gaps across the board. Primacy 4 was launched in 2017 while Eco Contact 6 was launched in 2018.
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the 2022 ViBilagare Summer Tyre Test. A total of 10 tires were tested this year. The graph below shows the comparison between Continental Eco Contact 6 vs Michelin Primacy 4 based on the relevant performance category. The Eco 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 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 205/55R16 which is a common tire size for Volkswagen Golf (2018) and the Toyota Corolla Altis (2018). You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
Safety has always been the main theme when it comes to the need for wet performances and this holds true for any kind of tire segment. In objective wet braking, Primacy 4 took first blood by out braking Eco Contact 6 by 2.9m. With this distance, you can fit an average adult and a preschool kid lying flat on the road. Primacy 4’s wet braking edge was transferred into wet handling as it was 2.6 seconds faster than Eco Contact 6. The same holds true for wet circle as the lateral grip limit favors Primacy 4 by being 0.6 seconds faster after 8 laps.
Primacy 4 continued to dominate in aquaplaning as it was the best straight aquaplaning tire in the whole test with a slipping speed of 84.9 km/h compared to the 77.7 km/h of Eco Contact 6. They were much closer in curved aquaplaning as Primacy 4 had a +3.5 km/h edge over Eco Contact 6. The bad showing in aquaplaning for Eco Contact 6 could be attributed to low tread depth at 6.7mm. Primacy 4 on the other hand starts with a 8mm tread depth hence has more void to absorb and push the water away.
While it may seem that the Eco Contact 6 was totally destroyed by Primacy 4 in wet performances, it is good to remember that we are comparing different segments here. Primacy 4 with its wet focus requirements in mind certainly out performed Eco Contact 6 in all wet categories. It could also be said that most of the premium touring segment tires will excel in wet compared to their eco segment counterparts. This including Michelin itself as we have made a comparison of its e.primacy vs primacy 4.
Primacy 4:
- +9.3% in wet braking
- +3.8% in wet handling (lap time)
- +2.9% in wet circle
- +9.3% in straight aquaplaning
- +5.3% in curved aquaplaning
Dry
Contrary to what transpired in the wet results, dry performances were much closer. Primacy 4 had a shorter braking distance of 1m compared to Eco Contact 6. While in dry handling, they were also really close as 0.5 seconds separated them apart with Primacy 4 being slightly faster. The closer gap between the 2 tires could be attributed to the fact that lowering tread depth helps to make the tread area stiffer hence the tire is able to transmit more forces to the surface.
Primacy 4:
- +2.8% in dry braking
- +0.5% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise & Comfort
Eco Contact 6 being sold as a comfort tire did not show any advantage in ride comfort but its score magnificently well in subjective noise with a 4/5 score while Primacy 4 only managed a 2/5 rating.
Primacy 4:
- -10% in subjective noise
- 0% in comfort
Rolling Resistance
With an A label rating of Eco Contact 6 vs the C label rating of Primacy 4, we do expect a big difference when it comes to rolling resistance. This was proven true as the Eco Contact 6 has a -1.39 N/kN advantage in the rolling resistance coefficient relative to Primacy 4.
Even though Eco Contact 6 had an outstanding rolling resistance, this did not translate effectively into fuel savings as the rolling resistance from tires only attributes 20% of the car’s overall resistance. The Eco Contact 6 ended up with a fuel consumption of 5.07 liter/100km (highest ranked in the test) while the Primacy 4 has a 5.29 liter/100km fuel consumption value. The absolute differences were not huge considering a 18% advantage in rolling resistance values for Eco Contact 6.
Primacy 4:
- -17.7% in rolling resistance
- -4.2% in fuel economy
Price
Taking the price from Sweden as this was the relevant market for the publisher, Primacy 4 was €6 more expensive than Eco Contact 6. This was not surprising as the undisputed technology leader, Michelin commands the highest price in the market.
Tire size: 205/55 R16
Primacy 4: €100
Difference: –+6% more expensive for Primacy 4.
Summary
Overall both tires showed their main strengths in their focus area. Eco Contact 6 excels in subjective noise & rolling resistance while Primacy 4 dominates in wet & dry conditions. There is no clear winner in this case as we are comparing different segments and it all boils down to what performance category you value the most 🙂