Continental Viking Contact 7 vs Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5

Continental Viking Contact 7 vs Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: After 5 years of mediocre results for Hakkapeliitta R3 in the press test arena, Nokian finally launch a new successor named Hakkapeliitta R5 in 2022 in hopes of bringing back its former glory of being the best in ice & snow. In its official debut, we will pair it with none other than the reigning studless champion “Continental Viking Contact 7” to see who will bring home the title of the best studless tire.

Results

Results below were taken from the “2022 Tyre Reviews Studless Winter Tyre Test” test. A total of 9 tires were tested this time around with a studded reference and also a middle European winter tire reference to gauge the segment differentiation.

The graph below shows the comparison between Continental Viking Contact 7 vs Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 based on the relevant performance category. The Viking Contact 7 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for the handling evaluation, lap times were used as an objective gauge to determine how well the tire performs while a subjective rating is also provided.

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. The testing vehicle is a Volkswagen Golf.

Ice

In this particular segment, ice performance is everything. As the usage conditions are usually around -5 to -15 °C, ice is the most sought out criteria. Hakkapeliitta R5 took the initiative this time around by braking 0.16m (0.5 feet) earlier than Viking Contact 7. This was a huge turn around from Hakkapeliitta R3 last time around as it trailed more than 8% against Viking Contact 7. In ice traction, Hakkapeliitta R5 just slightly edged Viking Contact 7 as it was 0.04 seconds faster from a speed of 5 km/h (3mph) to 20 km/h (12mph).

Things were turned upside down in ice handling as Viking Contact 7 managed a 1.2 second advantage per lap compared to Hakkapeliitta R5. They were both rated equally the same from a subjective perspective. Overall, Hakkapeliitta R5 excels slightly better in objective ice while Viking Contact 7 excels in ice handling.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• +1.6% in ice braking
• +0.7% in ice traction
• -2.5% in ice handling (lap time)
• 0% in ice handling (subj)

Snow

The next most important item for studless tires is snow. Here we saw Hakkapeliitta R5 stopped 0.12m (0.4 feet) earlier than Viking Contact 7 from a speed of 40 km/h (25mph) to 5 km/h (3 mph). It was also better when it came to snow traction as it took 0.07 seconds less to accelerate from 20 km/h (12 mph) to 5 km/h (3mph). While it was also quicker in lap time by 0.2 seconds. Even though the margins are razor thin, Hakkapeliitta R5 just managed to get its nose ahead of Viking Contact 7 in snow.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• +0.8% in snow braking
• +1.3% in snow traction
• +0.3% in snow handling (lap time)
• 0% in snow handling (subj)
• +1.8% in snow circle

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 both Viking Contact 7 & Hakkapeliitta R5 is labelled D, we expect quite close wet braking results. This was proven true as there is not much in between both tires with Viking Contact 7 braking 0.18m (0.6 feet) earlier than Hakkapeliitta R5.

While in wet handling, Viking Contact 7 is clearly the stronger ire as it was 2.2 seconds faster than Hakkapeliitta R5. However there is no difference when it was evaluated subjectively. While in aquaplaning domain, Viking Contact 7 being a directional tire with clear V shape grooves was the better tire as it had 3.66 km/h slip speed more compared to Hakkapeliitta R5.Similar trends in curve aquaplaning as Viking Contact 7 has an +2.3m/s² advantage.

Overall in the wet category, Viking Contact 7 is clearly the better performing wet tire.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• -0.5% in wet braking
• -2.9% in wet handling (lap time)
• 0% in wet handling (subj)
• -4.9% in straight aquaplaning
• -4% in curved 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. Viking Contact 7 managed to brake 1.6m (5 feet) earlier compared to Hakkapeliitta R5 from a speed of 100km/h (62 mph) down to 5km/h (3mph).

In dry handling, the differences are much lower compared to dry braking as Viking Contact 7 was only 0.36 seconds faster per lap than Hakkapeliitta R5. They were both rated the same in terms of subjective handling. Overall, Viking Contact 7 has a slight edge in dry performances compared to Hakkapeliitta R5.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• -3.3% in dry braking
• -0.5% in dry handling (lap time)
• 0% in dry handling (subj)

Noise & Comfort

With a soft compound, studless tires like the 2 products that we feature should be at an advantage compared to other harder compound tires. Both Hakkapeliitta R5 & Viking Contact 7 top the charts when it comes to internal noise by having the lowest noise value of 61.9 dB. However when it comes to comfort, Hakkapeliitta R5 was better with a rating of 100 compared to the 95 of Viking Contact 7.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• 0% in internal noise
• +5.3% in comfort

Rolling Resistance

When it comes to studless 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. Hakkapeliitta R5 had a lower rolling resistance coefficient value of 7.34 N/kN while the Viking Contact 7 had a higher 7.56 N/kN.

Hakkapeliitta R5 :

• +3% in rolling resistance

Price

The Hakkapeliitta R5 was found to be 14 dollars more expensive than Viking Contact 7.

Tire size: 205/55R16

Hakkapeliitta R5 : : $169

Viking Contact 7 : $155

Difference: +8% more expensive for Hakkapeliitta R5.

Summary

Overall, both tires were neck in neck and took turns to be ahead of each other depending on the type of test. Hakkapeliitta R5 had an advantage in objective ice , snow , rolling resistance & noise/comfort while Viking Contact 7 excels in subjective ice, wet & dry. Due to such tight results, there is no clear winner in this duel & it really comes down to your individual requirements. Enjoy !

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