Does your car take tyres in this size, and are you trying to decide whether to buy winter or all-season tyres? This article will help resolve your doubts.
When faced with the dilemma of whether to choose winter tyres or all-season tyres, it is most important to compare the opinions of other drivers and of the experts who conduct professional tyre tests. Only in that way will you learn which type of tyre is best suited to you and your vehicle. All-season tyres are a good solution for some drivers, but winter tyres are the safest choice for this time of year, because they are the only kind that are fully adapted to all of the conditions which might be encountered on the roads during the winter season.
All-season or winter tyres?
The basic difference between winter and all-season tyres is that winter tyres are specifically designed to cope with the conditions that occur during the autumn and winter months. All-season tyres represent an attempt to combine the parameters of winter and summer tyres, and so in winter will never perform as well as winter tyres, and in summer will not be as good as summer tyres.
In that case, to what kind of drivers will they bring satisfaction? All-season tyres will satisfy you if you travel mainly on city roads that are regularly cleared of snow, drive less than 5000 or 6000 kilometres over the whole year, and have a relatively relaxed driving style. All-season tyres are also a good solution for those who in the past have opted to drive all year round on summer or on winter tyres.
Winter tyres can be chosen without hesitation by drivers who cover more than 6000 km annually, travel mainly outside town or on a variety of roads, and have a driving style that might be described as dynamic. If you expect the best performance on winter routes, durable tyres and comfortable driving, then this is certainly the type of tyre that you should choose for winter.
Winter tyres are the best solution
if you sometimes drive on routes that have not been cleared of snow.
Which cars take tyres in size 195/65 R15?
Below you can check which popular models of car take tyres in size 195/65 R15:
| Ford Focus | Opel Astra | Kia Cee'd | Opel Vectra |
| VW Golf | VW Passat | Skoda Octavia | Seat Leon |
| Seat Toledo | Mercedes Klasa C | Mercedes Klasa E | Peugeot 307 |
| Audi A4 | Audi A6 | Renault Laguna | Renault Megane |
NB: Size 195/65 R15 tyres are only one of several options which might be used on these models of vehicle. Which tyres you fit depends on several factors: the generation of the vehicle, the date of manufacture, the engine power and capacity, and the vehicle’s equipment. With our
tyre configuration tool you can easily select the right size of tyres for your car.
The vehicles listed above belong to segments C and D. We explain here what characteristics these classes have.
C-segment cars are the most numerous, and include vehicles with a compact type of construction. They are designed to carry four persons with an average amount of luggage. Cars of this type can be used both on city roads and out of town. They represent a compromise between smaller and larger vehicles. C-segment cars include hatchbacks, saloons, estates, as well as some low-budget limos. Manufacturers use these designs as a basis for the currently very popular vehicles of crossover and minivan type.
Other models out of those listed above are D-segment cars. Vehicles in this group can be described as family cars, of larger size than compacts. They allow five persons to travel comfortably, especially since the luggage compartments of these cars are a lot bigger.
The Falken EuroAll Season AS 200 was the best tyre
in ADAC’s tests of all-season tyres in size 195/65 R15 H.
Buy the best in the ADAC test – the Falken EuroAll Season AS200 tyre
The ADAC test involved four models of all-season tyres (listed here from the highest to the lowest ranked):
The best models in particular categories:
| Dry surface | Falken EuroAll Season AS200 |
| Wet surface | All tyres gained a “satisfactory” rating |
| Noise level | All tyres gained a “satisfactory” rating |
| Snow | Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert |
| Ice | Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert, Kumho Solus HA31, Vredestein Quatrac Lite |
| Fuel economy | Vredestein Quatrac Lite, Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert |
| Wear resistance | Vredestein Quatrac Lite, Kumho Solus HA31 |
ADAC testing methodology
ADAC testing methodology. The final score in the ADAC test is composed of the results attained by a tyre in all tested categories. Each of these results makes a particular percentage contribution to the model’s final rating. ADAC always assigns the greatest weight to a tyre’s performance on a wet surface. In the case of the all-season tyre test, results in this category account for as much as 30% of the total score. Performance on a snow-covered road contributes 20%, while behaviour on a dry surface accounts for 15%. Performance on ice, tread wear and fuel efficiency each contribute 10% to the final score. The category of least importance for the final rating is the level of noise produced by the tyre.
This weighting of categories is a result of ADAC’s policy, according to which it is important above all to recommend to drivers tyres that are safe, while driving comfort is a secondary consideration. The highest overall rating in the tests is “very good”, followed by “good”, “satisfactory” and “adequate”. The lowest rating is “defective”, given to tyres which in ADAC’s view do not meet requirements of safety in relation to their driving performance.
Unfortunately, in this year’s test of all-season tyres, none of the tested models obtained a good overall rating. The best tyres in the final classification (the Falken EuroAll Season AS200 and Vredestein Quatrac Lite) gained only an ‘adequate” rating. The final two models were described as “defective”, in view of their unsafe behaviour on a wet surface.
Drivers’ opinions
Summing up: Comparing drivers’ opinions about the tyres with ADAC’s evaluations, it is immediately clear that ordinary users rated them much more highly. While the ADAC experts awarded the tyres quite low scores, drivers rated most of them as “worthy of recommendation”. This once again shows that it is important to compare evaluations of tyres from different sources. In selecting a specific model you should not be guided only by the results of professional tests run by motoring magazines and organisations, or by the opinions of drivers or specialists, but you should take account of all of these sources of information. Only then can you be sure of choosing tyres that will give you satisfaction during everyday use.
The highest ranked tyre in the ADAC test, the Falken EuroAll Season AS200, gained its best result for performance on a dry surface. In the remaining categories it was ranked “satisfactory”, and in one case “adequate” (for performance on a snow-covered surface). In turn, according to the opinions posted by drivers on our portal, the tyre achieves very good results (with a score of 5 out of 6) in terms of driving performance, as well as comfort and costs of use. Overall, the tyre is regarded by users of the Oponeo.pl portal as a product worthy of recommendation – a better rating than that awarded by the specialists from ADAC.
The second-placed tyre in the test, the Vredestein Quatrac Lite, gained good scores for performance on ice, fuel consumption and tread wear. In the other categories it was rated “satisfactory”, except for dry surface performance, where it was described as “adequate”. In the opinion of customers, the tyre is most certainly “worthy of recommendation”, and its scores of use are somewhat higher than its already good scores for comfort of driving and costs of use.
Unfortunately we do not have any opinions about the third tyre on the list (the Kumho Solus HA31), but it should be noted that in the ADAC test that tyre gained a good rating for performance on an icy surface and in the tread wear category. It is interesting to compare the test results of the bottom-ranked tyre, the Uniroyal AllSeasonExpert, with the views expressed by drivers. In contrast to ADAC’s experts, drivers considered this product to be “worthy of recommendation”. ADAC awarded it good scores in three categories: performance on snow and on ice, and fuel efficiency. Users of the tyre gave it a rating close to “very good” for its driving performance and comfort of use. Only its costs of use are rated more poorly by users.