Continental Sport Contact 6 vs 7

Continental Sport Contact 7 Vs Sport Contact 6: The new ultimate UHP tire from Continental is out, the Sport Contact 7 was launch in September 2021 replacing the Sport Contact 6 which was launched 5 years ago.

In it’s marketing info, Continental claim that the Sport Contact 7 has significant increase mileage while having ultra high driving performance. These are all objectively quantified in the spider diagram below whereby the Sport Contact 7 was compared against its predecessor.

• Dry
• Wet
• Mileage
• Rolling Resistance
• Summary

Dry

Being an ultra high performance (UHP) tire line, the Sport Contact 7 has a clear focus on dry performances. The new tire managed to be better in dry braking, dry handling and also grip limit all at once which is a remarkable achievement. These are all criteria’s which allows you to extract the maximum capability of your vehicle.

Sport Contact 7:

• +6% in dry braking
• +3% in dry handling
• +3% in grip limit.

Wet

Normally as the main focus are on dry, wet performances are usually sacrifice as a trade off. However this was not the case whereby both wet braking & wet handling performances were improved. As Sport Contact 6 is already a label “A” tire in wet braking, it is no surprise that Sport Contact 7 maintain is label “A” ranking.

Sport Contact 7:

• +8% in wet braking
• +5% in wet handling
  
• EU label
  • Sport contact 7: “A”
  • Sport contact 6: “A”

Mileage

As mention in its marketing materials, the new Sport Contact 7 achieved a greater mileage both on and off the race track. It managed a whooping 17% more distance on normal roads while having a 10% longer life time on the track. This in return would yield a longer tire life hence more savings to the consumer.

Sport Contact 7:

• +17% in mileage
• +10% in Race track mileage

Rolling Resistance

The rolling resistance was also significantly improved from our basic label check. For the size below, the Sport Contact 7 managed to increase 2 levels higher than its predecessor.

EU label (225/40 ZR 19)

• Sport Contact 7: “B“
• Sport Contact 6: “D“

+ 2 level class.

Summary

With its improved performances in wet, dry, mileage & rolling resistance, the Sport Contact 7 is definitely a beast to be reckon with. However do note that the aquaplaning and noise results were not disclosed and we look forward to next year’s press test to evaluate its overall performances.

Segment

Number of sizes available

Number of tests

Best position in test

Worst position in test

Average position in tests

Year of the last test

Best rating in test

Worst rating in test

Aquaplaning - longitudal

Wet braking

Aquaplaning - cross

Wet handling

Wet circle cornering

Wet side guide

Wet braking according to EU label

Dry braking

Dry handling

Dry driving behavior

Dry lane changing

Dry steering response

Exterior noise

Comfort

Interior noise

Outside noise accoring to EU label

Rolling resistance

Mileage

Fuel efficiency

Price/value

Fuel consumption according to EU label