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.
Both of the tyres in this comparison are made by Continental, which is a brand from Germany. In this particular case, the Continental SportContact 7 has a better rating of 96% compared to 90% of the Continental PremiumContact 6. The first tyre test of Continental PremiumContact 6 was done in 2017, compared to 2022 when was the Continental SportContact 7 first tested. If you wonder where the tyres in question are made, the PremiumContact 6 is made in Slovakia/Germany/Czech Republic and SportContact 7 is made in Czech Republic.
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