The new Nokian Outpost nAT claims to be an all terrain tyre you can use in snow, but how good is it? Nokian invented winter tyres, so they're pretty confident, so confident in fact they suggested we test it against the king of winter tyres, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5, along with their much loved all weather tyre, the Nokian WRG4 SUV, and their high mileage all season tyre, the Nokian One SUV.
Before we start, it's worth noting that three of the tyres are 3PMSF marked, which is the 3 peak mountain snowflake symbol, sometimes called "severe snow rating". The Winter, All Weather and All Terrain tyres carry the 3PMSF marking, but the all season does not. The test size was 265/65 R17, and we used a Toyota Hilux for the test in RWD only mode.
1 categories (3 tests)
Snow Data
Snow traction is a difficult test for a tyre, especially on an unloaded pickup, so it gave us the largest differences between the tyres. The Winter was naturally the best, with the all weather around 18% slower in the acceleration test, the all terrain was 12% behind the all weather, and the all season another 11% behind the all terrain.
Interestingly while the order remained the same for snow braking, the extra weight over the primary axle helped the all terrain finish closer to the all weather, and significantly ahead of the all season.
While the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 was unsurprisingly the fastest around the lap, the real brilliance of a full winter tyre came in the subjective handling - the confidence you felt on the Hakka R5 was unrivaled. The all terrain was close to the all weather in time, but the all weather tyre felt more balanced around the lap.
Results
- 3PMSF: yes
| Test | # | Result | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow Braking | 1st | 15.3 M | 100% |
| Snow Traction | 1st | 4.92 s | 100% |
| Snow Handling | 1st | 89.6 s | 100% |
- 3PMSF: yes
| Test | # | Result | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow Braking | 2nd | 20.14 M | 75.97% |
| Snow Traction | 2nd | 5.8 s | 84.83% |
| Snow Handling | 2nd | 98.3 s | 91.15% |
- 3PMSF: yes
Sure, the all terrain tyre felt a little more like a blunt instrument, there was less feedback around the limit of grip and even coming out of the garage you could tell that it's a more solid tyre, but considering you could do a weekend of winter offroading in the sunshine then drive back home through a where it's snowing and still be better off than everyone on their all season tyres - it's a very impressive blend.
| Test | # | Result | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow Braking | 3rd | 20.72 M | 73.84% |
| Snow Traction | 3rd | 6.96 s | 70.69% |
| Snow Handling | 3rd | 98.65 s | 90.83% |
- 3PMSF: no
| Test | # | Result | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow Braking | 4th | 23.88 M | 64.07% |
| Snow Traction | 4th | 8.44 s | 58.29% |
| Snow Handling | 4th | 105 s | 85.33% |