Pirelli P Zero Reviews - Page 5

On the upside lots of grip, rollover a penny and I could tell you whether it is heads or tails, it's the Jaguar specified OEM tyre for the early XKR and it does a good job. That is assuming the P Zero itself is the same as 25 years back, tech moves on and OEM tyres aren't necessarily the same as the same model aftermarket ones. On the downside road noise is loud enough to be distracting, it's about as comfortable as a hobnailed clog, seems to take some time to warm up and whilst cornering grip seems to be very good in the wet I'm less convinced about it's grip in acceleration. Wet roads result in lots of traction control under heavyish acceleration. Though no issues with braking. On the major downside... I cannot detect any advance warning that the limit of grip is approaching or reached. No squeal or feel, just grip, grip, grip, hedge. I'm currently running mine at the comfort setting of 28 psi as the XKR just doesn't feel like a GT car at normal recommended pressures. Ride is too harsh otherwise, tramlining too frequent to be an enjoyable. Though at 28psi I worry about potholes with those 20" rims on. I've just bought some 18" rims so will try something else on those, save the 20s and the Pzeros for a track day or two and put them back in when the weather warms up a bit. It is afterall a summer tyre. Note however that I live in rural Wales, so dry days come about one afternoon per year, the roads are often potholed and I probably haven't got the best out of the tyres in relatively cold conditions. However on motorway runs where you merely want an easy life the tramlining is an annoying issue. Reducing the pressure helps but doesn't eliminate this. You'd be hard pushed to reach the tyre's limits on back roads so long as they're warm, though on the sort of twisty A roads which epitomise much of Wales finding the limits results in a trip to the body shop after being assaulted by the undergrowth. So thus far it seems like a strange fit for a Grand Tourer but will add a review in the supposed summer to see whether it's merely not mong friendly.

These came factory-fitted to my Arteon Shooting Brake 1.4 eHybrid, and are being replaced by the lease company at 8,000 miles, as I have no confidence in them in cold, wet conditions... Let's start with the good, they're quiet, comfortable and have massive rim protection - good for 19" diamond cut alloys with low profile tyres! The hybrid Arteon is a big and heavy lump (just over 1.8 tons) and in the dry it grips very well, sticking in corners more than a car of its size and weight should. I can't comment on wear, as they've only been on the car for 8k miles, but had 6mm tread at 7.5k miles, so will consider that as pretty good. I'm on the fence with regards to braking; they've always stopped the car, but with a bit of weaving and wandering, and the stopping distance is a lot longer than in my old car, but that was a much lighter Octavia vRS 4x4...which always slowed down in an arrow-straight line. Now the bad... When I first got the car, I thought the alignment might be out slightly, as the car wandered and tracked oddly, so had that checked when it was in for some warranty items. Apparently everything checked out fine, and I was told that I just needed to get used to the car. In the wet, they're just unpredictable - they feel like they have loads of grip whilst driving, but pull away from a junction and they can just light up and lose traction with a very light throttle, so feedback, in my opinion is non-existent. I've given them a rating of 3 for wet grip, just because I don't know if and when they're going to let go. The past couple of weeks have seen the temperature drop to low single digits in the UK, and yesterday I was coasting to a to a roundabout, saw that I could head on to it without stopping, accelerated gently and the front wheels just let go! We'd just had a heavy downpour, but the roads weren't flooded, and I'd gone at it gently...just to check it wasn't me, I came to another roundabout, and at about 20mph accelerated, with a little more gusto than before and the tyres lit up again! I have to point out that this was with the car set to pure EV mode - with a whopping 113bhp, and acceleration that couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding from VW's hybrid powertrain at my mercy, the last thing I'd expect is loss of traction in a straight line! As such, I called the lease company to air my concerns, and at their instruction, have it booked in to have Michelin Cross Climate 2 all-seasons fitted next week. It'll be interesting to see how these work out as I had the Cross Climate + fitted to my previous car for a couple of years (an Octavia vRS 4x4), and they saw me through all four seasons very well, feeling safe, dependable and comfortable in all conditions. To summarise, I think the P Zeros are a great tyre in dry, warm conditions - a proper summer tyre(!), but get them near the cold and wet and they transform into an unpredictable liability... As such, I'm sure the P Zeros are a brilliant choice for a fast toy that's only used in the summer months, but for an everyday mile-muncher used all year round, I can't recommend them at all.