Have tried various other tyres for my hot hatch (PS4, Avon ZRs) and nothing really suits the car as well as the PC6s on 17" rims.
Best Tyres for the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t
Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t drivers have left 15 tyre reviews on Tyre Reviews, covering 193,950 miles of real world driving. Every tyre they rated is ranked below, so you can see what actually works on this car.
This page covers the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t specifically. For the full picture, the Volkswagen Polo GTI page combines 46 reviews from every variant. All Volkswagen Polo GTI reviews →
- 15owner reviews
- 193,950 milescovered on them
- 12different tyres rated
- 74%average tyre score
The quick answer
| Season | Owners' pick | Owner rating | Our category test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer | Bridgestone Potenza S001 8.5 Current version: Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo | 65% from 3 reviews | Best Summer Tyres |
Highest weighted owner score from Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t drivers. Full rankings and the evidence behind them below.
The best rated tyres for the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t
Rated only by drivers of this car. Each tyre needs at least 3 reviews from the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t to be ranked; the order weights a tyre's score by how many reviews back it, so one glowing review cannot top a table.
Summer tyres
The highest rated tyre in the Summer category for the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t is the Bridgestone Potenza S001 - 65% from 3 owner reviews across 53,000 miles. The current tyre in that line is now the Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo.
| # | Tyre | Owner rating | Reviews | Distance reviewed | TR Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
65% | 3 | 53,000 miles | 8.5 |
Want test data as well as owner opinion? Best Summer Tyres →
TR Score is the tyre's overall Tyre Reviews rating out of 10, built from independent test results and every owner review of that tyre - not just the reviews from this car. The owner rating column is this car only.
The best rated tyres that fit the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t
The rankings above can only speak for tyres a Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t driver has already reviewed. These are the highest rated tyres we hold that are actually manufactured in the sizes these drivers run - 205/45 R16 and 215/40 R17 - whether or not anyone here has fitted them yet. They are ranked on the TR Score, which is built from independent test results and every owner review of that tyre.
Summer tyres
Our highest rated tyre in the Summer category, in this car's sizes, is the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, at 9.7 out of 10.
| # | Tyre | TR Score | Made in | Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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9.7 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
| 2 |
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9.5 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
| 3 |
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9.4 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 4 |
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9.4 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 5 |
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9.2 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
| 6 |
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9.1 | All your sizes | 1 |
Want test data as well as owner opinion? Best Summer Tyres →
All Season tyres
No Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t driver has reviewed a tyre in the All Season category yet. Of the ones made in this car's sizes, the Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3 is our highest rated, at 9.6 out of 10.
| # | Tyre | TR Score | Made in | Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
9.6 | 205/45 R16 | Be the first → |
| 2 |
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9.5 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 3 |
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9.5 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 4 |
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9.5 | 205/45 R16 | Be the first → |
| 5 |
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9.5 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
| 6 |
|
9.4 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
Want test data as well as owner opinion? Best All Season Tyres → Test winner: Goodyear Vector All Season 4
Winter tyres
No Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t driver has reviewed a tyre in the Winter category yet. Of the ones made in this car's sizes, the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3 is our highest rated, at 9.5 out of 10.
| # | Tyre | TR Score | Made in | Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
9.5 | 205/45 R16 | Be the first → |
| 2 |
|
9.4 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 3 |
|
9.3 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 4 |
|
9.3 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
| 5 |
|
9.2 | All your sizes | Be the first → |
| 6 |
|
9.2 | 215/40 R17 | Be the first → |
Want test data as well as owner opinion? Best Winter Tyres → Test winner: Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3
Fitment comes from each tyre's manufactured size list, and the sizes are the ones drivers reported when they reviewed. Check the size, load index and speed rating on your own doorplate before buying - a size a previous owner ran is not always the size your car left the factory on.
Every tyre reviewed on the Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t
The complete record, including discontinued tyres and tyres with too few reviews to rank, ordered by the amount of evidence. A further 10 tyres have a single review each; they count toward the totals but are not listed.
| Tyre | Season | Owner rating | Reviews | Distance reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgestone Potenza S001 Replaced by Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo | Summer | 65% | 3 | 53,000 miles |
| Michelin Pilot Sport 4 Replaced by Michelin Pilot Sport 5 | Summer | 89% | 2 | 8,200 miles |
Tyre sizes Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t drivers run
The sizes fitted in the reviews on this page. Each one links to the top rated tyres in that size, across every car.
What Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t drivers say
The most recent owner reviews from this car, in their own words.
Have tried various other tyres for my hot hatch (PS4, Avon ZRs) and nothing really suits the car as well as the PC6s on 17" rims.
I purposely looked for a winter tyre I could fit to the exact same wheel size with the exact same ratios. The Nokian was the only available tyre, the tyre had a tad less grip on all surfaces for the first few hundred miles that I have put down to any oils and compounds used to separate the tyres from the moulds when initially made, however after time this has passed and the tyre behaves and stops well and so far I have very little complaints, I'm sure if driven hard in either wet or cold conditions the tyre would reach limits quicker than the summer tyre normally fitted would, however in the very cold the tyre does seem to grip well with very little wheel spin on acceleration.
It could be all in my head, but i do feel as if the behaviour of the tyres also improves with colder weather, an example been that traction and road holding on cambered roads and rounder-bouts seems better when the temperature is bellow 7 degrees than it would be approaching 10 degrees. I would like to think that come snow I should be in a better position commuting on these tyres than I would be on the Bridgestone S001 summer tyres usually fitted and so far have yet to see any characteristics of this tyre that come across as unsafe, unpredictable or scary.
That's not to say I would necessarily drive this car with these tyres on winter roads the same way I would with UHP tyres in good summer weather.
Cons: they are really hard, would not recommend them for daily driven cars
Bottom line: a great value for money
Would I buy again? For sure! Would I buy if I wasn't so interested in performance? No. It depends what you want from a tyre. For me, no looking back! My MPG has dropped by about 1 MPG over the Goodyear's and the ride is slightly harder. But I've got a GTi for a reason!
I got these tyres as a replacement to the Hankook Ventus tyres that were on the car and what a difference they have made.
Would definitely consider buying these tyres again. They have been on the car now for four thousand miles and they have barely worn down at all.
Drive a Volkswagen Polo gti 1.8t?
Review your tyres and help the next owner choose. It takes about five minutes, and every review on this page came from a driver who took them.
Where this data comes from
Every rating on this page was submitted by a driver through the review form on this site, naming the car, the tyre, the size and the distance covered. Reviews are checked by hand before publication, and the page rebuilds automatically as new ones arrive.
About the TR Score
The Tyre Reviews Score rates each tyre out of 10 using independent test results and the full body of owner reviews, so you can check a car-specific ranking against the wider evidence.
Who does the testing
Every test published as a Tyre Reviews test is run by Jonathan Benson, who has been testing tyres independently since 2007.

