Continental EcoContact 5 vs 6 - Which To Buy? [Test Data]

Fuel Efficiency

The US Department of Energy estimates that around 25% of the fuel consumption of a vehicle is attributable to the tyres. That's a lot, and it means that choosing fuel efficient tyres can save you quite a bit of money.

The ContiEcoContact 5 tyres rank a B on a scale of A to E in the official fuel efficiency tests carried out by the EU (they call these rolling resistance tests).

The SportContact 6 tyres get a grade of D.

Expect the lower grade tyre to consume an extra 0.2L/100km. This works out to $39 extra spent on petrol per year, based on a typical 12,000 km driven per year.

Here's a graph comparing the ContiEcoContact 5 and SportContact 6 tyres for fuel efficiency (1 = Grade E, 5 = Grade A).

Grip & Handling

We'll now take a look at how these tyres compare in terms of grip and handling.

A good measure of this is 'wet grip', which is an indication of how well the tyres will allow the vehicle to come to a stop in wet conditions.

The ContiEcoContact 5 tyres rank a B on a scale of A to E in the official fuel tests carried out by the EU.

The SportContact 6 tyres, on the other hand, get a grade of A.

Expect the lower graded tyres to require about an extra 2 metres to come to a complete stop when braking at 80km/h.

Here's a graph comparing the ContiEcoContact 5 and SportContact 6 tyres for wet grip (1 = Grade E, 5 = Grade A).

Noise

Another key factor to consider when choosing a tyre is road noise. Once you're over about 40 km/h, the dominant source of noise you hear is from the contact of your tyres on the road.

There is a surprisingly wide variation in the amount of noise each tyre makes.

The ContiEcoContact 5 tyres produce 71.0 dB of road noise, which corresponds to a rank of B on a scale of A to C in the standardised testing done by the EU.

On the other hand, the SportContact 6 tyres produce 73.5 dB of road noise, which means a grade of B.

As their noise grade is the same, don't expect many differences in terms of cabin noise.

Here's a visual representation of how the ContiEcoContact 5 and SportContact 6 tyres stack up for noise (1 = Grade C, 3 = Grade A).

Based on the results of a number of tyre benchmarks, the ContiEcoContact 5 scores 4 out of 5 for comfort and the SportContact 6 scores 4 out of 5.

The ContiEcoContact 5 tyres have a treadwear rating of 240, which means that they would last 2.4 times longer than a tyre with a rating of 100. There's no treadwear data available for the ContiEcoContact 5 tyres.

The SportContact 6 tyres have a traction grade of AA (on a scale of AA, A, B, C). There's no UTQG traction grading data available for the ContiEcoContact 5 tyres.

The SportContact 6 tyres have a temperature resistance grade of A (on a scale of A, B, C). There's no UTQG temperature resistance grading data available for the ContiEcoContact 5 tyres.

For fuel efficiency, ContiEcoContact 5 score a grade of B, which is above average. SportContact 6 end up with a grade of D, which is below average.

More important is the wet grip, which gives you an indication of their traction and handling. In this regard, ContiEcoContact 5 get a score of B, which is above average. SportContact 6 end up with a grade of A, which is outstanding.

More important is the wet grip, which gives you an indication of their traction and handling. In this regard, ContiEcoContact 5 get a score of B, which is about typical. SportContact 6 end up with a grade of B, which is about typical.