Yokohama BluEarth-XT AE61 vs Continental UltraContact UC6

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 BluEarth-XT AE61 tyres rank a C 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 UltraContact UC6 tyres get a grade of D.

Expect the lower grade tyre to consume an extra 0.1L/100km. This works out to $12 extra spent on petrol per year, based on a typical 12,000 km driven per year.

Here's a graph comparing the BluEarth-XT AE61 and UltraContact UC6 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 BluEarth-XT AE61 tyres rank a A on a scale of A to E in the official fuel tests carried out by the EU.

The UltraContact UC6 tyres, on the other hand, get a grade of C.

Expect the lower graded tyres to require about an extra 4 metres to come to a complete stop when braking at 80km/h.

Here's a graph comparing the BluEarth-XT AE61 and UltraContact UC6 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 BluEarth-XT AE61 tyres produce 68.0 dB of road noise, which corresponds to a rank of A on a scale of A to C in the standardised testing done by the EU.

On the other hand, the UltraContact UC6 tyres produce 71.5 dB of road noise, which means a grade of B.

Expect the lower graded tyre to produce about 2.0 times as much noise as the higher grade tyre (the decibel scale is logarithmic).

Here's a visual representation of how the BluEarth-XT AE61 and UltraContact UC6 tyres stack up for noise (1 = Grade C, 3 = Grade A).

Based on the results of a number of tyre benchmarks, the UltraContact UC6 scores 4 out of 5 for comfort. We don't have any comfort data for the BluEarth-XT AE61 tyres.

For fuel efficiency, BluEarth-XT AE61 score a grade of C, which is more or less average. UltraContact UC6 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, BluEarth-XT AE61 get a score of A, which is outstanding. UltraContact UC6 end up with a grade of C, which is more or less average.

More important is the wet grip, which gives you an indication of their traction and handling. In this regard, BluEarth-XT AE61 get a score of A, which is excellent. UltraContact UC6 end up with a grade of B, which is about typical.