I have a new 2011 Mazda3 Sport GT 6 spd on which I've now driven my Continental ExtremeWinterContacts (yes, it's all one word!) in ice, snow, slush, rain, dry roads and sleet. I'm well pleased with them and rank them right up with the Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSis that my 2007 Mazda3 was shod with. They were relatively inexpensive at $170 ea., which is certainly less than the new Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's would have been.
General Characteristics
Like the Nokians, they are in OEM size 205/50-17 and are mounted on 17x7" Mazda6 replica alloys. They have a short 50-series sidewall just like the OEM tires which is exactly what I wanted. I hate plus-sizing my winter tires because (I'm sure it's just me) I find the handling compromise too great for the 5 months of the year that I'm going to have them on my car. I give a bit away in ultimate grip, but am much happier with the overall feel of the car. To be honest, I found the Nokians were probably a better match to the car's handling characteristics (more on that in a bit). The Contis are relatively square with a wide cross section given their 205 mm section width but nevertheless they grip well in slush and don't seem to tramline much as the tire transitions over longitudinal ridges in rutted, icy roads.
Noise
They don't sing as much on wet pavement as other heavily siped tires that I've owned, just a low "shussh". They grumble a bit as they grapple with the snow but seem to resist lateral deflections well. They are relatively quiet in the dry, and only rumble/drone in the last few metres as I come to a full stop. They are unnoticeable at 80km/h plus.
Handling
Bump steer seems to be less well absorbed than with my Hakks, but I think this is because the tires exacerbate the stiffness of the Mazda TTL (Twin Trapezoidal Link) rear suspension. My OEM Yokohama no-season V-rate rubber are similarly stiff. The funny thing is that while the Contis have an initial give when pushed for sideways grip, they seem to spring back a bit suddenly...again emphasizing (what is IMHO) excessive lateral stiffness in the Mazda's suspension. This suspension geometry has been around in several different iterations of the Protege and now the Mazda3 and I've always found that it's prone to bump steer....very similar in some situations to a beam axle. Odd given its fully independent design.
Mazda3's have a reputation of being relatively evil handlers in snow and ice which probably explains why so many Mazda retailers really push winter tire fitment for these cars.
On dry tarmac these tires track like a champ. The car steers straight and true with only small corrections and the steering feel is comparable with a good set of all-seasons. That said, I have found that they are a bit Jekyll and Hyde in that when the temperature becomes warmer than ~ 10 degrees C, this nice benign behaviour falls off a cliff, and it feels like I'm driving around on bags of jello. A bit of an exaggeration to be sure, but they definitely possess two different personalities. I have also found that their handling is greatly influenced by the tire pressure. If I don't run them at 34 psi (2 psi more than the OEM tires) the sidewalls are too springy. It's hard to explain.
Hydroplaning
The tires are very resistant to hydro-planing, maybe because of their asymmetric design. I've always had particularly good luck with unidirectional winter tires such as my Hakks were, but the tire engineers seem to have got it right with these Contis. The resistance to hydro-planing also stands them in good stead in the aforementioned slush.
Ice
On ice, these tires bite very well when taking off from a stop, and are very predictable under braking and when coming to stop. They are communicative, nicely telegraphing the road conditions, which is saying something given the Mazda's electric power steering system. The traction control and stability control don't kick in until very late in the traction game since the tires are quite capable by themselves. There is a surprising amount of cornering grip on ice with these tires, too.
Snow
It wasn't too long ago that we called winter tires "snow tires". A lot of people still do, but today's winter tires are so capable over such a wide range of conditions that this is almost disrepectful. I haven't driven in a lot of deep snow with these tires, but I can say that in the 2 to 5 cm of dry, granular "pre slush" snow that I was forced to drive in both in my morning commute as well as my drive home today, these tires tracked very true and seemed to find a good carving set without fussing around trying to find a purchase. Some of the rural country roads that I drove home on were snow covered with only periodic centre bare sections and the tire greatly resisted the jerkiness that I've felt in some tires as they transitioned between heavy snow and dry sections of pavement. I will have to wait until we have some seriously fluffy, deep snow here in the Ottawa area before I can say what my impressions are of their prowess in those types of conditions.
I find it interesting that I have Japanese tires on our German vehicle and German tires on our Japanese vehicle. As I said about another mini review that I did on our Audi Q5's Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1s, this is hardly a scientific test as I didn't try other tires back-to-back with these, in the same conditions and with the same car. Certainly my seat-of-my-pants impressions are favourable and while they do have a few handling surprises up their sleeves, they strike me as honest, predictable tires which are competent across a broad range of conditons.
Reason for Edits: Typos. Shouldn't type a review while consuming a glass of nice wine.
