Cooper Zeon RS3-A vs. Nitto Motivo
If you’re in the market for an ultra-high performance all-season tire, two of the newer models to appear on the scene are the Cooper Zeon RS3-A and the Nitto Motivo. Both have quickly become popular choices among enthusiasts, but which tire is the better all-around choice?
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Traction – Cornering – Steering
As you might expect, both of these tires excel on dry pavement. Because of their tread compound and summer tire technology that has been injected into the tread designs, these tires handle and corner exceptionally well. Steering response is quick and provides total control at all speeds.
When it comes to driving on wet road surfaces, again, both tires perform very well. That said, we do give the Cooper RS3-A the nod for its braking capabilities on wet pavement. It stops shorter and provides a little better feedback.
Winter traction and handling goes to the Motivo in our opinion. The tire’s sipes and biting edges grip ice and snow a bit more than the RS3-A. While neither tire acts like a dedicated winter model, the Motivo holds its own as one of the better high-performance all-season tires in the snow.
Ride Comfort – Road Noise
Having a smooth and comfortable ride on an ultra-high performance tire is generally not something that mixes well together for obvious reasons. But we’ve found that both of these tires deliver a pretty good ride on most any road surface. Sure, it’s not like that of a touring tire, but unless you’re driving over potholes or more severe bumps, it’s not that harsh either.
Road noise is minimal on both tires, but we give a slight edge in this departmentto the Motivo. It seems to provide a bit less noise than the Cooper on rougher surfaces.
Treadlife
The Motivo is the clear winner in this category, although the RS3-A still wears quite well among other tires in this class. Nitto has created a tread compound that wears longer, which they stand behind with a 60,000 mile tread guarantee. For UHP tires this is excellent.
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Which Tire Wins?
The clear winner between these two will really depend on what is more important to you in a new tire. The Nitto Motivo delivers excellent all-season traction, especially in the snow. Road noise is very low, and tread life is much better than average. On the other hand, the Cooper Zeon RS3-A provides solid performance on dry and wet roads, with its braking being a step above the Motivo. We really like its all-around traction and handling.
It would be hard to go wrong in picking either one of these tires for your coupe, sedan, sport truck, SUV or crossover.