Has anyone tried the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701?

[Dialcaliper]

Thank you for this detailed and helpful write up. It sounds like these tires will meet my goal of having responsive steering and quick turn in.I had the S.Drive on another car and liked their responsiveness.
I run my tires all year round because it doesn't snow much here in North Carolina and doesn't get super cold. It just doesn't make sense for me to get winter or all season tires for the cold weather.I stay off the road after a snow, but I do sometimes drive them in cold weather so it's nice to know that you can do that.I just take it easy when it gets below about 45°.

If you liked the S.Drive, you will like the V701 - it is basically the same tire with a revised compound. You won’t damage them by getting a below freezing and driving easy on them.

 

[Magnetic]

Thanks for your quick and helpful response.That's disappointing that you didn't think turn in was as crisp, that's why I'm frustrated at the continuing unavailability of the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050As.

I feel your pain. I've tried numerous tires and none have been as good as the OEMs for turn in. Such a shame...

 

[FiestaSTdude]

I'll chime in. I currently have V701's on my other two cars in 205/50R16's and 185/55R15's (but not the ST, which I just bought last week). They are an amazing street tire - so far they are my favorite summer tire that's not in the 200TW class. They are Yokohama's replacement for the S.Drive - same tread pattern and carcass, slightly improved compound, but otherwise the same kind of grippy, responsive tire that doesn't need a warmup with the same great driver feedback as its S.Drive predecessor was. Just don't try to compare them to the dry grip of a "Super 200" tire like the ones discussed above, because its simply not a fair comparison for a different class of tire.

I will say that personally, I greatly prefer the Advan V701 Fleva over the Firehawk Indy 500's that came installed on the ST when I bought it. The latter, which seems to be a favorite around here has a similar grip level, but feels like it has more vague steering feedback to me, which sounds similar to your experience. The V701's are also decent in wet weather. They get a bit firm below 40F, but I've had zero problems driving to work on them on the infrequent mornings each year around here where it froze during the night and the car's thermometer said 30-32F

Really the only bad thing I have to say about them is that at least they way I drive, when they get down to about 1/3 of tread left, they have heat cycled a bit and lose some of their grip. As far as tread life goes, it's hard to say - the car I have gone through two sets of S.Drives and is on the second set of V701's is an electric Fiat 500e that eats its 185/55 tires for breakfast - I get about 15-20k miles out of them, but like pretty much every other electric car, between high low end torque and regen braking on the front wheels, it is extremely hard on tires (the front tires wear twice as fast as the rears just driving around town and commuting - not even pushing it). The only comparison I have is the stock Firestone Firehawk GT's that came on the car (which are complete rubbish) are a 460 B A all season that only lasted 25k miles on that car. I consider them a consumable entertainment expense.

The second car they are on now (A Honda Fit that is being replaced by the Fiesta ST) was just shod about 5000 miles ago, so I don't have good wear estimates for them.

My best guess is that for a "normal" sporty gas powered car like the ST that doesn't try to spin the tires every time you pull away from a stoplight at half throttle, you might get 30-45k miles out of them depending on how you drive. If you are looking for a street tire that you can both commute and have fun with on the weekend, and one of your priorities is feel and feedback, I think you won't be disappointed in the V701 Fleva.

FYI, the RE050A has been replaced by the RE71R and now RE71RS. Unfortunately it appears the closest size they come in is a 205/45R17, which is a bit tall. There appears to have been a great winnowing of small rolling diameter summer tires, and choices are much more limited as new cars are now coming with pointlessly large 18+ inch rims, and rolling diameters have increased in the search for fuel efficiency and low rolling resistance, at the cost of performance and high unsprung weight.

Also, if you want a good review of 200TW tires, Grassroots Motorspots did an excellent review of pretty much all the available track/autocross tires out there:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/track-tire-buyers-guide/

Thanks for the review @Dialcaliper I’m considering running these tires as I have limited options for 16 or 15 inch wheels.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Thanks for the review @Dialcaliper I’m considering running these tires as I have limited options for 16 or 15 inch wheels.

If you do, let us know what you think. I feel like the V701’s are a solid summer performance tire for anyone who doesn’t want to or can’t run a 200TW, and they’ve good enough manners to use on a daily driver (as long as you don’t mind the faster treadwear vs all-seasons). I might be biased, but being reasonably priced and available in a good size variety, especially in the smaller diameter 15” & 16” sizes make them my favorite go-to UHP summer tire especially when choices are limited.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Agreed!

They have to be better performing in the warmer seasons/climes than pretty much every all season out there.

Only the (barely an 'all-season') Neo Gens I am currently running would come close in the warm weather due to the compound (280 tread wear, yes for whatever that is worth/worthless?), and decidedly NOT 'tready', lack of cuts/siping tread pattern.

But, I disagree with you on that they will not be negatively effected by very cold, fully frozen solid type temps (like below 25*F for any period of time), albeit yes, not as quickly, or as totally destroyed by it as any/all of the 100 or 200 tread wear gummies would have to be.

 

[ToastAutoX]

I use these as my daily driver in southern California.
Agree with all the comments on turn-in, they're not super direct and I can break them loose without too much effort. That said: they're more than capable for spirited driving on public roads and I've enjoyed my time with them. They were a cheaper option when I bought mine and I've definitely gotten my money's worth.

With the disclaimer: I have an LSD which very much affects turn-in + turn-out characteristics.