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Last updated 4/10/2024 - Originally published 4/10/2024
Written by SimpleTire
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The two world-class tire brands, Pirelli and Continental, have headquarters in the neighboring countries. Pirelli is headquartered in Milan, Italy and Continental has its headquarters in Hanover, Germany. The interesting fact is that both of these two tire giants were formed around the same time and the difference between the founding dates of both these tire brands is less than 6 months. While Continental was founded on October 8, 1871, Pirelli was formed on January 28, 1872. With over 150 years of expertise, both of these brands are now the top-rated manufacturers of a diversified range of tires across the glove and their Scorpion All Season and CrossContact line of tires are the top range of all-season tires in the country.
Both of these brands utilize cutting-edge technologies, world-class materials, exceptional design standards, and next-level research to ensure that the best of the tires are rolled in the markets, and the same applies to Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 and Continental CrossContact LX25. Designed for use on CUVs, SUVs, and pickups, each of these tires is optimized to perform in dry, wet, and light wintry conditions. No doubt, both the tires are great when it comes to performance but there is one out of both that’s somewhere better in the competition. So, let’s compare Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 vs Continental CrossContact LX25 tires using SimpleScore to find out where each tire is strong and which one could be a right fit for your needs.
Introduced in May 2021, the Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 is an all-season, touring tire that features an asymmetrical tread design. This tire is mainly suitable for use on CUVs, SUVs, and pickups and is optimized to go the extra mile with superior comfort. It is engineered to offer exceptional performance and traction year-round, in dry, wet, and light wintry conditions. In addition to traction and longevity, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 also offers great controllability, thanks to its 3D siping technology that increases grip and handling in dry, wet, and cold conditions.
Overall, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 gets an excellent SimpleScore of 9.6, thanks to its outstanding traction, handling, and service life.
Suitable for use on CUVs and SUVs, the Continental CrossContact LX25 is also an all-season, touring tire launched in July 2019. It has a symmetrical tread design and is suitable for use on CUVs and SUVs. Continental has optimized this tire to offer year-round traction, better braking performance, and long-lasting tread life. The CrossContact LX is also incredibly fuel-efficient and reduces rolling resistance, thanks to its patented EcoPlus Technology.
Overall, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 boasts an outstanding SimpleScore of 9.2, thanks to its excellent traction and handling performance, and impressive longevity.
Engineered for use in dry, wet, and light wintry conditions, all-season tires offer drivers the convenience of using them year-round, without swapping them with another set of tires dedicated to seasonal use.
The Scorpion AS Plus 3 sports a SimpleScore of 9.7 out of 10 in traction and features 3D sipe technology and multiple tread grooves that ensure that optimum grip and traction are achieved to provide a top-notch driving experience. While the full-depth siping assures strong traction performance throughout the life of the tire, the four wide grooves evacuate water and slush from the footprint for a reduced risk of hydroplaning.
On the other hand, the CrossContact LX23 boasts a 9.5 out of 10 SimpleScore rating in traction. Thanks to the tire’s cutting-edge tread design that ensures maximum traction is achieved in dry, wet, and light wintry conditions. The number of sipes is abundant to ensure that the wet and mild snow traction is at the best level and the parallel four grooves ease water channeling for hydroplaning resistance and maximized traction performance.
When it comes to year-round traction performance, the Scorpion All Season Plus 3 has a very slight edge over the CrossContact LX25.
ADVANTAGE: Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3
While traction performance is very vital, especially in the case of all-season tires, handling performance is the second important factor while shortlisting tires as it is related to turning the vehicle and changing lanes. Fortunately, both Pirelli and Continental have taken handling right on priority to deliver a top-notch driving experience.
Boasting a score of 9.4 out of 10, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 comes with 3D technology that works in conjunction with the innovative tread pattern to deliver confident handling on both dry and wet surfaces. The full-depth tread sipes ensure that the tire’s handling performance is consistent throughout the life of the tire and the tire can provide drivers greater confidence with in-time braking. Additionally, the optimized shoulder blocks put more rubber on the road to further enhance the tire’s handling performance.
Contrarily, the CrossContact LX25 is slightly behind the Scorpion AS Plus 3 on the handling front and scores a 9.3 out of 10. The EcoPlus Technology utilized in making this tire reduces the rolling resistance to not only boost fuel efficiency but also to cut down the lag for improved steering response and seamless lane changing. Moreover, the flat contact patch and solid shoulder blocks help in enhancing stability.
While the handling of the CrossContact LX25 is great, it is slightly behind the Scorpion AS Plus 3.
ADVANTAGE: Scorpion AS Plus 3
While buying an all-season tire for your CUV, SUV, or pickup, no driver would want something that wears very quickly. This makes longevity an important point of consideration while buying tires. Based on SimpleScore, we found the biggest gap between the two tires.
Starting with the Scorpion AS Plus, the tire has an outstanding SimpleScore of 9.8 out of 10 in longevity. Kudos to the tire’s new-gen durable rubber compound and strong construction, the tire can wear at a slow rate and doesn’t deform. Additionally, the asymmetrical tread pattern is arranged very well to prevent the tire from irregular wear by evenly distributing the driving forces across the tread.
Conversely, the CrossContact LX25 boasts a handling SimpleScore of 8.8, which is great but way behind the rival’s SimpleScore in the same area. The tire’s construction is adequately robust and the compound utilized is also sturdy enough to reduce the wear rate and promote longevity. In addition, the Alignment Verification System is another great highlight of the tire that relates to longevity as the driver can visually inspect the tires if there’s a need to get the alignment done. This helps in preventing the tire from irregular wear caused due to alignment disorders.
Out of the two tires, the Pirelli all-season tire is better in handling than the CrossContact LX25.
ADVANTAGE: Scorpion AS Plus 3
Both, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 and the CrossContact LX25 are all-season tires and therefore, they are engineered for use in dry, wet, and light wintry conditions. However, none of these tires is Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified, and therefore, if you live in areas where the temperature remains below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, consider a set of winter tires over these all-season tires. Furthermore, these tires are made for driving on paved roads and should not be considered for off-road driving.
The Scorpion AS Plus 3 is offered in 17- to 22-inch rim sizes and is suitable for use on CUVs, SUVs, and light trucks. Make sure that you check the Scorpion AS Plus 3’s available sizes with your vehicle’s existing tire size before ordering your new tires!
Likewise, the CrossContact LX25 is offered in 16- to 22-inch rim sizes, which makes it suitable for use on a wide variety of CUVs and SUVs on the market. Go through the available tire size list of the CrossContact LX25 to pick the right tires for purchase and installation.
So, which all-season tire is the right choice for you? When analyzing the SimpleScore, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 is slightly ahead of the CrossContact LX25 with an overall score of 9.6 versus 9.2. As we discussed above, both tires are distinct in one or the other way and therefore, you must choose the tire after considering them all. When it comes to pricing, which is one of the most important consideration points for a tire buyer, the Scorpion AS Plus 3 will cost you at least $182.26 per tire, while the CrossContact LX25 costs at least $165.99 per tire. That means a set of four Scorpion tires will cost you at least $729.04, while a set of four CrossContact tires will cost you at least $663.96.
(Please note that for a transparent analysis, we have compared the prices of both Pirelli and Continental tires for the popular 225/65R17 102H size.)
Here's another key highlight to help you make a better purchase decision. The Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 is offered with a 70,000 miles limited manufacturer tread life warranty, subject to certain terms and conditions, whereas the compared Continental CrossContact LX25 is offered with 70,000 miles limited manufacturer tread life warranty for T- and H-rated sizes or a 65,000 miles tread life warranty on V-rated sizes (subject to certain terms and conditions). So, this means that the warranty across the size range in the case of the Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 remains the same, while in the case of the CrossContact LX25, the warranties (70,000 or 65,000 miles tread life coverage) are applicable as per the speed rating of the sizes.
Based on SimpleScore, you should choose the Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3 if you:
On the other hand, you should prefer the Continental CrossContact LX25 if you:
At first glance, Scorpion vs CrossContact tires might not appear to be a comparison, but when you look at the all-season tire category and observe the SimpleScore data of both these all-season tires, comparing them looks completely justified. To conclude, the decision to buy one or the other depends on your vehicle, how and where you drive, and what’s your preference in terms of traction, handling, longevity, price, and warranty.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.
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