Kumho Crugen HP71 Review
Designed for crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks, the Kumgo Crugen HP71 is the brand’s premier all-season tire for these vehicle types, combining all-season traction with refinement and affordability.
PROS
- Extremely quiet ride
- Solid mileage warranty
- Impressive range of sizes
- Excellent price point
CONS
- Overall handling just ok
Kumho brand tires are often classified as a value brand, which means you may not get the full package of capability and performance offered in the latest Michelins or Continentals. However, a tire like the Crugen HP71, which combines many of Kumho’s best offerings, comes as close as you can get without having to pay a premium.
A conventional five-rib tread design brings with it a mostly-solid center tread rib that’s nice and wide for excellent highway stability and impressive turn-in response. Wide shoulder tread sections help stabilize your vehicle in corners as well.
Overall handling performance is decent, though we’d point out that this tire is designed more with a focus on ride quality, tread life and all-season traction – in that order.
Those tread features we just pointed out also serve a dual purpose of ensuring even tread wear, helping the tire achieve its 65,000 mile warranty rating. Some tires do offer more miles, but not a lot more, and this number is quite impressive for the overall price.
Ride quality is excellent while Kumho makes use of its Variable Pitch Technology in the tread pattern design to help cancel out road noise. In fact, the brand insists it’s as quiet as any other tire on the market. (Consumer reviews do regularly point out how much quieter this tire is than their old tires).
As for all-season performance, the wide and deep circumferential grooves help evacuate water easily from the contact patch. Extra slits are cut into the external tread blocks with wider divisions on the inside dual rows and shoulder blocks lining up for maximum water-clearing ability. These added edges help with winter grip as well, though we do always recommend proper winter tires if you live somewhere with snow.
Knowing they have a quality alternative to mainstream brands on their hands, and with the increasing number of utility vehicles on today’s roads, Kumho does offer a very broad selection of fitments for the Crugen HP71 to ensure there’s a option for most any driver.
This tire represents impressive value for the consumer without the usual drawbacks of a value brand tire.
Who Should Buy This Tire?
More affordable tires like the Crugen HP71 always make some sacrifices. Here you’ll find a few areas where compromises are made to fit a budget, namely, in overall handling dynamics and just slightly in tread life. Still, these are small drawbacks for a very reasonably priced tire. Overall, we’d recommend this for those on a budget who are looking for decent tread life and a quality ride, and who don’t mind giving up a little driving dynamics to save big.
Kumho Crugen HP71 Price
Pricing for the Kumho Crugen HP71 starts at just over $100 for a 16-inch tire and goes up to just under $200 for an extra large 22-inch tire.
Kumho Crugen HP71 Warranty
Kumho backs the Crugen HP71 with a 65,000 mile tread life warranty. It also features a road hazard warranty. If the tire becomes unusable due to a road hazard incident (like hitting a pothole or running over nail) during the first 2/32-inch of tread wear or first year of ownership (whichever happens first) Kumho will replace it free of charge.
A standard limited warranty also applies and Kumho will replace any defective tire on a pro rated basis for the first 72 months since the date of purchase.
Kumho Crugen HP71 Sizes
16-inch sizes
215/70/R16
225/70/R16
235/70/R16
245/70/R16
17-inch sizes
225/60/R17
225/65/R17
235/65/R17
235/60/R17
235/55/R17
245/65/R17
265/60/R17
18-inch sizes
235/55/R18
225/60/R18
225/55/R18
235/60/R18
245/60/R18
265/60/R18
255/55/R18
19-inch sizes
235/45/R19
235/50/R19
245/45/R19
255/60/R19
225/55/R19
245/55/R19
235/55/R19
255/50/R19
255/55/R19
275/55/R19
20-inch sizes
275/45/R20
235/55/R20
245/50/R20
255/55/R20
255/50/R20
265/50/R20
275/55/R20
275/50/R20
285/50/R20
275/60/R20
22-inch sizes
305/40/R22
285/45/R22
Is the Kumho Crugen HP71 Good in Snow?
Overall the Crugen isn’t great in snow, even among all-season tires. If you live somewhere with snow, we’d recommend a proper set of winter tires if you run these in the summer.
How Long Does the Kumho Crugen HP71 Last?
Based on the factory warranty, you should expect to see around 65,000 miles on a set of Crugen HP71 tires, assuming you keep them properly inflated and follow the tire rotation procedure for your vehicle.
Kumho Crugen HP71 vs HT51
While the HP71 is a conventional all-season, Kumho’s Crugen HT51 is what’s known as a highway terrain tire. This mean’s it has some mild off-road capability yet retains a high level of on-road civility and a long tread life. In fact, the HT51 boasts a 70,000 mile warranty – topping the 65,000 mile warranty for the HP71. Beyond that, the HP71 offers better overall driving dynamics and superior cornering capability. The HT51, on the other hand, comes certified for true winter use and wears the three-peak mountain snowflake logo on its sidewall.
Kumho Crugen HP71 vs KL33
The big difference between the Crugen HP71 and the Crugen KL33 is the difference between an all-season tire and a premium all-season tire. What that really means is driving dynamics. The KL33 makes use of a significantly sticker tread compound to offer more overall grip, particularly in the dry. Somewhat surprisingly, tread life doesn’t suffer much with a 60,000 mile warranty compared to 65,000 on the HP71. Price does go up slightly, however.