Nitto Motivo Review: All-Season Ultra-High-Performance Tire

Nitto Motivo is an exciting blend of ultra high performance and all-season tire designed for drivers of sport coupes, luxury sedans, and Crossovers. All-season tread features combine with high-speed stability, durability, and excellent curb appeal to give you great service all year round. The Nitto Motivo tires maintaining traction and handling in wet, and dry conditions are excellent. Bring comfort when riding and noise on the road is very small.

Nitto tires are never short in style, most especially their performance tires. The Nitto Motivo is not short in style, but it looks tamer than the Neo Gen and Invo (which are both all-season performance tires as well). Whether this is a good or bad thing, it depends on how you look at it.

But for me, the Nitto Motivo falls short in terms of sporty style. And it all has something to do with the tread pattern. In this review, we’ll discuss the many features and benefits of the Nitto Motivo. This will hopefully shed some light if this tire is the best choice for your vehicle.

The Nitto Motivo is an ultra-high performance all-season tire. It is a couple of notches above the Neo Gen but is less aggressive than the NT05 and NT555.

What are the features of the Nitto Motivo?

Barring the rather plain asymmetric tread design, the most interesting feature in the Nitto Motivo is the advanced siping technology. Featuring Nitto’s 3S Multiwave sipes with an interlocking ripple design, this feature allows the sipes on the treads to virtually lock together when braking. This also enhances traction and grip when accelerating and cornering the vehicle. And since the Nitto Motivo is filled with these 3D Multiwave sipes, you get a tire that offers elevated levels of traction in all-season driving.

You will also notice the Nitto Motivo has larger blocks on the outside shoulder. This feature is utilized to further enhance cornering and handling. It even comes with a continuous center rib with a notched design. This means excellent straight-line stability, precise steering feel, and better grip when turning on slippery or icy surfaces.

But it doesn’t stop there. Nitto utilized an innovative compound infused with silica and special binding agents. This enables the tire to perform better in extreme hot and cold weather conditions. It also means lower rolling resistance which translates to longer wear and better fuel economy.

Can you tell me more about the tread pattern?

The Nitto Motivo is equipped with an asymmetric tread pattern that is engineered to minimize road noise. This is the reason why the Motivo is not as aggressive-looking as the Neo Gen or Invo. This also means the Motivo is a performance tire that is more oriented towards comfort rather than exhilarating performance.

And this is where the problem begins. If your sporty car demands the highest levels of dry grip, the Nitto Motivo falls short. The same holds true if you’re looking for a street tire you can thrash on the racetrack. The Nitto Motivo is a tire meant to go fast, but it’s not the best in terms of accurate handling and precise cornering.

The looks are a matter of perspective. Some people like the ‘sleeper’ look of the Nitto Motivo. But for me at least, I was expecting a radical tread design to go with the enhanced performance. This also holds true considering the Nitto Motivo is not cheap by modern standards.

How does it perform in dry and wet roads?

The Nitto Motivo is a dazzling performer in dry tarmac, but only if you don’t push too hard. For pedal-to-the-metal driving with tight corners and off-camber pavement, you are better off with the Nitto NT05. But for fast driving in empty B-roads and open highways, the Nitto Motivo begs to be driven hard.

But things get better in the wet. If there’s any real difference between the Nitto Motivo and Invo, it has to be the wet performance. The Nitto Motivo is a true all-season tire. It comes with four wider and deeper circumferential grooves with streamlined open lateral grooves. They all function together to create a symphony of calmness and control when driving over slippery, wet, or icy surfaces. This feature expels water and slush from the tire contact patch to maintain steady levels of grip.

Is it good on snow?

It’s good enough for light snow and cold-weather driving. The interlocking sipes on the treads ensure steady traction while the innovative compound improves the pliability of the rubber. However, the Nitto Motivo is not designed to handle deep snow or thicker ice.

How about comfort and road noise?

The Motivo is not as quiet as Nitto wants you to believe, but at least it rides comfortably like a touring tire. In all honesty, the noise levels are fairly minimal and are only exacerbated by higher speeds and rougher pavement. But the ride comfort is simply top notch. This tire is also ideal for sport-luxury vehicles since it rolls like a proper touring tire on the highway.

Should I be concerned about tire wear?

This is a valid query when purchasing new tires. The Nitto Motivo is equipped with alignment indicators to visually indicate abnormal tire wear and alignment problems. It also comes with an impressive 60,000-mile treadwear warranty if you’re not totally convinced yet.

You can see more Nitto Motivo Review here: videos created by Phoenix 98

Should I buy the Nitto Motivo?

Why not? If your sporty sedan or sports coupe demands a high-performance all-season tire, the Nitto Motivo is a valid option.

But as with all good things in life, there’s a catch. The Nitto Motivo is one of the pricier options out there. It is not uncommon to spend $800 to $1,200 for a set of 19-inch Nitto Motivo tires. You can expect to pay less if your vehicle is equipped with smaller wheels.

But then again, the expensive price tag is not without benefits. You get a sporty tire that offers a relentless grip in dry, wet, and snowy surfaces. You also get the refinement and longer wear of a touring tire. The Nitto Motivo may fall short in the style department, but it comes loaded with all you can expect from an ultra-high performance tire.