Into the nearest ditch? ;)

Going to be difficult to persuade people who think they need tyres with the tread width of a formula one racer to go back to 5" wide jobbies.

But if these sphere things look cool to the kids and the fashionistas deem them in vogue then by all means.

I'll stick with normalish ta, and the likely future span of my lifelong motoring needs means normalish should see me out...if they outlaw my preferred simple cars due to another global apocalypse scam and try to force me into some cloned consumers electronicly taxed wet dream i'll pack in driving altogether and spend me saved motoring costs on moonshine.

Obviously reducing drag is a biggie for economy, but how that computes with cars getting larger and heavier (increasing drag) whilst the interiors unTardis like get smaller i don't know.

An increasing number of buyers are realising that wide tyres and bling wheels may be fashionable but the ride is much better on thinner taller tyres and much less chance of kerbing the rim.

Just a shame that the car manufacturers and some insurers are (in the main) completely ignoring them (including myself) and insisting on mid and upper range models (in terms of trim level, not necessarily engine size/performance) on having only slow or ultra-low profile tyres on large rims.

Th cynic in me thinks there is a stitch-up between the car and tyre manufacturers (as low profile tyres cost vastly more and last a lot less), with insurers (and possibly health professionals) turning a blind eye to the car manufacturers saying no higher profile tyres are offered (even if the brakes aren't upgraded so that smaller wheels don't fit over them), as they get extra fees from higher insurance premiums, and more visits to the chiroprator, osteopath, etc, due to higher instances of back complaints because of the firm ride in cars on our poor roads.

Firms/service providers that don't listen to the client base eventually come acropper. You would've thought with all that's been happening in the news on this sort of thing, including (the equivalent in) politicians now 'reaping the whirlwind' in not listening and taking heed of voters' concerns, that car firms would have started to wake up to this. Apparently not.

I'm voting with my feet and holding off buying until more sensible (cost free or even reductions in prices) options are given for those of us who may want a bit of luxury in a car, but don't want (or need) it to resemble the startship Enterprise in its electronic gimzos installed and Flintstonemobile in its wheel/tyre choice and ride comfort (I'd hire a car at the track or buy a [say] Caterham 7 if I wanted a track-day car), the only other choice to get the better riding tyres is to buy low spec trim and slow cars.

the only other choice to get the better riding tyres is to buy low spec trim and slow cars.

This is not even an option anymore, even the new Vauxhall Viva's lowest spec comes with 185/55r15's. In my youth cars of that spec would have been sitting on 135/80r13's.

On the subject of economical tyres, I changed from Michelin energy to Continental's with a lower fuel efficiency rating and have noticed no difference in fuel economy at all in 3 years.

Indeed - this is often true - my parents' Fiesta (2002-08 model) Studio 1.25i 3dr (essentially the base model) has, if I recall 195/50r15 tyres, ridiculous for a non-performance, entry-level car.

Most entry-level small cars now come with 14in wheels/tyres, 15in on the 'small family' hatches or even 16in. Still, far better than the 'rubber band' ultras that some do.

It also shows how stupid (in my opinion) the car manufacturers are that they are on one hand pretending to reduce the official CO2 emissions by removing spare wheels/tyres from the boot space, whilst on the other spcifying increasingly lower profile road wheel/tyre combinations that increase rolling resistance and thus decrease mpg and increase CO2 emissions.

One look at the forthcoming Hyundai Ioniq shows that putting on 17in instead of 16in wheels/tyres increases the CO2 emissions from 79 to 92gCO2/km. Ridiculous, and I suspect its the same across all makes. Its not as though the better handling of having said wider tyres actually makes that much of a noticeable difference in everyday driving, except perhaps in actual higher-performance cars when driven hard (either at illegal/unsafe speeds or on track days) - rather pointless for the driver in the mid-range Focus or Astra driving to work at 40mph.