For a great example of light steering check out a 2nd generation (2004-2009) Toyota Prius (Toyota's fault), worsened by the OE Bridgestone Ecopias ('tramlining'? on the highway). You can have continually correct, the car gets blown around easily. Similar with Bridgestone's RE92 on the 1st generation Honda Insight.
ContiWinter TS850 165/65R15 at 2.5 were ok (I mostly drive ~90km/h, or city). City roads were terrible going over bumps, like uneven connections of road to bridge, almost like a slight curb. Going over railway crossings (even 'new' ones with rubberized road on the sides of the rails) could be pretty bad, depending on how well the road prior and post was matched in height to the rubberized sections, etc. With 2.2bar it seemed much better. That car didn't shudder like crazy.
I drove a Peugeot 207 (with 185/60R15, non-standard for it, tyres) today, some winding and quite uneven roads, ~50-60km/h, and some straight sections 70-90km/h and things were ok. There were some very old ContiPremium2 on the front, ~10yo now, but it was an enjoyable drive. The Peugeot's steering is all electric from what I can tell, and it's quiet heavy and doesn't give quiet good feedback, but it seemed quite precise and predictable, fairly planted, though I didn't push it very much. They were quiet loud though (age?), the car being steel and ~1250kg didn't seem to help? Anyway, quite the digression.
I think 185/60R15 might be ok for me on the A2, I don't want to ruin the car further. It's got 5yo KYB shocks on the front, with unknown to me springs, and they were hastily matched to the car (cross referenced to a Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI if I recall correctly), because I drove the mechanic and he diagnosed a broken spring. In retrospect, maybe I should have drive or gotten car towed home, and researched a bit, and possibly gotten Bilstein or something similar. I think that the lower arms might need looking at too (hello high tyre pressures?), it's sad, but I think the fuel savings might compensate for the repair costs, though that seems cruel on the car.
I also have an issue with setting up the front wheel geometry. They could not set the right side camber to spec (-0.3 to -1.0 degrees?). The best they could do was -1.3. The left was set at -1.0. It was a while ago, but I think they didn't want to move the subframe around. Perhaps the nonstandard shocks/springs made it so that the geometry could not be set up to spec? I wonder if that made the Hankooks wear out much prematurely. My hope now is that a much higher sidewall and one size narrower tread width might help. Also, perhaps some lower pressures. There will be more space to compress before hitting the rim beacuse of the higher sidewall.
I'm still unsure about one thing, are higher or lower pressures better for potholes? I figure if it's very big, higher is better (trying to avoid rim contact), but for smaller, I guess lower would be better to dampen or compress (take up) the load, reducing transfer of the impact to the rest of the car. I don't know if that makes sense though.
What model, and size of Yokohama tyres did you get for the summer set?
I'm a bit concerned about getting the S1 version of the Primacy 4, because of its B wet EU label rating. I've read some things about the Energy Saver + not being great in the wet, especially when worn, and am concerned that this might be similar, as perhaps with the new e.Primacy, which has the same EU label ratings as the S1. Hoping that newer generations have gotten better, but perhaps that's wishful thinking. A chilled out driving style, and knowing the performance limits of the tyre in the wet will undoubtedly help in keeping the car under control. Max speed I really do in this car is ~100-120km/h, and the top end rarely and for short bursts. The engine is very loud.
Sometimes I long for a car that's closer to the ground. ESP and all that, the A2 is still a fairly narrow and fairly tall car, but I like the non-rustability of the aluminium, the low weight. Diesel torque also is great -- handles hills and accelerations better. Hmm, A8....
... In the years of the A2, one of its designers worked on both the A2 and the A8 designs. He's doing the design for Lucid (e.g. Lucid Air) currently. A neat tid-bit of info I found out about the A2 recently.
en.wikipedia.org
Sorry for the off topic.
Cheers