I just spent a day punishing all-season tyres - and now I won't buy anything else

If you pay attention to my wife, I have too many cars. I was up to five, at the last count, so she might have a point.

I'm also a bit obsessed with tyres. All my steeds are shod with the best rubber I can afford, and three of the vehicles in my fleet have all-season tyres.

This is because I've always subscribed to the belief that, instead of investing in a set of winter tyres that will have to live in my shed for half the year, and rotating them with a second set of "summer tyres" when the weather warms up, feels like a false economy when there are tyres out there that can do both jobs all year round.

And then I was invited to properly endorse my belief when the nice people at Bridgestone hosted me and some other journalists for a day at Donington Park, one of the best automotive playgrounds in the country, to experience the benefits of all-season tyres first hand.

Bridgestone is proud of its Turanza 6 All Season, something of a hero product in a line-up that's been simplified in recent years to make it easier for the customer to choose the right tyre for their car. And they were keen to ensure our group was impressed with them by the end of the day.

It got off to a great start, the sun was shining through blue skies and the weather was warm. We set off in a fleet of small SUVs for a high-speed introduction to the Turanza 6 All Seasons around Donington's Heritage Loop.

Through coned-off sections of the historic Tarmac we fought chicanes and slaloms, encouraged by professional racing instructors to properly punish the tyres.

It was a back-to-back comparison between the best summer tyre from Bridgestone’s sister brand, Firestone, and Bridgestone's best all-season tyre. And it was a bit of an eye-opener. There's clearly a difference between the two types of tyre, but Bridgestone wanted to demonstrate that all-seasons could handle some abuse, and the Turanza 6s certainly could.

It's fair to say the front end of the Mazda CX30 test car did wash out a little more under serious cornering with the all-seasons fitted, but in a very secure and predictable way. There was no unsettled scrambling, no sudden understeer, just a balanced ride as competent as you'd expect from any premium tyre.

The next test moved the game on another notch, and put the Turanza 6s through an even more insightful challenge. It was time to take them off road.

Strapped in to a Ford Ranger, we headed to the deliberately undulating pastures of Donington Park's off-road course, in the shadow of Donington Hall.

Nothing about this carefully designed course is kind to tyres, but it's a facility that's designed to show off the virtues of serious mud-pluggers, with tread patterns you can fit a finger in. We were heading out with tyres that people will use for their weekly trip to Tesco.

Turanza 6s have a clever directional tread pattern which displaces huge amounts of water, with a new compound that makes them last longer, offer better efficiency, and cope with all the conditions the seasons can throw at them.

But could they actually scale a grassy incline, in a two-and-a-half tonne pick-up truck carrying five inquisitive journalists?

The new Turanza All Season 6 tyres have Bridgestone's pioneering ENLITEN technology baked in, to ensure they're EV ready. This means carrying serious weight isn't a problem, but the way they handled an off-road course was genuinely remarkable. There wasn't a hint of scrabbling for grip, and this gave us the confidence to really push the limits. We never actually found them, though.

During the day we were also hurled around a skid pan in an electric van, to show off the Turanza 6’s ability to throw water out of the intricately-designed tread grooves, and we were given glimpses of new tyres on the way to the UK market.

We were also treated to some hot laps of Donington's magnificent GP circuit, which served little purpose other than to show off Bridgestone's sticky performance tyres, and to risk a revisit of the excellent lunch they'd just treated us to.

But at the end of the rather intense day, one thought stuck in my mind. Away from all the marketing patter and the repeated attempts to butter us up, we were witnessing a turning point in the tyre industry.

And I felt a wave of justification wash over me as I drove home on my all-season tyres, on the hottest day of the year so far, because not only have I made the right decision in choosing a multi-purpose tyre over two sets of season-specific tyres, I'm feeling like something of an early-adopter.

My wife has a posh BMW with a big engine and a turbocharger. It makes silly farting noises when you change gear, and it's faster than it strictly needs to be. I know she wouldn't fit all-seasons to it, partly because she doesn't use it in the rain, and partly because she's blissfully happy with her Potenza Sports.

But I've got two other cars, including my little weekend toy, that now need some all-seasons. I'll keep my sticky summer tyres in case I'm ever going near a race track, all-season tyres do have their limits, but for every-day driving, whether it's snowing or sunny, the capabilities of a decent set of all-rounders has really surprised me.

If you've recently put your winter tyres into storage, it's time to think seriously about whether you should get them out again come the autumn. Because, as I've suspected all along, there really is a better way.