Sorry, just going to have to jump in here.
You say the 050As have a soft side wall: I hope you're not comparing that to the VUS? The VUS have a very soft sidewall, which is why they offer such outstanding feel at the expense of grip (wet and dry). 050A is an OEM tyre on bothe the HR 350Z, 370Z and 9x7 Porsches, hardly saloon car tyres As an all-round tyre, the 050A is much better than the VUS on everything other than feedback, but they're not exactly bad on that account.
For the money, the VUS are very good and they're the only budget tyre that I actually recommend. If you can spend more though then the 050A are superior, although with the MPSS being the same price and a gigaton better makes that a bit redundant.
I was going to say the same if a little less informed.... after having 2 sets of REO50As on a Zed they are very good tyres indeed, only criticisms after swapping to MPPS were that wet grip was not as good especially from cold, roadnoise noticably worse and feel/grip when pushing on noticeably not as good, but certainly a good tyre all the same