My new car came with a bottle of goo and compressor but since I read the brochure before I bought it there was no surprise. Spare wheel was space saver @ £155 extra including jack kit, hate space savers as much as goo. Bought the jack kit for £35 and will put a winter tyre in the spare wheel well in the boot (should not affect space since the well is deep enough) when I get a set of suitable wheels for my existing winter tyres.

All I did was research my purchase and sort it with the dealer.

Edited by skidpan on 14/07/2013 at 19:05

Likewise, I've never had a sudden flat in 20+ years of motoring (touch wood, stroke lucky rabbit's foot, etc etc). I've found some ginormous nails in the tyre, but luckily these have self-sealed.

I do see people changing wheels on motorways etc, and often wonder whether the flat was due to lack of maintenance (low pressure, loose valve inner, etc), or from a genuine blow-out.

Should cars also come with 20 litres of spare coolant and a pouch of SUGRU?
I think the days of spare wheels are belatedly over spare fanbelts and starting handles once became.

I've never had a sudden flat tyre while driving, it seems less likely than other tyres of brakedown. I think most sudden flat tyres are for driving on low pressure for extended speeds and distance, but we have in-car warnings for that now.

I can see where you're coming from hamsa but I'd still prefer to have a spare tyre.I also carry bulbs, fuses, oil, water and, in the Xantia, LHM.

A puncture is probably the thing most likely to immobilise an otherwise well maintained car. Since my Pug104 with tubed tyres (82-86) which punctured like a bike I've probably had less than ten tyre leaks, most of which were driveable pending change/repair. Given that I'm capable of changing a wheel I'd prefer to retain the option.

Mrs B isn't skilled up that way and even on car park of a large town Tesco she waited 90 minutes for Green Flag to do a wheel change.

If you've a coolant leak serious enough to need 20 liters then nothing you can carry in the car will help. OTOH if it's just blowing off a bit a 5litre jerry of plain water will do the get you home bit. Spare hoses are available.

Just last week I was overtaken on the Autobahn by a new Corsa and smelled burning rubber as the thing passed.

It pulled into lane #2 in front of me and the right rear delaminated, leaving the sidewalls on the rim while the rest of the carcass set off for a wander on its own.

If he had goo or runflats, he was thoroughly stuffed.