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I have just driven an Australian Ford Falcon with an LPG tank in the spare wheel well and the spare dumped in the boot. This is a factory conversion! There was very little room left for any luggage. I am thinking about getting LP gas in my next car however I will either get a tank across the back of the boot or else leave the spare in the garage at home. I think I can take a risk on no spare with LP gas selling for 43 cents Australian. Thats around 18 British pence. Quite an attractive price.
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One word.....money! They are not infact space saving at all! In my Alfa (RIP) there was a large foam piece under the spare. I wondered why then realised..... imagine driving somewhere with 5 people and a boot full of luggage, you get a flat tyre. Take off the (large) alloy, put the space saver on, where the hell do you then put your alloy wheel?? Answer, remove the foam and it fits snugly beneath the boot floor.
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No question about it you are right !
Space Saver spares are just a cynical cost-saving measure dreampt up by marketing executives who dont live in the real world. Yes its disgusting the car companies who are doing away with spares altogether :- shame on you BMW, we might have expected it from some of the lower quality marques.
However I am smug in the knowledge that my Audi A4 AVANT not only has a full size ALLOY spare !!
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It is lunacy. My Dad's Mazda has a full size Alloy spare. Mine doesn't.
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Adam
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I'm not sure that ALL of the cynicism shown here is entirely justified.
Originally the idea of a space saver was to save space, and in those cars where the spare wheel well is the size of a space-saver, they do this.
Obviously, where the well is big enough for a full-size wheel, it makes it a nonsense, and in those cases money would certainly seem to be the reason.
And yes, I realise that if you suffer a puncture in the former case, then you still have to find soemwhere for the full size wheel, but that doesn't happen on the majority of journeys, does it?
I see why people complain about not being supplied with a spare, but when you consider the saving, to yourself, in terms of space and weight, for all those journeys where you don't require a spare, perhaps there is reason behind it.
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At least Volvo half redeem themselves by selling an excellent powered subwoofer for the V70 that locates inside the space saver and uses the cavity up to the underside of the boot floor.
Even the cost is reasonable, and most un-Volvo spares like, at £250.
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I suppose I shouldn't tempt fate, but the last puncture I had was in Germany in 1980. I was travelling through Saarbrucken and some how I picked up a Yale type key that penetrated the tread.
My Accord doesn't have a spare, just some form of gunge and a compressor. I suppose given the statistics, manufacturers are taking a chance and freeing up the vehicle space.
I just hope I haven't spoken too soon, as I'm off to France in two weeks.
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*touching wood as I type*
I have never needed to use a spare wheel in 20 years of motoring ( cars or bike). In my '97 GTV the space saver spare was fresh and virginal.My '96 Punto is the same... before that my 146 had a fresh and unused spare tyre. My UNO before, not to metion all my previous FIATs and Lancia's
My spider has a full sized alloy that looks like it's never been fitted to the car either certainly the tyre on it is in very good condition and the seats for the bolts have no scratches on them.
Now I don't know why I've never had a flat in all that time but I happen to think spare wheels are an anachronism.
:-) JaB
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I had a flat tyre in December, which was the first for a while.
Maybe "When did you last have a flat tyre?" is one for the backroom poll.
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Last flat tyre was Saturday morning 8.45am in Tesco's car park and less than half a mile from Kwik-Fit.
It's a first. In 18 years, this is the first flat to happen during daylight hours in a built-up area. They've happened at 2 in the morning after a night out, or in a deserted works car park after a late finish, or in the middle of nowhere (usually in the dark - now that's a challenging experience), or even on my way to get married....
I want to put a proper tyre on the car and get on with what I was doing before it went flat not worry about some dinky space saver that can only be used for a few miles at low speed. Never bought a car with a space saver and never will.
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To be fair, you can drive at 50 on a space saver, although it's a brave man that would. And whilst I'd prefer a proper tyre, I'd take a space saver over tyre weld or whatever. I shredded I tyre on God knows what not 6 months ago in the middle of nowhere. What would a can of whatever do to help me there?
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Adam
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To be fair, you can drive at 50 on a space saver, although it's a brave man that would.
Well, I saw a very brave woman this morning.
She had a spacesaver on the rear nearside when she pulled up alongside me at the lights, held on with only three bolts!!!
I was just about to try and attract her attention to warn her when the lights changed and she screamed away from the lights and a few hundred yards later onto the NSL A127 and left me for dead. I got as far as the M25 without seeing her in any of the ditches so I presume she made it to wherever OK, but rather her than me!!
Cockle
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Absolute madness. I never trust spacesavers. I see them as getting you to a tyre place on not much more than a limp really - which is I suppose what they are.
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Adam
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just what is the problem though??? To rule out buying a car on the grounds that it has a space saver is plain ridiculous!
I have used mine twice (one on the motorway) and not had any problems at all. Yes, it might look a little strange, but frankly, I can live with it for the few minutes it takes to get to the nearest Kwik-fit type garage. In fact, I drove all the way from Milton Keynes to Birmingham on one. no problems at all.
Think of the money it saves you in fuel (due to reduced weight) over the lifetime of the car.
The correct course of action is to (oh my god) get the punctured tyre replaced/repaired as soon as possible and stick to a respectable speed until you can. Is that really such a bind? They are designed to be a 'get you home' fix.
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No question about it you are right ! Space Saver spares are just a cynical cost-saving measure dreampt up by marketing executives who dont live in the real world.
Having a space saver in my Focus enables the boot floor to be 2" lower. If you specify a full size spare, you also get a piece of composition material 2" thick that lays on the boot floor and has a hole in the middle the same diameter as the full size tyre. The boot floor is then effectively 2" higher.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Most manufacturers who use these space savers, still give you the choice of a full size wheel if you wish one, when vehicle is ordered.
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Most manufacturers who use these space savers, still give you the choice of a full size wheel if you wish one, when vehicle is ordered.
a total rip off is what your saying. what space is being saved if you can fit a full sized wheel in the spare wheel bay then?
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a total rip off is what your saying. what space is being saved if you can fit a full sized wheel in the spare wheel bay then?
Having a space saver in a Focus enables the boot floor to be 2" lower. Put another way, it enables the useable depth of the boot to be 2" greater. It saves 2" of boot depth.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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