Spare Tyre

[Old_Geezer]

No I didn't miss the diet forum.

I'm not suggesting I have the cash to go looking for a new car at the moment, but an e-mail ad from the place I bought my last one left me pondering.

Are there any lists somewhere that show cars that have a proper real fully normal spare wheel/tyre on board and thus worth considering (as opposed to those with Noddy/Toytown, thin, low speed, get you home eventually if you have all night, and don't wish to realise you're driving farther than recommended on it, spare wheel, or worse, a spray can and a prayer, and thus need a 40' barge pole to touch them with) ?

[Buenchico]

Perhaps a possible starting point in your quest?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/spare-wheel/

[Old_Geezer]

A start indeed, thanks.
Now that's what I call a shortlist !

[Old_Geezer]

"All of these cars get a full-size or space saver spare as standard"

Oh, well at least it's possible to check further.

[gingejbee]

Even though the car may not be supplied with a spare wheel, it can often be specified when ordering. When I ordered a new car (VAG) last year, I paid an extra £50 for the full-size spare (not on alloy wheel like the other four, of course) and jack/wheelbrace/toolkit combo. Bargain really.

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe. Worth a thought. But if the boot has been designed with a spare wheel recess for Noddy width tyres it'll cause havoc trying to get a proper one in there.

[tonyav]

Yes OG, it will cause problems the carpet covered board in the boot sitting in it's aperture.

[Zacs-Master]

90% of people call their breakdown service rather than risk changing a wheel at the side of the road. You could always buy a BMW with run flat tyres.

[gingejbee]

OG: that's the odd thing....the recess under the boot floor takes the full-size spare just as it should. Proof, if any were needed, that it's not a "space-saving" measure...but a cost-cutting one (hence, profit-making one).

[bhg481]

Not always the case Gingejbee - my Volvo V70 won't take a full-size spare.

[Old_Geezer]

My present one is only deep enough for the Noddy width one. Not that I can see any reason it couldn't have been designed/built deeper.

In my experience recovery does no more than put the "spare" you have on for you, which doesn't really achieve the desired result :-(

[Old_Geezer]

These run flat ones. At 70mph for a few hundred miles? I'm unsure they sound better than the Noddy spare, really.

[SirOracle]

bhg... Funny that. My V70 takes a full sized spare wheel in the boot,underneath the sub-woofer.

[tonyav]

Run flat tyres can work out expensive, even for a small puncture.
http://www.car-tyres.org.uk/articles/run_flat_tyre_repairs.asp

[bhg481]

SirOracle - I tried one of my full-size tyres in the boot and it wouldn't fit. I currently have the Mark 3 V70 (2008); my Mark 1 (1999) had a full-size spare.

[SirOracle]

bhg I have the V70 t5 and it is the mark 2 model. No chance of me moving to the mark 3 if a "real" spare cannot be carried in the boot.

[bhg481]

The trouble is that most people don't even think about the spare wheel when they buy a car, so the manufacturers can get away with cost-cutting. I thought when I bought mine but was unable to identify any car with a full-size spare that would fit my other criteria.
Incidentally, a few years ago in France I had a puncture. The nearest tyre agents were 40 miles away in Grasse and none of them could get me a tyre for 2 days; 160 miles on the space-saver and a VERY good job I hadn't gone for a blow-up kit which would have been no use as the puncture was in the tyre wall.

[Old_Geezer]

Indeed. When I bought my present car I just assumed they'd done the right thing. When I actually needed to use the spare it was only then I'd realised I'd been conned. Yes I know, I should have checked it umpteen times before that, but I was relying on the regular servicing.

[bhg481]

The other big snag with a space-saver is "where do you put the real tyre when you have put the space saver on?" It's too big to go in the slot that the space-saver came out of and it's likely to be dirty and possibly wet. We took the trouble to make a waterproof bag for ours but it's still a bulky item to find room for.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Keep away from run flat tyres...:-(

[mikey4444]

I bought a brand-new Fiesta this May, my first new, new car. It cost me an extra £100 for a proper spare wheel and tyre, although I think I paid less as my nephew works in the Dealership. Its a space-saver tyre but its perfectly suitable for the short time its on the car, before you get the puncture fitted.
Ignore all talk about space savers being dangerous..they aren't.

These kits that are being supplied with a lot of new cars these days, instead of proper spare wheel, are a bloody disgrace. They can and often do completely b*gger up your tyre, thus making you buy a new tyre when a simple puncture would be repairable. I think that it should be made the law that a proper spare wheel is included with all new cars.

Don't be fooled by what people tell you saving space and weight. There exclusions has nothing to do with that and everything to do with saving the manufacturers money.