No spare wheel.

[The The]

I have just taken delivery of the new Fabia 1 for the wife and I am pleased with the lack of squeaks and rattles and the overall build seems very good, I am surprised to find no spare wheel, is this a new thing as I remember reading reviews saying they had a full size steel wheel, also has anybody bought a wheel to use as the spare and how much? Thanks chaps.

[The The]

I have just found out using google:thumbup: it is £40 for a full size steel wheel, if you hand back the gunk and compressor, I think that will be a no-brainer.

[Sherlock]

I have the same problem but my dealer says they cannot supply a spare. Can anybody tell me where I can buy a basic spare steel wheel and tyre for a brand new Fabia 1?

[skodakid]

Don't forget you also need a jack and brace which I understand was deleted too.

[hobbes]

is it true once you use the gunk the tyre can't then be simply mended and used? I also was expecting a spare wheel

[vanagonjon]

I've just put a new steel spare and tool kit in ours which I got from Skospares in Poole. The steel is 14" and our alloys are 15", but it has the correct rolling radius so it'll do:-) Have you read the instructions for the gunge?? it seems thats there are very few situations when you could actually use it and it does make the tyre unrepairable. We should all complain to VW about this it's ridiculous:-)

JON

[HZ123]

My soon to be ex wife has had 2 Minis over the last 5 years, they do not come with a spare and during that time she has had one slow puncture. In most cases it seems to me that todays drivers call out the services to change / gunk a tyre. I would not worry about it in general?

[Pud]

minis have run flats dont they?

[HZ123]

No runflats unless speced. We have had them before and they did not last more than 10,000 which for tyres costing £150 each is not good enough?

[Pud]

ouch!!

[pete-d]

Just had an e-mail from my dealer today.

I have a Fabia on order - due for delivery in a couple of weeks.

He assures me that this (potential lack of spare wheel) will be dealt to my satisfaction. That may just be because we specifically asked about a spare wheel when we placed our order and were reassured that it would have one.

Maybe my e-mail last week saying that "we reserve the right to refuse the vehicle if the specification has been changed without our prior agreement" helped a little...

Pete

[davidrhodes]

Further to the posting about Skospares, we contacted them and bought a second hand Fabia wheel and tyre for a spare for our new Fabia 2. Cost was £42 delivered and it arrived less than 24 hours after order. It's good quality and, much as I didn't want to pay for a spare, it's worth it for the peace of mind. I contacted Skoda Customer Services and their reply was: "... Skoda has eliminated the Spare Wheel as a standard feature in order to make savings to pass on to our customers and also to save weight to help reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel consumption figures. Your Skoda Assistance policy is in place to recover or repair your vehicle should you be unable to personally attend to a puncture...." I personally don't subscribe to this, but I think everyone should make their feelings known. I've also made my feelings known about the ergonomics of the instrument panel on the Fabia 2, which is inferior to the very clear one on the old model. Had I realised that the Fabia 3 has clearer instrumentation when placing the order I would have gone for that. Surely it would be simpler to have the clearer version on all models from a production line point of view. It's illogical that they should go to the trouble of changing a dash panel when the older and better one already existed.

[vanagonjon]

"... Skoda has eliminated the Spare Wheel as a standard feature in order to make savings to pass on to our customers and also to save weight to help reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel consumption figures. Your Skoda Assistance policy is in place to recover or repair your vehicle should you be unable to personally attend to a puncture...."

Well that'll be great when you miles from nowhere in the middle of the night with no mobile signal!!! Nice thinking Skoda!!

JON

[xrt-mart]

Skoda Customer Services and their reply was: "... Skoda has eliminated the Spare Wheel as a standard feature in order to make savings to pass on to our customers and also to save weight to help reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel consumption figures. Your Skoda Assistance policy is in place to recover or repair your vehicle should you be unable to personally attend to a puncture...." I personally don't subscribe to this, but I think everyone should make their feelings known.

What do you mean by I don't subscribe? By purchasing a new vehicle you automaticly receive the Skoda assistance policy you don't need to subscribe.

[vanagonjon]

I think he is saying that he does not subscribe to Skoda's justification for not including the spare wheel.

JON

[Guest]

Fully agree a spare is best! Unfortunately, most manufacturers are going/have gone the way of not providing a spare. From the weight point of view it makes sense to cut this wheel out. From the practical side though...I'm old school and feel a bit naked without one.

The The...not trying to take over your post but...on my motorcycles, I and many others these days use something called 'UltraSeal' (I believe the name has just changed...I'll check). It is a product that has been around for 40 years and it really works! The Royal Mail use it in their entire fleet of vehicles (132,500 vans, cars and trucks), as do some police forces and much of the miltitary use it too. It LIVES IN THE TYRES from new or can be added at anytime and instantly seals a puncture when the offending nail or whatever is removed. The repair IS PERMENANT! It repairs better than a plug or patch. The one proviso is you must replace the tyre if sidewall damage has been caused or the punture has occurred in a place near the sidewall. However, even in those circumstances it will get you out of trouble. It also helps to prevent blowouts and it lengthens the life of the tyre by disappating heat evenly around the carcase.

I've used it for years and it really does work. Don't confuse this product with other similar products out there. This is the only one to my knowledge that is available as military grade, is non toxic and still allows you to carryout a conventional repair if you wanted too after a puncture (although is not neccassary). As a motorcyclist, you don't take chances and this is a fantastic aid to safety and convenience. Oh...and it's not expensive. Your whole car can be treated for around fourty pounds GB...but it does vary and you can treat it yourself if you prefer. I'll post back later with some links to the company.

[davidrhodes]

Sorry, Xrt-mart, for not being clearer and saying 'subscribe' when I probably ought to have said that I think Skoda's excuses are b*******. Thank you Vanagonjon for your explanation. Although Skoda would probably not change their minds about this spare wheel ripoff, I feel strongly that everyone who is angry at finding the spare wheel space empty should contact [email protected] and make your feelings clear. They can't say nobody told them, and at least you get rid of some of your angst. Have you seen the postings by the Octavia owners about this? We're not alone.

[Robjon]

Although Skoda would probably not change their minds about this spare wheel ripoff, I feel strongly that everyone who is angry at finding the spare wheel space empty should contact [email protected] and make your feelings clear. They can't say nobody told them, and at least you get rid of some of your angst. Have you seen the postings by the Octavia owners about this? We're not alone.

Thank you David. I have just done exactly as you suggested

[pete-d]

I tooke delivery of my new Fabia yesterday and am pleased to report that is has a spare wheel.

I think the fact that it's on a business lease made a difference. We made it clear that we specifically checked that it had a spare wheel when we placed the order. Basically we said we were not prepared to agree to a change in specification which removed the spare wheel and if the specification changed without our agreement we wouldn't sign the lease documents so they wouldn't get paid.

I have to say that the dealer (DM Keith, Huddersfield) has been really easy to work with on this purchase with excellent communications. At all times the Salesman (Brian Mears) has made us feel like we're important to him and he wants us to be happy.