Just had a letter through the post... might be of use to anyone wanting to replace the tin of gunk with a real spare wheel, jack etc..... see the pic below

What would be 'of use' would be for car manufacturers to supply what should have been supplied with the car in the first place free of charge.

Pointlessly penny pinching and thus creating a profiteering opportunity for grasping main dealers is just a disgrace.

That would have meant the car being first tested at full weight as Standard when getting it Emissions Test,

Kerb Weight, Tax Band,

(First vehicles taken off the production line and weighed, & tested and the Motor Industry spec these cars as as basic as they can be.)

so more weight with say a Spare as standard would possibly cost the future customers in a higher VED for the rest of the vehicles life.

 

So you get the choice, actually the choice was made for you,

a Car with cheap annual Excise Duty saving you hundreds of pounds during the coming years

& you order the wheel as an option at the time of placing your order for around £50 often.

 

So no Gunk kit added & just the wheel and jack kit.

If manufacturers just explained that, then customers and the public would know.

 

Audi, VW, Seat, do things like test those with no spare wheel or  standard equuipment & have it as an option and lower VED.

and have the Skoda with a Spare wheel as standard & some other equipment & yet the same engine 

and that vehicle has higher official emissions and falls in a higher Tax Band.

 

george

If you really believe a spare wheel weighing a fraction of a person will cause higher VED bands worth worrying about, well I think you've been inhaling the tyre sealant.

Back of a fag packet says it wouldn't even put up CO2 by 0.5%. It might just push a car up one VED band in a rare extreme borderline scenario.

Obviously a 15kg weight saving (half that for a space saver) could easily be made elsewhere.

And they would delete loads more stuff from the standard spec. and add it as a cost option if your reasoning were true.

Oh wait, so why not add a spare wheel as a NO cost option!

You've swallowed the manufacturers excuses/justification and regurgitated them, the real reason is maximum profit margin - obviously.

19kg for the Skoda Wheel and jack and tool kit. Not Space Saver, full size.

(obviously the gunk kit weighs, so reduces the weight saving)

*25 kg of weights added to the rear crash bar of a vRS Hatch.*

 

But all weight loss is good loss with Euro 5 emissions!!

 

EG

VAG have 4 cars they build, from 2009 -2013, a Skoda Fabia vRS, Polo GTI, Seat Ibiza, Audi A1.

All the same engine and gearbox, the others get 215/40R 17 tyres, the Skoda gets 205/40R 17 tyres.

 

The other 3 get no standard spare wheel, only as an option when first available

The Polo even had the battery in the boot and you need to buy a cover if buying a Spare Wheel and puting it in the well.

 

the vRS Hatch and Estate get a Spare as Standard & the Hatch gets 25 kg of weight on the rear crash bar to make it weigh 5 kg Unladen more than the Estate which costs more to buy, but still less than the other 3 cars.

* the Hatch would be a lower Tax Band and emissions than the estate if 20kg less unladen, it is the lightest of all the cars.

but not have the official 1 mph top speed less than the more expensive estate.*

& even less than the other 3 VAG cars.

 

Now the Official Kerb Weights of the Seat, VW & Audi are lower than the Skodas.

The VED is a band lower because of official Emissions figures. EU Testing for Euro 5.

 

Actually now corrected it turns out the 3 have no less C02 g/km than the Skoda,

It turns out they are no lighter but actually heavier, even without a spare wheel.

 

No i do not swallow the Manufacturers Excuses, I know that everything on a car needs paid for. 

Not inhaled fumes either.

Skoda do not even paint rear drums on some cars, just prime them, to corrode in a mater of months..

 

But i do look at like for like models  and consider where penny pinching has taken place,

& as they consider or claim, give choices, & at extra cost for things you want..

With VAG you can see how a more expensive Brand or Model gets the Better Performance Figures and lower Emission Figures.

 

The Bargain cheaper vehicle can not be shown to be faster than, or lighter than the premier model,

unless it suits.

 

A few KG makes a big difference to your VED Band in the UK and in other countries.

It might be nothing to do with air flow and the slicker model/body shape.

At least VAG has an option to fit a spare,

some Green & Eco cars have no place to fit a spare wheel, by design.

 

george

 

How much will 25 kg of this cost to design manufacture and add, 

and in case you think they are necessary for the suspension,

when removed handling is not worse, only the car weighs less,

if they needed to revise and improve  suspension then VAG could have easily, Proper Engineering,

But then emissions and performance figures would be better than the more expensive models.