If you're thinking of NOT ordering a spare wheel, think again.....

[The Zee]

You drove a fair way on that !

 

I have spares on both my Skodas but my 370 doesnt come with one and it wouldnt be an option since the subwoofer is fitted in the spare tyre well

 

On the plus side its an adventure for your kids and you are making memories

My wife has a 370z so I understand where you are coming from. It is always with some satisfaction that she completes a journey and arrives home without incident. Besides having no space for a spare she would obviously need two as the front and back are different sizes.

I'll stick with my Superb and it's spare thanks very much.

[VWD]

Latched onto a really nice little earner these manufacturers/dealers now ey.... greedy BAST****!

 

How long before a windscreen becomes optional?

All new cars now supplied with 2 pairs of goggles and woolly hats for the driver and passenger. Extra hats and goggles for additional passengers now  available at extra cost. :think:

Don't laugh too soon . Many ,many moons ago my sister & BIL were heading off to some foreign place as part of diplomatic job.As UK representatives, they got a car loan and were encouraged to buy British,. So they went lookinf at a Mini(I did say many many mooins), to find for overseas use the body was standard ,everything else was an option .

 

 

I'd suspect the weight/tax class is down to lease companies ,taking a leaf out of HMG book. As soon as makers lower their emmisions levels, HMG creates a lower one.

[cheezemonkhai]

But the Octavia which is slightly wide and is slightly longer than the A3 saloon.

And the A3 has lots of lightweight Alloy panels to make it lighter.

So the extra weight of a spare in the A3 wont make much difference to the final weight and will keep it in a lower band.

 

Mine is a full size not a space saver, but with all the weight saving panels I have, the same lump of steel/rubber will be a higher percentage.

 

The point I'm making is it's about cost saving. They'd be far better putting 4 lighter weight alloys on the car or using an plastic/aluminum bonnet or boot lid than removing the spare.

It would save more weight and if they used lighter alloy wheels provide more of a difference due to being unsprung weight.

 

So IMHO, It's cost saving pure and simple as they could keep you the spare and spend very little extra cash, they just would rather take the spare and make more money.

A tow bar probably weighs more than a spare, but it doesn't put you in the next tax band.

 

I guess it's that most people don't miss a spare, but would miss a great big magnet heavy on the extra speakers/sub in the car.

They could always make the seats lighter, they are not light. Just reducing the mass of the rear bench a bit would be enough.

Edited 1 May, 2014 by cheezemonkhai

[Mr Ree]

They've just rung me.

 

£160, full size on a steel.

 

Bargain <cough>  :think:

 

I feel my bargaining skills are going to be put into full motion mode upon collection, and let's not talk about NO floor mats while we're at it either....or the measly £10 worth of fuel that might just get me home..

 

Honestly.

[Llanigraham]

 

A tow bar probably weighs more than a spare, but it doesn't put you in the next tax band.

 

 

If the tow bar was a permanently fitted part of the vehicle and had been fitted when the maker had submitted the model for Type Approval then it would have.

[Guest]

You wouldn't be saying that if you got a puncture at 2 in the morning in the middle of nowhere,

No, I'd be busy on the phone to my recovery company!

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[Guest]

Each to their own I suppose. As soon as I realised I didn't have a spare in the footwell I got on the NET and bought a full sized spare. Might never need it and hopefully wont,if I ever do though at least I can get myself going again in 5 minutes rather than having to wait possibly hours before recovery turns up for just a flat tyre.

My new car doesn't have anyway to carry a spare unless I want to just have it sitting there in the boot.

I've been driving for 10 years and have suffered 1 puncture. I just can't see it as worth it.

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[Guest]

I was just re-reading through this post and I see one comment that you don't need a spare that's what recovery is for, my punctures always seem to be late at night, in the rain or somewhere remote. It also brought to mind a problem with a space saver and fully loaded car.

About eight years ago we took a Volvo C70 coupe over to Spain with a view to having a holiday and saving a load of dish by buying the wine for our forthcoming wedding. On the return journey, with the. Car fully loaded ( boot and back seat) including about 80 bottles of wine, I heard a clicking noise from the right hand rear. We were on a very rural French Road. I found a spike, about 5mm thick through the sidewall of the right hand rear tyre which was touching the wheel arch as we took left hand corners. The tyre hadn't deflated so I decided to get to the nearest town carefully.

I realised that the spare was under a whole boot full of luggage and it was a space saver. If I had changed the wheel it would have meant trying to manoeuvre an 18 inch wide alloy wheel on to the top of the luggage in the rear ( avoiding the up market upholstery) or SWMBO having the wheel on her lap as a full size wheel wouldn't fit into the well.

I now have even more of an aversion to space savers :-(

I have European recovery free with new car for three years so I would let them fix it for me.

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[Guest]

They've just rung me.

£160, full size on a steel.

Bargain :think:

I feel my bargaining skills are going to be put into full motion mode upon collection, and let's not talk about NO floor mats while we're at it either....or the measly £10 worth of fuel that might just get me home..

Honestly.

What size are your wheels/ tires?

I run 17" run flats so a full size wheel and tyre for that money would be a bargain.

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[Mr Ree]

What size are your wheels/ tires?

I run 17" run flats so a full size wheel and tyre for that money would be a bargain.

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16" 

I was perhaps foolishly, expecting nearer to the £130-40 mark

Edited 1 May, 2014 by Mr Ree

[Guest]

16"

I was perhaps foolishly, expecting nearer to the £130-40 mark

Well, I've never purchased wheels but if you consider tyre prices - £80 for a decent 16" tyre? - I guess that's not TOO bad! Still cheaper to take your chances though. ;-)

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[ruffday]

No, I'd be busy on the phone to my recovery company!

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Well as your on Runflat tyres it wont matter to you.

I've been driving for 27 years and have had a few punctures and apart from the one on the Motorbike I was back on my way within 20 mins. I doubt your recovery firm would be anywhere close to you in that time.

 

I drive 1000 miles a week so for me I would not be without one.

Edited 2 May, 2014 by ruffday

[fabiamk2SE]

Yes...well NO actually.

The fact of the matter is that none of us should be being put in this position to virtually 'force purchase' in the first place, and don't give me all this guff about emissions nonsense too, or you'll be telling me that you can't carry passengers next, or a family sized share pack of giant chocolate buttons.

Of course id rather have it fitted as standard, included in the price of the car, but theres not really a lot i can do about it.

What i meant was, its worth paying the extra than having a can of tyre weld.

Hmm i dont know where your buying your giant chocolate buttons, but they sound brilliant. Shall i take the van to pick some up?

[matt_theforce]

It does seem daft that spare wheels are supplied. I'm glad I bought a spare wheel and gave up 1seat in the car as no amount of tyre sealant would have sealed this when SWMBO was out the other night in a remote area with little mobile reception & it starting to get dark.

[cheezemonkhai]

Pothole?

[matt_theforce]

Pothole?

No, it was a metal rod poking up through some concrete which once held a gate was the culprit

[Neily03]

£75 for the optional spare wheel on my vRS, no brainer.

[Mr Ree]

£75 for the optional spare wheel on my vRS, no brainer

Main stealer?

Which one if so?

What size?

Alloy or steel?

Space saver or full size?

 

I assume it must be at least a 17" rim going by the fact that your car is an Octy vRS?

Jack and brace?

 

You reside in Cheshire, so assume it must be a dealer quite close to me too, in which case I'll tell A. Lawrie to get stuffed with their £160

[Can]

Adding the spare to the car as a factory order is about half the price of buying it from a dealer as a retrofit.

 

Personaly I hate the idea that we don't need spare wheels. Its idiotic and having personally been stuck waiting for 3 hours for the RAC/AA to turn up to recover a car, which then took another hour longer than it would have done in a car to reach our destination so arriving at about 10 pm so no hope of a new tyre then (we left at 2pm for a 3 hour drive), so that was another 3-4 hours the following morning getting a new tyre fitted.

And to top it all off if it had been another half an hour later it would have involved probably a half hour to an hour walk out from the car to get a mobile signal to call them.

 

And to add insult to the excersise the RAC/AA refused to attend untill we had wasted our time pouring the PVC glue onto the road via the tyre and causing the tyre place an extra half hours work cleaning it off the alloy next morning.

[Neily03]

Main stealer?

Which one if so?

What size?

Alloy or steel?

Space saver or full size?

 

I assume it must be at least a 17" rim going by the fact that your car is an Octy vRS?

Jack and brace?

 

You reside in Cheshire, so assume it must be a dealer quite close to me too, in which case I'll tell A. Lawrie to get stuffed with their £160

 

It was £75 for the factory option and it's an 18" space saver with full toolkit.

[Mr Ree]

'FACTORY' fitted option.

 

Great. :think:

 

Little wonder we call them 'STEALERS'. 

[dstev2000]

I do around 900 miles a week so a spare is essential. SWMBO will never drive a car minus a spare as long as I've got something to do with it as she ferries our two children around in her car all the time.

I think this culture of omitting a spare wheel from new cars is *******s - especially as the alternative system is utterly useless in a vast majority of scenarios.

[silver1011]

My new car doesn't have anyway to carry a spare unless I want to just have it sitting there in the boot.

I've been driving for 10 years and have suffered 1 puncture. I just can't see it as worth it.

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I've never had an airbag deploy in 10 years of driving, doesn't mean I'll be removing them anytime soon.

 

I have no issue with relying on a recovery service, each to their own, but I'd rather carry a spare and know that I'll be back on my way in 10 minutes.

[seaweasel]

The upside - the Continental compressor originally provided is the best 12v compressor I've owned :-) .

 

Our Octavia was a nearly new one so didn't get to spec a spare - came with the compressor and gunk. Interesting you mention the compressor from your Ford being good though - I asked our sales guy if it could be used for general inflation and he told me it would only work with the gunk. Chap was pretty good overall so didn't have any reason to doubt him and didn't think about it again until now. Is the Skoda one really only single-purpose?

 

Will maybe see about getting a steel spare for the Octavia though. Will need to have a look at the one in my Fabia - it's there but can't remember what state it's in!

Edited 2 May, 2014 by seaweasel

[Guest]

I've never had an airbag deploy in 10 years of driving, doesn't mean I'll be removing them anytime soon.

I have no issue with relying on a recovery service, each to their own, but I'd rather carry a spare and know that I'll be back on my way in 10 minutes.

Do you really think the inconvenience of a puncture and waiting for a recovery truck is the same as losing your life or suffering severe head trauma due to not having an airbag? Really?

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