Why aren't cars supplied with 'get-you-home' spare wheels any more?
I recently purchased a Ford C-Max and was amazed to find that it now seems the norm to supply a "pot of glue and a pump" instead of a get-you-home spare wheel. With a jack and a spare wheel the majority of people could change a wheel in probably less than a quarter of an hour, whereas with this modern system one is probably still reading the instructions. Isn't it time that we, the purchasing public, refused to buy a vehicle that does not have a (get-you-home) spare and let the manufacturers know that we dictate what we want?
Asked on 20 July 2013 by RW, Braintree, Essex

The reasons for deleting spare wheels from specs are:
Cost: the manufacturers save a few quid. CO2: no spare wheel means the car is lighter and may qualify for a lower CO2 based tax bracket. Space: more luggage space. Design: a spare wheel well or wheel cage does not have to be designed into the car, which may not ever have been possible with a compact 7-seater.
The answer is to fit runflat tyres, so even if a driver suffers a deflation he does not have to stop and endanger himself and his family on the hard shoulder of a motorway. I came within inches of getting killed changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, so I feel quite strongly about this.
Cost: the manufacturers save a few quid. CO2: no spare wheel means the car is lighter and may qualify for a lower CO2 based tax bracket. Space: more luggage space. Design: a spare wheel well or wheel cage does not have to be designed into the car, which may not ever have been possible with a compact 7-seater.
The answer is to fit runflat tyres, so even if a driver suffers a deflation he does not have to stop and endanger himself and his family on the hard shoulder of a motorway. I came within inches of getting killed changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, so I feel quite strongly about this.
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