What a rip off!

[pm26]

The other day I stopped at the local Fiat dealership to take a closer look at one of those Fiat 500L small SUVs (not the tiny 500 car, but its larger sibling). Among the options was a $ 450 donut spare tire! Are you kidding me? $ 450 for a cheap Chinese made temporary spare tire, crappy steel narrow rim, and a $ 10 worth of cheap jack and lug wrench tools? Some manufacturers truly have no shame.

[j-ten-ner]

Yeah...but you have appr. 1 cu.ft. more trunk volume for smuggling moonshine.

 

Only two trips and you break even.

 

lol

j-ten-ner

[Chris]

My moms new Kia Optima and the one i almost bought in September at the same trip as her comes with a can of fix a flat or for about $300 you can get the optional spare and tools

[Beer Belly]

My moms new Kia Optima and the one i almost bought in September at the same trip as her comes with a can of fix a flat or for about $300 you can get the optional spare and tools

My buddy just bought an Optima....same thing, I just about fell over.....no way would I buy a car without a spare. Fix-a-flat is useless with a blow out, and with my luck........

[POS VETT]

I remove spare tire from my cars that came with one. For decades, I've been driving around just fine, never had a blow out. There is a fix-a-flat kit in each car whether it came with run-flat tires or otherwise. In the case of the 500L, if it gave a peace of mind, I'm sure a spare tire kit could be negotiated into the purchase or find another dealer having a special on it.

[pm26]

I remove spare tire from my cars that came with one. For decades, I've been driving around just fine, never had a blow out. There is a fix-a-flat kit in each car whether it came with run-flat tires or otherwise. In the case of the 500L, if it gave a peace of mind, I'm sure a spare tire kit could be negotiated into the purchase or find another dealer having a special on it.

This was not a dealer add-on - it was an actual factory option on the sticker. The salesman said that a compact spare tire and jack/lug wrench, when bought through the dealer's parts department would cost $ 470.

[pm26]

Cars and trucks always came with full size spare tires. Then, in mid 1980's some automotive bean counter had a revelation in his dream that it would be a lot cheaper to put in a smaller temporary spare tire in cars. Almost all car manufacturers jumped on that immediately. To justify this action, they rationalized that a light temporary spare is easier to handle, takes up less room in the trunk. I even saw a claim that it improves the fuel economy due to its lighter weight.

Some manufacturers offered a full size spare factory option for an extra cost, but at least it was reasonable. For example, you could get a full size spare wheel&tire in Mercury Marquis and Crown Victoria for about $ 150 extra.

 

Now we have entered a whole new era of unfettered greed. Now we hear from everybody that we no longer need spare tires on vehicles because now we have tire pressure monitoring systems standard, mandated by our watchful government, and everybody, I mean everybody will immediately stop the car and investigate the cause if a warning message appears. And tires never ever blow out, they never get punctured through the sidewall, and they never come apart. So now to even get a crappy donut spare, you need to fork over extra $ 300 to $ 450? And since most if not all of these temporary spares and cheap jack/lug wrench tools are now made in China, the markup on these must be astronomical!!!!!!!!

 

Just for comparison, when I bought my 2006 Silverado Z71, the 17" aluminum wheels were a $200 upgrade over standard steel wheels! Yes, $ 200! How does this compare to a $ 450 surcharge for a cheap temporary spare which should be standard equipment?

 

 

What's next, $ 100 extra for the owner's manual? I can see that coming as well.

[j-ten-ner]

It's our own fault. Because we keep buying it.

 

What people are looking for today is a car able to talk to you, send text messages or rub your butt when leaving the lane.

 

And the manufactures trying to sell you as less as possible for as much as possible.

And if one has the extra 400 bucks for a half ass spare tire they will gladly take it.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[pm26]

It's our own fault. Because we keep buying it.

 

What people are looking for today is a car able to talk to you, send text messages or rub your butt when leaving the lane.

 

And the manufactures trying to sell you as less as possible for as much as possible.

And if one has the extra 400 bucks for a half ass spare tire they will gladly take it.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

+1

 

Could not say it better myself.

[Chris]

Cars and trucks always came with full size spare tires. Then, in mid 1980's some automotive bean counter had a revelation in his dream that it would be a lot cheaper to put in a smaller temporary spare tire in cars. Almost all car manufacturers jumped on that immediately. To justify this action, they rationalized that a light temporary spare is easier to handle, takes up less room in the trunk. I even saw a claim that it improves the fuel economy due to its lighter weight.

Some manufacturers offered a full size spare factory option for an extra cost, but at least it was reasonable. For example, you could get a full size spare wheel&tire in Mercury Marquis and Crown Victoria for about $ 150 extra.

 

Now we have entered a whole new era of unfettered greed. Now we hear from everybody that we no longer need spare tires on vehicles because now we have tire pressure monitoring systems standard, mandated by our watchful government, and everybody, I mean everybody will immediately stop the car and investigate the cause if a warning message appears. And tires never ever blow out, they never get punctured through the sidewall, and they never come apart. So now to even get a crappy donut spare, you need to fork over extra $ 300 to $ 450? And since most if not all of these temporary spares and cheap jack/lug wrench tools are now made in China, the markup on these must be astronomical!!!!!!!!

 

Just for comparison, when I bought my 2006 Silverado Z71, the 17" aluminum wheels were a $200 upgrade over standard steel wheels! Yes, $ 200! How does this compare to a $ 450 surcharge for a cheap temporary spare which should be standard equipment?

 

 

What's next, $ 100 extra for the owner's manual? I can see that coming as well.

 

The hard part of a blow out is when you are somewhere you cant get over for about 3/4 of a mile like a construction zone where it is 2 lanes and the shoulders are blocked off. Sidewalls get destroyed

 

Original puncture

 

Aftermath

[doverarjim]

I saw 2 young guys 16-20 years old yesterday sitting on the side of the road out of their mom or dads Tahoe, with a flat tire on my way to the store, when I came back there was a tire shop truck there changing the tire using the full size spare?? Both times I passed they were to busy on the phones to have changed a flat tire?????

[Chris]

I saw 2 young guys 16-20 years old yesterday sitting on the side of the road out of their mom or dads Tahoe, with a flat tire on my way to the store, when I came back there was a tire shop truck there changing the tire using the full size spare?? Both times I passed they were to busy on the phones to have changed a flat tire?????

Too "privileged" to even learn how to change a tire

[RyanbabZ71]

Reduce weight = fuel savings

 

Thank you government regulations

 

 

 

 

Ryan

[SnakeEyeSS]

Anyone seen the pics of the 500X?

 

After three tries, they finally made one look......decent.

[SnakeEyeSS]

Reduce weight = fuel savings

 

Thank you government regulations

 

 

 

 

Ryan

That doesn't always work. Ask Ford only manufacturer I have ever heard that lost 700 pounds on a model to get MPG similar to the old model.

 

Autoblog mentioned on a podcast that if GM went all aluminum it might not be pretty for Ford as far as fuel economy is concerned, mentioning the joke they had to go all aluminum to achieve the weight of their all steel competition.