No spare tire?

OH how the Prius haters can mess with us now. No spare tire, a nail here a nail there a screw here a screw there ouch.

 

But we won't be stopping at the gas station that much any more...

 

They'll snag far more spare-less GM cars than PIPs.

 

I knew when I ordered the PIP that it didn't have a spare. I really didn't think about it as being a problem although I did have 3 flats on my 2006 prius in the first 2 years with OEM tires. I changed them at 20,000 miles to Michelins and haven't had to change a tire since.

But, I happened to mention to my wife this afternoon that our new car wasn't going to have a spare but a can inflator instead. She was incensed and said that it was unacceptable, especially in a $40,000 car. What if a tire was slashed? What if there was no cell phone service? etc. etc.

I'm actually going to have to rethink my purchase because of this. I also think this will be mentioned as a negative in every single PIP review when the car is released.

 

I am a little concerned about what my wife is going to say when she learns about us getting 'no spare tire'. It really is an area where the Plug-in Prius could get some bad press.

 

The Pius Team addressed this matter in this thread (post 41): http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/101576-pip-tpms-no-spare-tire-fix-can-5.html.

It is not a deal breaker for me. There are ways to deal with the issue.

 

It probably means that you better have AAA or a similar service.

 

NO spare

Here's what I shall do with my own car:

Buy a full size spare
Keep it in my garage rafters.
If I get a flat, I will use the inflation system and get the car to my workplace or local tire place, whatever's closest.
I'll already have a spare tire @ home, so I'll be on the road PDQ.

In my eyes, it's kinda like losing a key. You have a spare somewhere (the 2nd key) so you aren't kept from driving your car for long.

By the way, the lack of a spare was EVERYWHERE in the literature, online and many many places. For it to be a deal breaker after what we all went thru to order and be on the fast track for this car is just laughable. (sorry - it's how I feel)

Lack of spare is for weight. If you wanna buy a car and add the spare into the back later, you won't go as far on a charge but in my case, I don't care. If there is room, I will add it. If not, it's going to the rafters for me. I'm doing this for the HOV stickers.

 

This is a trend but really how much does a space saver tire weigh ? Why does my 2011 prius have one and how many more mpg's would i get without one ? I enjoy traveling in many rural areas and a spare comes in handy. We had four flats in the last 2 years and in 2 the tires were destroyed ( sidewalls) good thing we had a spare.

 

I'm thinking we're going to get Toyota's roadside assist with these for a few years.

 

Allande mentioned it above, but Prius Team said the lack of a spare was because the additional battery packs utilize the space normally reserved for the spare (the wording actually says "due to space constraints", but I think I read elsewhere here that the additional battery pack is in that area).

It was also mentioned that there is a total of 3 years (rather than the normal 2) of Toyota Roadside Assistance

 

Dianne, it's not laughable, it's an issue. I mentioned in my post that I knew there was no spare when I ordered and it was not a problem for me. When I happened to mention it to my wife yesterday she saw it as a BIG problem. Perhaps in CA there are smooth roads, no flats and a 15 mile PIP is necessary to get to work faster, but in the rest of the world the roads aren't ideal and the type of sticker CA drivers are getting is not yet available. For consumers who are not current Prius owners and don't know the car but are looking for a PIP I think they will pause when they hear that the Prius PIP doesn't have a spare tire. Some, who would have purchased the car otherwise, will move on. No spare tire is an easy negative to cling too when you are evaluating various autos and don't have a definitive choice. I am quite confident that in the next PIP model a spare will be included in the PIP or at least offered as an option.

 

This may sound like a very loose analogy, but this situation reminds me when computer manufacturers stopped including floppy drives in new computers. At first people kept complaining that they needed them for one reason or another, but then they came to find out that it was so rare that the hassle dealing with the extra space needed for one was just not worth it. I myself just keep a AAA membership up to date. That $80 a year gives me peace of mind for not only a tire, but also other break downs, and takes up only a small amount of room in my wallet. Not to mention it works for any vehicle I am in (which is more than i can say for a spare tire).

Yes this situation might not be ideal for everyone, but I think as we move forward a spare tire is going to go the way of the floppy drive. It will still have people clinging on to it while everyone else has moved on. If you need a spare, buy one and just keep it in the trunk, Toyota isn't keeping you from doing that, and it's likely a lot cheaper to buy a single tire from Costco or your local tire shop than it would be from toyota directly.

For what it's worth I am a soon to be new prius driver when my PIP comes in, and when I heard that it wouldn't have a spare tire my reaction was "cool that means it should be saving a bit of weight!"

And just for the record I'm not discounting the value of a spare to you or anyone else, but in my own personal opinion I think that the scales might be tipped in the favor of more people not caring there is a spare than do.

 

Lots of extra cash to be made. I have posted before i looked at a Hyundai Elantra not a hybrid that also does not come with a spare tire. This model was hot selling at the time and i overheard several buyers in the showroom adding a space saver. I asked my salesman how much for the space saver spare $300. I checked with another dealer with my wife having a fit over no spare $350 was their price. We drove about 3 miles down the road and bought our Prius. AAA in my area is a one hour wait in good weather for a tow truck in bad weather much longer. In many areas around here you don't want to be disabled for long, the vultures strike fast when they smell broken down stranded people.

 

Tire

First off, we have sold many a car at Toyota over the past half dozen years that has had no spare.

Sienna AWDs with run-flats had no spare due to the AWD mechanisms using the rear space where the tire would go.

The Rav4 you see running down the road with no rear spare has no spare at all. It also uses run-flats. These cars were created and sold for convenience (AWD especially) and in the case of the Rav4, looks.

The Scion iQ also has no rear spare.

In other brands, there ARE cars with no spare.. Smart Car, and that Hyundai he was mentioning.. these are just cars that are NOT on your radar right now...

In regards to the spare, I'm sure Toyota would have added one to the car if it had fit OR if the weight ratio had worked out. If you are in a poor climate/weather area, I bet there are Many Sienna AWD drivers and Rav4 4WD owners who elected to have the smooth rear door, no spare. Many folks are running about with no spare. Perhaps ask them how they manage.

Lastly, I don't think the spare tire has gone the way of the floppy or the Cassette player in cars. With the advent of music streaming and USB ports and all of the audio technology and smart phones, I see the CD players in cars pretty much gone by 2016. I see those gone before a spare tire is.

 

I should have mentioned that we have a 2010 Rav4 and purchased the Limited edition rather than the sport because the Limited has a spare tire and the Sport edition doesn't.

Run Flat tires on the PIP would certainly go a long way to quell all the negatives, but that doesn't seem to be an option on the PIP.

I don't think purchasing a spare tire and wheel and leaving it in the trunk makes any sense. It is an alternative, but not a viable one.

Nor can you analogize with a floppy drive. The floppy was replaced by better and faster technology The spare tire in a PIP is replaced with Goo. Not a forward looking technology in my opinion.

 

I will be carrying a mounted snow tire when I travel out of town.

The larger battery which allows the plug in feature REQUIRES the space where the spare tire was. One can say that the car might be redesigned to allow for a spare. Then the PiP in would be a different car from the lift back. That would be a disadvantage for me because of the need for a different set of body parts AND the likely lower cargo space not to mention the higher cost of production. Finally, everything is a tradeoff. What we will get is the tradeoff which was decided upon after LOTS of careful thought by Toyota.

I have a lot of respect for the care that Toyota takes to build a useful and thoughtful product for an affordable price.

Speaking of price, my $30,000 '06 Prius would need to sell for about $45,000 if the price were adjusted only for the change in the relative value of the Japanese Yen to the U.S. Dollar since then. There have been other factors since then which have affected pricing. Toyota is taking more of a "hit" than is being transferred to us over here. We just are not always aware of that. (Wikipedia has a chart here [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_yen[/ame] , you need to scroll down).

 

perhaps a "Weight Watchers" PiP may be the way to go;

If I lose my own spare tire, maybe i can trade the weight for one to throw in the back for long trips?

 

Prior to getting my 2005 Prius, I drove a 1990 Honda Civic. I drove the car for over 330,000 miles without the need of the spare tire (which it did have). Interestingly, though, I did use the spare tire twice before it finally was laid to test at 342,000+ miles.

 

Run flats not only cost more, but weight more. Which would have effects on EPA ratings. With TPMS now a requirement, no reason why a person couldn't choose run flats for replacement tires.

Many compact and subcompact cars have the spare as an option. GM charges a more reasonable $100 for one if you want it.

In terms of development, the goo is not a step back. It once wasn't around at a time where tires were a lot less durable. The one time we had a blow out that required a spare was when I was kid, nearly thirty years ago. Every recent flat could have been handled by the goo. Don't want the goo, pick up an emergency plug kit. They're under $20.

The no spare might actually be more usable to the customer than the spare. Depending on its quality, the included compressor can help with regular tire maintence.