Undeleting the spare tire from a 4

a ballpark guestimate is 100 lbs is good for about 2% of your mpg. It's a bit of a stretch to think that the spare tire and tool kit weighs 100 lbs over the pump and gunk, but there you go.... no more than 2% would be my official guess for the mpg change you could see by removing the spare tire.

With raising CAFE standards, every little bit carries a nice price tag for Toyota.

EDIT: I should specify that I think Toyota is probably in a very good position as far as meeting the CAFE standards. But they get credits for meeting it and other makers like Dodge must buy credits from Toyota or pay fines when they don't meet the standard.

 

I rather think run-flats will be the norm as the gunk kit is too messy for the average driver, or maybe puncture proof or even self inflating tyres.
I remember seeing a goo for sale, on one of the shopping channels on TV, that you put into your tyre before you got a puncture and if the tyre was penetrated, the goo came out into the hole and sealed it automatically. Basically you didn't even know you had a puncture (or several) unless you checked your tyres regularly. A good idea but a little dangerous on a long journey as the tyre could have deflated slightly before the goo sealed it, leaving you driving with an underinflated tyre.

 

Without weighing it, I'd guess the temporary spare weighs less than 40 lbs or I would be struggling to lift it out of the trunk, the tools are the same, jack wheel brace etc. in either setup and I'd guess the pump and goo together could weigh 15 lbs or so. so the difference in weight, by my estimates is only about 25 lbs max, 0.5 mpg by your calcs.

 

Run flats have seem to really fallen out of favor. I believe this is due to the poor ride and handling that they provide.

CTIS are neat, I'd love one, but they have proven to be unreliable so far. My friends with Hummers say it's not worth messing with. I believe that's a dana system, Spicer has one and so does Sygon and maybe they're better. But so far it doesn't seem to be reliable technology. I think you'll see it given a long enough time table, but in the short term I don't think so.

In terms of the gunk being messy, the one time I've used the system there was no mess, no fuss. It was very straight forward and easy to use. It was probably less of a mess than jacking the car, and wrestling with the tire. Just grab pump, plug it in, put it on the valve stem and turn it on.

 

so 0.5% of your mpg, according to fuelly I've been doing 57 mpg (not great I know) so it's 0.285 mpg by my rough math and assumptions. Or about 13 gallons of gas over 150,000 miles.

 

Agreed, I've never used one, I didn't realise it was as straightforward as that.

 

Honda was putting a temp spare in Fit with manual transmission, while in the automatic version they used a compressor/sealant kit. There the issue was weight and fuel consumption, somehow. At least they offered a reasonably priced swap-in of the spare and it's peripherals, for around $200~300*. This was about 10~15 years back, not sure about now.

* Well, at the time I thought that was a preposterous cash grab, now with the hoops 2016 Prius owners are going through, it seems like peanuts, lol.

Addendum: see all Honda Fit's (at least in Canada) have a temp spare now, according to website.

 

Can't fault 57 mpg US, I'm only getting 61 mpg UK, which is about 51 mpg US.

 

invest in jack stands, makes that job easier

 

Well I bought one that came with a spare sssoooo........

But I'd say that between toyota road side assistance and the roadside assistance through my insurance I'd be just fine. I drive through WY and MT on a regular basis, not going to get much more remote than that. I like to take my Charger on those trips rather than the prius and the lack of a spare in that has never concerned me. It probably should I suppose as the tire size is probably more difficult to find in the middle of nowhere than the Prius tire. The pump and gunk worked fine the one time I used it in the Charger. I'd be willing to bet that most flats are due to nails and screws which the gunk should be able to handle. But you're right, if you run over someone's prison shank you'll probably have issues and for that I suppose tire plugs or roadside assistance?

I'm not a fan of no spare, but it's the way of the future weather we like it or not.

 

A few people have just bought a spare, tossed it in the hatch, or rear seat footwell. This is funky in the extreme though. You're approach is admirable, but sadly very pricey. It grates to get a car closing in on 30 grand, and then deal with stuff like this.

 

I got my spare kit off the dealer as part of the deal, I don't think he realised how much it would cost him at the time but he came good.

 

So when you fold the seats down, is the floor flat? Is there a piece of fabric that sticks up in a little V shape? This is looking very interesting to me.

 

Oh.. and another question: Do you notice any noise coming from that area, I mean more than before?