Temporary spare ruined my weekend away

[Ralphs]

Hi All

My wife and I are VW fans with a Tiguan and a 2010 Touareg, both fantastic vehicles except for the temporary spares. Both have caused problems.

This weekend I packed the car for an overnight camping trip down to Canberra. Got a flat just as I arrived in the gravel car park, NOT up some rocky fire trail, and I just had the tyres rotated this week. Of course its full of camping gear, at least it wasn't raining and I wasn't towing anything (you cant tow with a temporary spare!).

Had to call roadside assist as the compressor wasn't working; this model runs a compressed space saver spare .... changed the tyre. Now its about midday and the tyre places in Canberra close early on Saturday. So I race around to Bob Jane to try to fix the full size flat. The puncture is right on the shoulder, they cant fix it and don't have another.

Don't you love the way the car manufactures seem to invent a new tyre size with every new model. Crazy .... haven't they hear the word standard?

My camping gear is now stacked all through the Touareg as the full size flat takes up lots of boot space. Thank goodness I am on my own, if the missus was with me !!!

So a much anticipated camping trip was aborted so I could drive home in daylight and good weather; doing 80 up the Hume highway with B-Doubles bearing down on you at 110 is just plain dangerous. Eyes glues to the rear view mirror. Twice I activated the hazard lights to warn trucks I was travelling so slowly.

With 78,000 on the clock the Touareg has been faultless BUT I will not buy another till Volkswagen provide a workable full size spare option. My wife had a Jeep for a while and the vertical spare in the boot worked really well, easy to check inflation, easy to get out, easy to put the flat in, all without fully empting to boot!

Wake up VW, people actually take their SUVs beyond the shopping center car park.

[Ralphs]

Hi All
Please excuse my rant on this .... was not a happy camper !!

Calmed down now and just ordered some 17" rubber and a full size spare. Treg is too good to let this problem stop me driving it.

Would still like VW to realize, customers are having to go to lots of work just to get a workable spare solution for Australia.

[velly_16v_cab]

A few questions..
1 - Is it really VW's fault that tyre suppliers do not carry your size tyre?
2 - It is a pain not having a full size tyre. I thought they were rated faster than 80kph? (I have been in a mk3 Golf GTI 16v running the space saver tyre on the rear and we were doing 120mph lol)

[team_v]

Almost all cars now don't come with a fullsize spare.
The buyer wants more car for less cost so they get the extra satnav/blutooth at the expense of a full sized spare.

Luckily everyone upgrades wheels so you can jag a single wheel pretty cheaply to use as a full sized spare.



P.S. didn't you have the same rant in the Tiguan section about it not having a full sized spare also?

[Diesel_vert]

Preparation is key for any long or extended journey.

Check the condition of the vehicle beforehand. Taking into account the nature of the trip, consider any additional equipment that may be needed for the duration. It is not inconceivable the standard equipment provided by the vehicle manufacturer may not be enough to provide for all circumstances.

Luckily everyone upgrades wheels so you can jag a single wheel pretty cheaply to use as a full sized spare.

Calmed down now and just ordered some 17" rubber and a full size spare.

A simple and cost effective solution, if I ever saw one.

Almost all cars now don't come with a fullsize spare.

It is a pain not having a full size tyre. I thought they were rated faster than 80kph?

The full sized spare in many vehicles is often not a matching spare.

Vehicle manufacturers state not to exceed a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) for unmatched wheels or tyres.

[Transporter]

Hi All

My wife and I are VW fans with a Tiguan and a 2010 Touareg, both fantastic vehicles except for the temporary spares. Both have caused problems.

This weekend I packed the car for an overnight camping trip down to Canberra. Got a flat just as I arrived in the gravel car park, NOT up some rocky fire trail, and I just had the tyres rotated this week. Of course its full of camping gear, at least it wasn't raining and I wasn't towing anything (you cant tow with a temporary spare!).

Had to call roadside assist as the compressor wasn't working; this model runs a compressed space saver spare .... changed the tyre. Now its about midday and the tyre places in Canberra close early on Saturday. So I race around to Bob Jane to try to fix the full size flat. The puncture is right on the shoulder, they cant fix it and don't have another.

Don't you love the way the car manufactures seem to invent a new tyre size with every new model. Crazy .... haven't they hear the word standard?

My camping gear is now stacked all through the Touareg as the full size flat takes up lots of boot space. Thank goodness I am on my own, if the missus was with me !!!

So a much anticipated camping trip was aborted so I could drive home in daylight and good weather; doing 80 up the Hume highway with B-Doubles bearing down on you at 110 is just plain dangerous. Eyes glues to the rear view mirror. Twice I activated the hazard lights to warn trucks I was travelling so slowly.

With 78,000 on the clock the Touareg has been faultless BUT I will not buy another till Volkswagen provide a workable full size spare option. My wife had a Jeep for a while and the vertical spare in the boot worked really well, easy to check inflation, easy to get out, easy to put the flat in, all without fully empting to boot!

Wake up VW, people actually take their SUVs beyond the shopping center car park.

Can you please explain this; how did you manage to get puncture in the Tiguan and the Touareg at the same time? Did you drive them both on one trip? Beware the temporary spare tyre

[Mi16 Man]

Can you please explain this; how did you manage to get puncture in the Tiguan and the Touareg at the same time? Did you drive them both on one trip? Beware the temporary spare tyre

Good question! Was wifey right behind in the Tiguan?


MY06 XS Luxury / MY09 308 XSE HDi SW

[a239947]

Also when you take a tyre in to a tyre shop and they say your pincture is in the sidewall.
ASK TO SEE THE TYRE!
Many tyre shops will say this to the unsuspecting public so they can sell you a tyre instead of doing a $15 fix for half an hours work.
My wife has almost been stung by this and I have also been stung by this!
Always ask them to show you the puncture!

Sent from my GT-I9100

[nat225]

Most of the cars i have owned since the 90's all had / have space savers, except a few cars that have the spare mounted outside (rav4 / suzuki jimny).

Imo it is silly to complain against for the use of space savers given that most other car makers do the same thing.

I guess if the OP was driving a CX5 with the 19" wheels I am sure not only he would complain about the space saver but also the new tyre replacement cost.

I heard a story of a new bmw owner complaining against the run flat tyre replacement cost against the selling dealer when he had to replace one.

Soon we may have people complaining against dealers cos the cars they bought use petrol!


Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

[Diesel_vert]

Despite its land mass, Australia has an urbanisation rate of almost 90%, which makes it one of the most urbanised countries in the world, but that still leaves a little over 10% of the population not living in urban areas.

(So much so that even some local manufacturers decided to make the matching spare wheel and tyre optional on some of their vehicles).

So it's understandable why a vehicle - especially one designed in Europe or Japan - not equipped with a matching spare would prove inconvenient to some people, but given a bit of forethought, it's not a situation without alternative solutions.