I noticed the trend of having to pay for a spare and a jack when shopping for a family car recently.
I want the spare so I can rotate my tires without having to use a separate jack stand.
The well for the spare tire is still there. While I agree a spare should come standard, couldn't you go to a junkyard and pick up a spare and a jack?
Its a trend alright....its a trend that consumers are allowing.
Not sure if anyone else here is old enough to remember, but back when cable TV was first being marketed they said "zero or reduced advertisements". The concept was that if you paid for the cable TV, part of that fee was to make up for reduced advertising.
Well, we all pretty much have cable or sat now and "programming" is at least 1/3 advertising.
SLowly but surely over the years they snuck it in til no one remembered or cared enough to make a stink.
Same with taxes.....they say they will repeal the tax once this or that emergency budget shortfall is addressed...but have YOU ever seen a tax repealed? I havent.
Ford and the other manufacturers are doing the same thing.
It save them MONEY to not have to offer a spare tire and tools....just like it saves them money in having to offer outsdie keyholes for locks . "No one uses them anymore since the car has electric locks and keyless entry." Til one day when your battery is stone cold dead and you cant even get into your car.
If Ford were more up front on this and said that they did it to cut costs I would be much more OK with it. Of course I would still expect a reasonably priced alternative.
Instead many of us learned of this change AFTER we bought the car, then we are told it is to save weight and increase MPG. Then, for those of us who want to be prepared on the road and not have to worry about dead cell phones or bad coverage, and who actually know how to change our own tire, we are told it will cost over $500 for a donut and tools, where the option when ordered with the car is like $100.
Someone here asked "why are you so angry? I dont see the reason.".
Well, I ask the question "Why AREN'T you angry?"
Maybe you are OK with relying on your cell phone to work out in the sticks, and maybe you are OK with waiting for roadside service to get to you after an hour or more and maybe you dont know HOW to change your tire in less than that time, or maybe you are disabled and cannot. If that is the case, thats fine.
But those of us who expect the basics of a new car to be there when we buy it have the right to be upset and demand action from the folks we paid thousands of dollars for a new car to so that we as drivers can take some responsibility for ourselves. I know that is a dying thing these days...taking responsibility for your own wellbeing...but some of us still do it.
Just saying.
As for going to a junk yard..........That was my plan actually....But tehn I read that the tire well doesnt allow for a full sized tire/wheel and that the spares out there may or may not fit depeninding on what car you have. I prefer to run full sized spares...those "50 mph only" spare donuts that are about 4 inches across are almost as dangerous as sitting on teh side of the road waiting for roadside assistance in the middle of no where. But at least it would be a start.
Plus, there is a principle here. I just paid $25k for a BASE V6 and have to spend another $500 (2% of the vehcile cost) for a spare tire, something that has always been assumed by the consumer to be part of the package of a new car? And if you spent $50k for yours its even more a point. There is a principle involved here.
If a spare isnt technically feasible, then upgrade the cars at least to run-flats.
But that wasnt done.
Instead we get a dollar store compressor with a can of goo that forces us to return to the dealer to buy refills (free in the 1st 3 years I am told) and a new pressure sensor.
Ford like to tout how they didnt take bailout money and stayed alive.
I am starting to think that they did it on the backs of the consumers they are relying on to keep them afloat.......and I am wondering where else they skimped on the car and aren't saying.