I’d only become aware recently that it’s become less common for newer cars to have a spare tire. It was a bit of a shock to me.
The norm I’d been accustomed to was that a lot of cars would include a “donut” spare tire; a smaller, lighter, cheaper-to-manufacture thing. It would shave some cost off of the car, probably let the manufacturer increase their MPG rating a bit. However, it was only rated for something like 50 miles (80km) at a limited speed (say, 55mph or 90km/h) before it should be replaced. It was really designed to let a driver reach the closest tire shop and get a regular tire replaced.
What my dad always did, and recommended, and what I’d done, was replacing the thing with a full-size tire. That way, when you have a flat, it’s not all that much of a problem. You just swap in the new tire, and next time it happens to be convenient, you get a new full-size tire. In my experience, spare tire wells included the space for a full-size tire; the manufacturer just didn’t provide you with one.
However, in 2025, the situation doesn’t look like that much anymore.
A number of spare tire wells don’t appear to have enough space for a full-size spare tire. This seems, in my quick skim, to be something more common with hybrids or BEVs than ICEs, I assume because the battery is space-constrained and the tire is competition for space (and in the case of BEVs, range).
Some vehicles apparently ship with “run flat” tires. These can be driven for a limited distance, and appear to have about the same capabilities as a “donut” spare tire — they can go about 50 miles at a reduced speed before they need to be replaced, and I assume are aimed at letting one reach a tire shop.
A number of vehicles don’t have a spare tire or storage space for one or a jack at all; for example, the 2025 Corolla Hybrid. The manufacturer provides a pump and a goop kit, and the idea is that if a flat is only a slow leak, one can hopefully nurse the car along well enough with that to reach a tire shop.
As best I can tell, full-size spares are only common today with pickups or off-road oriented vehicles.
I assume that part of this is because cell phone coverage is more widespread now, and the idea is that one should just call for roadside assistance and have them bring and change it. I saw some discussion on Reddit talking about how a lot of younger people don’t know how to change a spare tire.
I’m not entirely sanguine about this. While I’ll agree that it can save a bit of space, I really prefer knowing that even if I get a flat, the worst that can happen to me, even if I’m outside of cell range, is that I go swap in a new tire. I’ve only rarely gotten flats, but it’s something that I’d certainly rather have.
I guess that one could just put a tire in a trunk or hatchback/crossover/SUV’s cargo space as long as one is willing to expend some cargo space, but especially with a hatchback/crossover/SUV, I’m not entirely enthralled about the idea of having something large and unsecured crashing around the cabin in the event of a crash; normally, a spare tire well prevents shifting around and has a system for securing the tire.
Thoughts? Is a spare tire something that you want to have today in your vehicle?
I’ll add to this, that I’ve noticed some modern vehicles don’t have a 12 volt ‘cigarette lighter’ socket, and many of the ones that still do have lowered the amperage of the fuse from 20 amps to 15 amps.
While I get that smoking is frowned on and becoming less common, that’s not the only thing those sockets are used for. What about a portable 12 volt air pump? Those are rated for 20 amps, so if you try to use one on a 15 amp circuit, you’ll almost instantly blow the fuse…
Or a plug in tire pump for “fixing” tire pressure on the first day of snow.
I’m guessing that one factor might be that some modern cars include either USB-C PD power or built-in inverters.
A 12V cigarette lighter circuit at 20A can do 240W.
Current USB-C PD tops out at 240W, at 48V and 5A (though there aren’t many devices that can actually handle that much juice, and cars don’t necessarily provide that high of a power profile).
The 2025 Prius Plug-in Hybrid has a 1500W inverter built into the car, so one can just use 120V wall power plugs; I assume that folks in Europe have some sort of analog with 240V plugs. My understanding is that work trucks — where people may expect to need to drive power tools off the truck — commonly include inverters.
I use a cigarette lighter circuit in my car to charge a power station (which gives me all of USB-C, 12V cigarette, and an inverter in the car) and while the cigarette lighter plug is nice and durable, one downside — the socket was not designed to provide power, just to let one light a cigarette. While plug developers have tried to deal with this by putting a springy tip on the end of 12V plugs to help them maintain contact, my experience is that they have a tendency to work loose over time, as a car undergoes vibrations. That’s not a big deal for, say, a tire inflator, but if you want a fan or something like that that is supposed to stay permanently plugged in, it’s annoying.
For a car that doesn’t have that kind of hardware built-in, you might consider doing something like I’m doing if you do need “bursts” of higher power and can afford to charge the power station slowly, off a lower-power cigarette lighter, as you can get a power station that will put out considerably more than 240W as long as its battery holds out.
I have a floor-standing bike pump in the trunk from when I had a slow leak. Electric pumps are often loud enough to wake up the neighborhood, heavier, and more expensive. If you’re fit enough to do 20 pushups a high-volume bike pump will work fine.
Our 12 volt pump is actually extremely quiet. Ours is a Power Torque PAC06501.
Very good pump, rated for automotive use, and very quiet for what it is, and pretty lightweight.
It’s only had one problem, the 12V plug broke after a while and we had to replace that.
But otherwise, very good pump.
Can also do both. I keep both a motorized 12V compressor (which runs off a 15 amp circuit) and a manual foot pump in my car, though I’ve never needed to actually make use of the foot pump.
I have definitely used the compressor, though.