Upgrading stereo - Do I still get a spare wheel?

[ahfh1]

Hi,

I'm thinking of upgrading the standard stereo to either the Audi sound system or the B&O. The brochure says that there is a "subwoofer in the spare wheel well". I have the following questions:

1. Does this mean that I won't get a spare wheel?

2. If you do get a spare wheel, and you get a tyre puncture, does that mean you have to go through the hassle of removing the sub to access the spare wheel?

3. Usually (in my old cars) the car jack and spare wheel nut is located in the spare wheel well. If the spare wheel well is occupied by the subwoofer, then where is the car jack located?!

Thanks

 

[Scott]

Interesting question. I'd also like to know this.

 

[cemerson]

Yes you do. The subwoofer fits neatly inside the spare wheel and just under the boot floor in the lower position!

AFAIK all models/specs/options etc come with the spare wheel. If you have the quattro though, you can't lower the boot floor to the lower position, it has to stay raised.

I've had to use the spare on mine (already!), and removing the sub really isn't hard. You unplug it, and the same large plastic nut that holds the spare down also holds the sub down, it's really simple.

The jack and handle are located next to the spare (to the left of it), the locking wheel nut, wheel brace and other tools are in a toolkit in one of the openable boot panels at the side.

 

[Itguy]

Yep - I've seen the installation and it's very neat.

 

[pjr]

I was playing with the online configurator the other day, and it looked like a spare wheel was now optional, at no cost. However, it then had to be combined with either the Audi sound system, B&O or towing equipment at varying costs - which I thought was a little strange.

I do remember the spare wheel being a standard item previously, so this may be a more recent spec change.

 

[Itguy]

You've worried me now, I'm emailing my sales chap to check as I want a spare wheel for defo!

 

[cuke2u]

Hi, why worry about a spare wheel? I've not used mine since 2008, and before. Cars without a spare wheel come with a inflation pump and a emergency repair kit, then there is always the free breakdown service. Personally if my car doesn't come with one, as our Fiesta didn't, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it...

 

[cemerson]

I used mine. The inflation kit and repair stuff will usually render your tyre unrepairable, and (in my case) would have been sod all use given the size of the puncture I had! Certainly glad I have a spare.

 

[arad85]

I used mine. The inflation kit and repair stuff will usually render your tyre unrepairable, and (in my case) would have been sod all use given the size of the puncture I had! Certainly glad I have a spare.

Yup. My PCH Skoda Superb has a tyre inflation kit. Not used it (hopefully won't have to) but I have a full maintenance/breakdown package with that. I wasn't going to buy a new car without a spare....

A question though. Assume you have a full boot and have the boot floor in the lower position and then have a puncture. When you swap the wheels, do you then have to refit the boot in the upper position to allow the wheel to fit in place?

 

[cuke2u]

I used mine. The inflation kit and repair stuff will usually render your tyre unrepairable, and (in my case) would have been sod all use given the size of the puncture I had! Certainly glad I have a spare.

The your tyre would have been un-repairable anyway. Having no spare wheel is something we'll probably all have to get used too as manufacturers move away from cars having to carry the additional load in the car that might hardly/never be used. What I find a rip off is Audi will sell you a spare wheel for £225, same thing for my focus - £60

 

[pjr]

You've worried me now, I'm emailing my sales chap to check as I want a spare wheel for defo!

It's maybe just a glitch on the online configurator - the October 2013 brochure says a space saver is standard equipment, and I can't see any mention of it having to be combined with other equipment

 

[cemerson]

The your tyre would have been un-repairable anyway. Having no spare wheel is something we'll probably all have to get used too as manufacturers move away from cars having to carry the additional load in the car that might hardly/never be used. What I find a rip off is Audi will sell you a spare wheel for £225, same thing for my focus - £60

Yep, my old car had the inflation kit. They are ditching them to save weight and therefore CS2 emissions to meet targets basically. I much prefer having a spare though, especially after my incident! It was a Saturday evening in the middle of nowhere in North Wales on tiny tiny roads - I'd have been surprised if you could get a recovery truck down the roads, nevermind the hours we'd have had to wait. As it happened I had the spare on in 5 mins and we were back on our way, then drove to Bangor slowly the next day, into kwik-fit who luckily had an identical tyre in stock (even being the Audi version of it), fitted in 10 mins and we were off again with the spare showing no signs of even having been used!

 

[Itguy]

It's maybe just a glitch on the online configurator - the October 2013 brochure says a space saver is standard equipment, and I can't see any mention of it having to be combined with other equipment

I think so too - checked with my dealer and he has confirmed my order is coming with a spare wheel.

As for why I want one - I've used mine in my current 11 plate MINI twice now, both at times where a runflat or gunk would have been a right PITA.

We do loads of trips to cornwall from the midlands, mostly between 5pm and 11pm and we also run across Europe quite a bit. If I've got a hotel booked somewhere there's no way a flat tyre is going to stop me from getting there.

I've seen plenty of tyres in my time that gunk just would not fix. Likewise, runflats are only supposed to be used for a few tens of miles, that's no use what so ever when you're 300kms away from help in the dead of night in Austria.

More the question is why wouldn't you want one!!

 

[lotus]

You can see a pic of the B&O install here:
S3 - Estoril - 21 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[cemerson]

Yep, the photo shows the 'quattro' version - ie with the spare tyre taking up the room that would normally allow you to lower the boot floor. The standard one has the wheel recessed into the floor as you see it in that photo, then once you remove that bit of foam (doesn't seem to be being used for anything in that photo - perhaps the jack goes here in the quattro version? Mine had a space for the detachable towball but have moved that elsewhere now) the boot floor can be lowered.