Extra, Extra....Read All About It!

[maynard]

It is also an entirely predictable concern, as I know because when I bought my Scout it had a very heavy duty swing away tire carrier mounted on the rear bumper. I eventually had the tire carrier cut off, because the latch mechanism was cheap, and I immediately discovered the benefits of not having the tire carrier in the way all the time when I wanted to access the truck bed, and at the same time the drawbacks of putting just a 31x10.5 tire in the truck bed.

The obvious solution for me is a hitch mounted swing away tire carrier like the ones sold by Rigd, unfortunately, due to my unique bumper those don't fit my truck right and if I put that particular hitch mounted tire carrier on my rear hitch, I'm not able to open the tailgate without damaging it. That is a problem specific to me.

Hopefully Scout Motors comes up with a good alternative for people who don't want the rear mounted spare tire carrier. An option to put the spare tire in the location it seems they are going to put the gas generator in the EREV model seems like a decent compromise, keep the full size spare, but hide it out of sight and out of the way under the rear floor, and accessible by dropping it from the frame instead of needing to lift it out of the rear cargo area (which was what my Subaru Outback required and meant if I ever needed to access the spare I had to unload practically the whole cargo area. Ugh). This is probably not the best for off roading though, so again, no location for the spare is perfect and if possible different options allowing the spare to be placed where it works best for each individual buyer is the best I can suggest, assuming that can be handled without adding too much cost.

Edit: can the spare tire go in the frunk? The frunk on the Ioniq 5 is pretty much useless, and that hasn't been a problem for me.

I think it was already confirmed the spare won’t fit in the frunk…

 

[jeremydunworth]

As much as I like how the spare on the rear looks, I’m starting to think that if it’s not removable I’ll just carry the spare when I want to…. I doubt I’ll be off roading a 60k+ vehicle for quite a while and I can’t think of the last time I needed a spare tire…

The second part about when was the last time you needed a spare is a good point. I actually remember the last time I needed a spare, it was around 2005 when my Toyota, I don't remember how, had a flat in the REI parking lot.

Around 2015, I got a bolt in one of the front tires of my Subaru Outback coming in to Santa Fe. The next morning a tow company came, aired up the tired, and I drove it (or got it flat bed towed I don't remember) to the nearest Discount Tire where they patched the tire. I didn't even unload the full size spare I drove around with for all the years I owned the vehicle.

I love the idea of a full size spare. The reality is the only case I can see for needing one is offroading when you are some distance from a service station. I suppose for some folks in less populated areas they might often be some distance from a tire shop, and they also probably aren't regularly parking in tight city spots where the swing away tire carrier is a space issue.