It feels like the spare tire is going extinct. From packaging concerns to the sheer weight reduction of a tire inflator kit over a whole spare wheel, more and more automakers are just giving you a can of Fix-A-Flat and a roadside assistance number. Thankfully, the Lexus IS 500 Ultimate Edition bucks the trend, but it does so in a weird way that’s not shared with any other Lexus IS. Let me explain.
The Lexus IS 500 is the last naturally aspirated V8 sport sedan on the market. Or at least it was, because 2025 was the final model year that paired the 472-horsepower five-liter 2UR-GSE V8 with Lexus’ littlest sedan. I’ll dig deeper into this in a later article, but what you need to know for now is that Lexus saw it out with something called the Ultimate Edition.
Admittedly, this 500-unit limited run is largely an appearance package featuring the somewhat underwhelming color combination of grey paint over a red-and-black interior. Compared to the eyeball-frying Blue Vector offered a couple of years ago, it’s a whisper, although this Ultimate Edition does come with one actual performance upgrade.
I’m talking about six-piston Brembo monoblock front calipers clamping sizeable 14.96-inch discs. It’s a substantial upgrade from the standard car’s four-piston front calipers and 14-inch front discs, but one that comes with a bit of a trade-off. Huge calipers and discs require substantial wheel clearance, and while the standard BBS wheels look fantastic, I’m more interested in what’s going on in the trunk.
Pop the deck lid of the IS 500 Ultimate Edition, and you’ll find that the carpet on the trunk floor simply doesn’t fit. It lies awkwardly, sort of like how a cat is really easy to spot if he’s hiding under the living room rug. Peeling back the carpet reveals a decision that seems simultaneously slightly janky yet strangely well-executed. That’s a significant spare tire lump, molded into a properly-fitting cover designed and manufactured specifically for a limited-run of special edition sedans. How unusual.
However, that chunk taken out of the trunk space isn’t there without a reason. Lift up that thoughtfully molded cover, and you’ll find a full-size alloy spare wheel wrapped in a 225/40ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tire. Admittedly, it doesn’t match the wheels found on the corners of the IS 500, but it’s the same size tire normally found up front, and that thin spoke profile is here for a reason. You know how I mentioned caliper clearance earlier? Well, this wheel definitely clears those six-piston calipers.
In some ways, the IS 500 Ultimate Edition spare tire situation is a bit of a wash. The lack of a flat trunk floor and the chunk of trunk space removed are unfortunate, but having a functional spare tire at all is likely a worthy trade-off, and having a full-sized (at least on the front) one is a big plus. It’s definitely strange for a spare tire to not really fit in its holder, but sometimes high-performance problems require unusual solutions. As for those big brakes, I was thankful for the moderately aggressive pads and larger swept area when some muppet in an Accord tried to merge into me at 60 MPH, but that’s a story for another day.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
Early Mk2 Golfs and Jetta did the same in some markets. The spare wheel well was designed for a space saver, but at least in the UK the cars came with a full-size spare, with a hump in the boot (trunk) floor to cover it. My dad had a 1984 Golf GTi with a full-size spare and a hump, followed by a 1986 model with a space saver and a flat floor. You can guess which one developed a puncture at a rural French campsite on a Sunday evening.
The last generation Camry (2018-2024) in the US came with a compact spare tire. The Australian version of the same car ships with a full size spare.
Having discovered this, I pulled out the foam that covers the temporary spare, fitted a full-sized wheel and tire, and bought the Australian-market plastic cover online.
Boom, full-size spare unlocked, and it only slightly raises the trunk floor.
Same with 2018 era MDX. Space saver tire in a well that holds a full-size spare.
I will sacrifice whatever if it means I have a full-size spare. It was a specific criterion the last time I was shopping for a modern car.
Chrysler had an interesting solution in the LH cars of the early aughts. The spare tire well was deep enough for a full-size spare, but they came standard with a donut and included a rigid foam ring that made up the difference in height. They used the same hardware to secure whichever spare you had, and the setup kept the fiber-board cover from collapsing into the void. I ended up buying an extra wheel and tire, then chucked the donut and foam ring into storage never to be seen again until I sold the car.
At this point, it is kind of a bummer that they did not include an identical rim. That way, you could always keep the most scratched rim in the trunk.
The CRX was similar… While the ’88 came with a horrible space-saver that fit perfectly in the recess and gave you the normal flat boot experience. My ’91 came with a proper full size spare, but to make the boot level Honda added a couple of 2″ molded/wobbly Styrofoam pieces either side and let the carpet droop poorly over the whole afterthought. At least Lexus put in a little bit of effort.
I have never purchased a car without a spare. This will continue to be true.
“The lack of a flat trunk floor and the chunk of trunk space removed are unfortunate, but having a functional spare tire at all is likely a worthy trade-off”.
Indeed it is. My ’24 Golf R came with a spray can of Cheez Whiz and an air pump instead of a spare tire, as do most cars these days. I chose to purchase a high performance spare tire from Modern Tire which is mounted on an aluminum wheel that is sized to fit on the front or rear of the car, given that the front brakes on the car won’t allow a standard compact spare tire steel wheel to fit over them, The spare tire allows for a top speed of 65 mph and a driving distance of 200 miles.
Two weeks ago I was on US 27 northwest of Ocala, FL at night and hit a pothole I could not see. It destroyed my right front tire and wheel. Having that spare saved me as the spray crap and air pump would be useless in repairing a tire with a gash through the sidewall and wheel with a large split in it. If not for the spare tire, I would have had to call a flatbed for a tow (Golf R is AWD) and possibly rent a car to get home to Sarasota.
Charge me whatever you want and I don’t care if the trunk floor is not totally flat, but include an appropriate spare tire with my car purchase.
Amen. I knew my Mk7 didn’t have a spare, so I started building my own kit out of European parts including an Audi S3 donut. The AWD in the R (such as it is) means the load floor is higher, so the standard/GTI spare doesn’t fit. While I was waiting for parts to arrive, I ran over a big rock — my own dumb fault for following too close to see it in time. Anyway, despite lining up the hole at the bottom, the Cheez Whiz just sputtered out of the hole in shoulder/sidewall area. It turned a 15 minute swap into a 3 hour wait in 100°F heat for the rollback. Spare tire kit parts started arriving the next week, natch.
I had an ’18 Mk 7.5 R prior to my ’24 R. I chose the same route as you and opted for a donut from the S3. Never had to use it, and glad I didn’t. If I had a front tire failure I would have needed to remove a rear tire to place on the front and place the donut on the rear as the donut would not fit over the front brake. VW and other manufacturers need to better consider ownership experience when making decisions to cut cost. I like my R, but the cost cutting (lack of spare tire, haptic controls on the steering wheel, burying controls several layers deep in the center touch screen, use of hard plastics, etc.) give me pause about ever purchasing another. Unless of course the rumor of the ’27 coming with a 2.5 litre 5 cylinder from the Audi RS3 prove to be true.
On the Focus ST, they raised the entire luggage floor.
Whatever it takes to put a spare tire in a car is fine by me. Full size, too? Excellent! Anyone who makes a car without a spare should be sentenced to suffer a blown sidewall in Nowhere, MT at night in the winter with no cell service and a can of compressed goo. Good luck.
You left off the compressed goo frozen solid at -15F part.
The ST205 Toyota Celica GT-Four did this too. When they added the AWD, the rear differential took up the space the spare used to be, so they did exactly this and just bumped it up a few inches. It was pretty funny looking.
I am pretty bummed about the lack of spare tires these days. Maybe I’m an outlier but I’ve used a spare 3 times in the past 5 years, one of which was on a forestry road out of cell service in rural Washington state. It was cold as hell that day too.
I’m with you. I have only ever had one car without one, and it was a Lotus Elise. It’s forgiveable there, but in a regular passenger car it isn’t. I have needed them many times, most notable was in the middle of nowhere New Mexico where I had to turn around and drive 150 miles back to Roswell because that was the closest tire shop to me that we could find. If I had needed a tow it would have taken several hours and cost me a day on my family road trip. Cars need spare tires.
totally
I’ve never had to personally use one, other than on trailers, in my 20+ years of driving. About 8 years ago I did have to put the spare on my then girlfriend’s car after she hit a pothole. I still think cars should come with spares though. Fuck run flats
A good spare is a safety feature.
I was really glad to find out that my tiny, hybrid Prius C actually had a spare wheel. I honestly thought that maybe it wouldn’t considering how small it was, and the fact that the hybrid battery had to go somewhere. Kudos to Toyota for managing to fit one in. The only minor annoyance is that they chose to place the scissor jack under the driver’s seat, so I have to push the seat all the way forward to get at the jack, and even then, it’s still a pain in the ass. Oh well, at least it’s got one.
Actually, this article could be used as inspiration for an article similar to the “state of amber turn signals” from a couple days ago. How many new cars in the US still include spare wheels? Not including pickup trucks and large BOF SUVs, as those almost universally still have them, I’m pretty sure.
That’s pretty surprising, though the spare on something like Prius C is likely very skinny and can be packaged easily.
The base model Mini Cooper (R56, F56, etc.) for many years came with a spare that was located under the car at the right rear, just in front of the bumper. You could only get it (or retrofit it) on the base model cars because the S and JCW featured a center-mount exhaust. As a result my S has to make do with an inflator kit in the summer and run-flat snows in the winter. The car does have a trunk area, but it’s literally too short to accommodate a spare.
The other annoyance is that the design of the rear bumper and exhaust makes it tough to add a tow adapter.
Mine didn’t come with one in the US market, but it has the place and threaded insert to mount one. I wonder how many don’t even have a spot for them.
Your Prius C didn’t have a spare? It should have. Mine is a US market one too.
Sorry, I meant it as my car generically. I guess they supply it with a spare in markets where that’s required, like Australia, but the US GR86 just comes with tire slime and a foam storage tray.
I guess I figured the GR86 wouldn’t have a spare, but it is surprising to me that it does in other markets. And to have the room for one and include all the mounting hardware, but not include the wheel? That’s almost insulting. Can you buy one aftermarket if you wanted one?
Yeah, and pretty much any Subaru spare fits as long as the diameter works, so if you can find a junk yard (all the ones I knew of are gone), they can be had for cheap.
My BMW E93 (Convertible) insane even a depression in its comically small trunk. It seems to be occupied by the hydraulic pump & reservoir and the sound system amplifiers.
Honda, whom I once admired for their packaging solutions, somehow managed to have the battery in the new hybrid CR-V raise the trunk floor, still not have it flat with the folded rear seats (there’s a substantial step from the trunk to the seats when folded “flat”, AND leave no space for a spare. There’s just straight-up no space for it. In an SUV whose first generation used to come with a full-size externally-mounted spare, seats that folded all the way flat BOTH WAYS, and a picnic table under the trunk. How the mighty have fallen…
If Honda knew what was good for them, they’d put the externally-mounted spare back on. Same with the RAV4
Having been stranded out of cell phone range at night after a major sidewall blowout, I am a big fan of actual spare tires. Although that lump is unfortunate, it’s a lot better than taking up half of your trunk space with a spare in a car that has no well for it whatsoever.
I’m glad they included a spare on this, I hope the trend doesn’t completely die out. However, I am more concerned about there simply being a spare tire well in the trunk. It wouldn’t bother me a ton to just source my own spare if I had a place to stick it.
On a road trip a couple of years ago, I lost a front tire due to sidewall damage. It looked like dry rot, but it was on the inside sidewall, so it would’ve been out of the sun. Anyway, this was a long interstate trip back to see family, so I didn’t exactly want to do the next 650 miles on the space saver spare. So even though I had a spare, I still ended up finding a shop; the spare did save me from needing a tow, though. Since then, I bought a junkyard wheel and had Costco put on a new Michelin tire for $100. All in, I think I spent ~$150 for a full-size spare, but it could’ve been done cheaper if I bought a junkyard tire with the wheel. The full-size spare fits in the trunk tire well, but it sticks up about an inch. I used some foam mats I had and leveled off the trunk on the sides of the spare, and just put the trunk liner back in overtop of everything. I plan to do this on all my future cars, which are put into road-trip service.
Also, I’m off black wheels; I find they near universally make a car look worse. The hidden spare is a better-looking wheel design the actual special edition wheels.
While packaging and weight are concerns, I’d bet the biggest reason why spares are going away is that fewer and fewer drivers are even capable of using them. When pretty much every driver simply calls roadside assistance and gets towed to a tire shop for a replacement, why bother with a spare?
Same thing with dipsticks; the overwhelming majority of drivers never pop their hood, let alone are able to identify anything under there. When you can save a few bucks per car and the only pushback is from the tiny and ever-dwindling number of enthusiast/DIY drivers, it’s an easy call to make.
Everyone I know who has called AAA for a flat has just had them install the spare, and they’ve dealt with going to the shop on their own time. Admittedly, my sample size is small.
Hm. I think the cellphone might be to blame. In the Before Times, if you got a flat you were on your own. I don’t think people wanted to deal with changing a tire, but everyone knew how b/c the alternative was so undesirable. Now it’s “why would I bother when I can just call someone?”
Yeah, I completely agree, we’ve made it relatively easy to get help. Another factor is location. Where I used to commute in North Jersey I would probably not bother to try to change a wheel on any highway purely for reasons of safety.
Indeed. I’ve changed 3 spares, but two were in someone’s driveway and one was in a Taco Bell parking lot. If I had a flat on the hard shoulder I would call AAA for a tow, probably. No one’s life is worth fitting a space-saver mere inches from 70 mph traffic.
I had a friend who passed her test in the late 90’s. Her parents bought her a car, but her dad insisted on her swapping all four wheels on it before she was allowed out, so that she had demonstrated she knew how to change a tyre, (and that dad wouldn’t be getting called in the middle of the night just to change a tyre)
My limited research on the internet indicated that using fix-a-flat could be a pretty good way to screw up your wheel (and of course it only works for minor issues), so I bought a compact spare and have it taking up a quarter of the rear hatch in my GR Corolla. (Though the internets also say that I can cut the foam under the rear floor to fit a spare, Toyota was didn’t include.)
I’ve used dozens of cans of the stuff and the only issue I ever had was one time when I tried to use it when it was frozen.
I keep bacon strips in my trunk, they take up less space than the spray can, can be used more times (they usually come in a 10-pack or so), are semi-permanent, and if you have the arm strength to apply them, they’re not much harder. I don’t have an inflator though, because I also have a spare, so I just patch my tire, drive to a gas station/home and inflate it, then I can set an appointment at a tire shop for a more technically correct internal patch whenever it’s convenient.
I really like this. The only potential improvement would be using a matching wheel to allow 5 tire rotations.
You’d really have a 3-tire rotation and a 2-tire rotation, since the wheels are staggered.
Ah, missed that.
I basically have no recourse for rotations, as I have staggered wheels and directional tires. If I really need to swap them, I’ll have to go get my tires dismounted and mounted again.
Fix-A-Flat? Jeez, I wasn’t aware this was a thing. I’d be uncomfortable not having a spare, I haven’t met many flats that Fix-A-Flat can actually, you know, fix.
I’ve used a spare 3 times in 33 years and 1M miles, but dozens of cans of F-a-F. Unless the wheel is wrecked or the tires are slashed (like all 4 of mine one Halloween), it works. I’ve had tires with multiple nails/screws in them (worked near a bunch of clumsy dickheads that would spill them out of their vans and not bother to pick them up) and drove them until they wore out without issue. Don’t brake into pot holes.
Halloween? Slashed tires? Are you the person who once put razor blades in candy like hysterical parents claim happens every year?
I parked in a semi-sketchy parking lot of Salem, MA. They dumped soda all over it, too. Only bright spot was that I was planning on getting new tires because they were worn out, so it just cost me a short tow.
I think the razor blades in candy thing was an excuse for parents to steal candy. At least that’s something I would have done.
You know, if they’d just embrace the continental spare, you might get closer to 50/50 weight distribution.
Is that the one stuck to the outside of the trunk? If so, yeah it’s time to bring that back.
Yup, hung off the rear bumper – I’m not sure on top of the trunk lid a la Rover P6 3500 would be feasible (too stubby), although more feasible than bolted to the front fender (and no where near enough room to go in the front fender like a Bristol).
That way you can signal to everyone your car came with a full size spare!
If you remove the tire, it makes a great hiding spot for your Trunk Monkey
I understand the weight and space savings of not carrying a spare. Then again, the tire sizes on the Lexus IS models are not common, so not being stuck waiting for a special order is much more important to me.
Anecdote, although in a Toyota, not a Lexus: I was trying to pick up my ageing parents to see my children perform together for a school concert. The last chance before the older one graduated. I hit something (still not sure what, but I lost 5mph or more instantaneously and felt like a pothole) and totally destroyed the tire. Both dealer support and insurance towing required a 2.5 to 3 hour wait. I changed it in 25 minutes and was back on the road without having to cancel the event. Spare tire for the win!
That trunk floor lump is unfortunate and an indicator that the platform wasn’t originally designed for this hardware upgrade, but it’s still better than skipping it altogether like the base 3 Series. And you’re only getting a 2-liter in that car. I’m guessing the maximization of cargo space is a low priority for someone buying a limited edition V8 compact.
The fix-a-flat craze is not one I’m fond of. Even the CR-V lacks a spare and you’d think that box on wheels could be packaged to accommodate it. Particularly if they’re going to offer a Trailsport marketing trim.
Removing the spare on crossovers feels like one of the reasons why people point to the fuel economy not being so bad when compared to their 2000’s era sedan. A lot of it is an illusion. Your spare-free car has less functionality, especially in this era of degrading infrastructure.
Our 2024 Trax LS came with a real spare tire. I was actually a little impressed for a car with a base model sticker price of $21,495. Many, more expensive GM vehicles came with tire inflator kits in 2024.
The Equinox EV comes with a spare on the LT models, but run-flats and an inflator on the RS models (with the larger rim). The bigger rims with the run-flats rode like total crap (I swear you could have felt running over a human hair) so I had to haggle with the dealer to lease the LT instead of the RS (which is what their lease special was for). Certainly happy to get a spare tire with that as well.
My personal theory is that they’ve changed driving instruction to inform new drivers that it is the person on the highway with the responsibility to get out of your way. It’s a trend that drivers merging onto the highway from the on ramp do not give any effort to finding a gap and altering speed to fit in easily. They just trust everyone will get out of their way.
If you are merging on a divided highway, you need to accelerate to highway speed and have until the end of the merge lane to merge and you have to be let in. If you aren’t you wind up on the median or stopped, which isn’t good either way. FWIW my first month of having my license I was doing 65 and trying to nag to merge, but some dude was doing 75 then decided to match my pace at the worst possible time and I had to merge in the median cause my window went away.
We were taught to match speed, yield to trucks if you can’t merge yet, never stop unless there’s bumper to bumper getting on a highway and merge safely.
I got my License 8 years ago
I need to find a current driver manual from the learner’s permit test or a driving school. That sounds utterly dangerous to say “you have to be let in.”
I was always taught (though it may have stated otherwise in the training manuals) that it is my responsibility to turn my head, locate a gap and adjust speed to fit into the gap. I mean sometimes you have to force it, I get that because people suck and seem to find it a personal attack to have someone else be in front of them.
But today I see that most people don’t even look. There is just an absurdly dangerous assumption that everyone will move out of their way.
Theres a big difference between people who have gone to driving school and haven’t. I learned at a driving school that the implied “you must merge” idea is bad and how to be defensive for people who merge at 30mph. I’m a much better driver because I went to a driving school, I see a huge difference between people who have gone to a driving school and haven’t in my friend group. The ones who’ve never had an instructor do the 30mph merges and have the “the lane ends, I must merge now” belief. I don’t remember what the manual says, but I doubt it implies what I said. What I said is more from personal experience with my peers tbh.
If anyone who has kiddos reads this, send them to a driving school when they’re of age.Driving school teaches more than rules. It teaches confidence in driving.
When my daughter was learning to drive, we had taught her that the on-ramps were properly called acceleration ramps. One day she as driving w/ her mother and started down a a downhill on-ramp and mashed the gas. Her mother cottoned to the stopped traffic on the freeway and shouted at her to stop, saying the traffic was stopped. She came back with “well, they’re not supposed to be”. Fortunately, she got the gray whale stopped w/o incident.
I did my bi-annual migration this weekend towing one of my cars with the other one for 500 mi.
This whole merging thing is one of my pet peeves and really stands out as a serious safety issue. When I’m towing, I’m trying to be good and stay at the reduced speed limit and keep to the right lane which of course is where all of the people are trying to merge into and are looking straight ahead and coming onto the highway at whatever speed they damn well feel like with not even a whiff of a concern for who they’re about to merge into.
On this trip, a guy in a late model HD pickup was blissfully about to merge with me – and by merge I mean take up the same physical space. I waited to see if he was going to realize what he was doing and then had to honk to get his attention. He immediately braked and fell in behind but then pulled up to my driver side where it looked like he wanted to have words. I ignored him so he sped ahead flipping birds all the way. Sigh.
In my training as a commercial driver, we were taught to cruise in the second-to-right lane through areas with lots of on ramps (ie urban) to reduce having to deal with that so often. If you have 3+ lanes on the highway, I would recommend doing that instead of staying in the right lane. Of course, if you only have two lanes then you gotta stay right if you’re slower traffic.
if there’s enough space in the left lane and you see someone approaching down the ramp, there’s nothing wrong with moving to the left lane just for that 1000’ or so, so you don’t have to play merge games with idiots anymore…
Good idea. I did end up sticking to the second to right lane a lot through the SF Bay area – the busiest part of the route.
On ramps have implied yield signs.
the big, old, ugly vehicle has the right of way.