Spare wheel situation

rippers · Mar 19, 2025

So after a five year break, I'm back in the market for another California, the T7 appeals as we will be using it 95% as a car so looking for a Beach.

Looking at the options list etc.. it reads like there is no spare wheel. The beach can have a 'alloy' spare as an option but! not with the aux air heater.. which explains why the Ocean and Coast don't have the option of a spare wheel.

My question is, whilst it reads like there is no spare, is there not a space saver or anything? We travel Europe a lot and the thought of not having a spare doesn't thrill me (neither would replying on a can of foam and compressor)

The jury is out as to whether I want the aux heater, its literally resell value if I did as I don't personally rate them.

Does anyone have any insight?

Thanks in advance!

B J G · Mar 19, 2025

Finding any new vehicle with a spare wheel now is very unlikely.

Meoncoast · Mar 19, 2025

All the major breakdown companies seem to cater for no spare wheels and carry loan wheels.

Archie · Mar 19, 2025

When I looked at a T7 in the showroom I saw there was a wheel sized space under the rear but much further in than on the T5/T6, would be hard to get to without laying on the ground I suspect.
The dealer advised the spare isn’t offered due to keeping the vehicle weight down / available passenger &luggage weight up (same reason that the dynamic chassis control that is available I believe on a beach but not T7 Coast / Ocean).
The dealer breezily advised “we can sell you a spare wheel aftermarket though”. There didn’t appear to be any fixings on the space so whether they would modify the space to allow the wheel to be retained and carried as well, I don’t know.
It made me think that in reality I don’t think either you or dealer would be doing anything wrong in this scenario, as long as you don’t go over the legal weight limits when on the road. It’s just VW wanting to have a higher people & luggage allowance.
Anyone got any views / knowledge on that?

dspuk · Mar 19, 2025

Spare wheels seems to be an odd fixation. We bought and put one on. Never had to use it, despite two punctures. The Holts kit we bought (rather than use the VW one) worked perfectly.

So we have a 250 quid wheel and kit bolted to the underside of the van “just in case”.

Which is essentially why manufacturers got rid of them. Conspiracy theorists will point to cost savings and penny pinching, which may have credence, but there are other reasons.

Effectively a spare is surplus to requirements and statically unnecessary additionally being a drain on vehicle weight, so safety, MPG etc - adding costs and environmental issues in making them and later down the line disposing of them.

Get a decent Holts kit and breakdown cover and cross your fingers.