New Land Rover Discovery space saver wheel
My Husband is interested in the new Land Rover Discovery. Our current caravan is a twin axle Swift Elegance so we need a big tow vehicle. Having looked at the vehicle info it would appear that because of the 7 seat configuration they only come with a space saving spare wheel. All our previous Land Rovers have had full sized spares for towing. The dealer does not seem to know if the space saver is adequate to tow in and emergency. Can you help?
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Make the supply of a full size spare part of your purchase contract. In addition to the skinny one so you can bung the full size in when on holiday towing.
We found the new discovery was narrower in the cabin in the front than the Disco 4, the rear seat room (mid row) was poor for our 10 yo daughter, the tailgate has sharp edges that are easily walked into at the demo event by lots of blokes around 6'.
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I did look at the new Discovery recently. You can get a five seat version that has a full size spare and takes various tow bars.
I don't think the unladen weight is greater than my current Freelander 2 so it may not be suitable to match with some of the larger Elegance range.
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Space savers are not suitable for towing and are good only for 50 miles at 50 mph. More like a waste of space.
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I checked with Volvo with regard to my spacesaver wheel on my XC70 and they sent an E mail back to say that it was perfectly alright to tow with the Spacesaver. I really don't see the problem with the spacesaver tire as it is only to get you to a garage to repair or replace. And lets face it 50mph is not slow when towing.If it is good enough for the manufacturer and they say it in writing then it is good enough for me and I will not waste any time worrying about it.
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It might be good enough for you and the manufacturer Pagan but it does not quite cut it for me. When I bought my X-Trail it came with a full size spare. A few years later it was a space saver in the model but if a polystyrene infill was removed a full spare would fit (many did this). No idea what the present offering is.
With a Hundred and fifty miles ahead of me at 10am on the motorway, if I need a tyre change I wish to then reach my destination and get the spare replaced the following day. I also have no desire to travel up a busy motorway at 50mph forming a rolling road block. Having had the wheel change I need somewhere to store the spare if it won't fit the wheel well. Boot already full.
No for me no full size spare means not fit for my purpose which is as a holiday tow car.
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It might get you to the garage but I just see the response from the man in the french tyre shop when you ask him for a matching 245 19 tyre for the Disco - NON
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Well I was in Spain when my XC70 tire was slashed and I managed to get a new tire which was a Pirelli verde all season tire and was on my way in a couple of hours. I did have help from Red Pennant so it was worth the money. There are going to be more and more cars with Spacesaver tires or even no spare at all just the 'goo' so as far as I'm concerned and considering I have had 2 punctures in 10 years I am not really bothered . If all else fails then I have breakdown cover as well.
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From Volkswagen UK help site.
Volkswagen help
How far can i drive on the emergency spare wheel?
The space saver wheel is designed to drive up at 30mph for up to 30 miles.
Did this answer your question?Sounds about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. By the time you get to a tyre shop (If there is one open at the time) you will also need to replace the spare tyre perhaps. Sounds a great bit of kit
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I have just checked the Land Rover site and it gives the Discovery Sport unladen weight as between 1775-1884 kg model dependent.
Are you getting confused with Kerbside Weights?
I understand that vehicle/caravan matching is done on the Unladen Weight or am I misinformed?
Ken
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Letter on the Honest John Website and response sums it up for :
would strongly advise readers not to use space-saving spare wheels on motorways. A few months ago, the AA fitted mine after I picked up a puncture on the M18 in Yorkshire. I continued my journey home via the M18 and M1, keeping to the recommended 50mph in the left-hand lane. Those 35 miles were among the most frightening I have experienced in 48 years of driving, with continual tailgating by HGVs whose drivers wanted to go faster. Their excuse, I am sure, is that they have schedules to meet (as, no doubt, have the sales reps who tailgate at 90mph in the fast lane). These spare wheels are unsuitable for use on modern roads because they severely limit defensive driving on motorways.
TL, Derby
You are right. The minimum safe motorway speed for a car is 60mph, to stay ahead of HGVs governed to about a true 56. Any vehicle running at 50mph in the nearside lane is a potential hazard and should display a flashing orange light. By the way, there is no such thing as a fast lane on UK motorways – all traffic should stay left unless overtaking.0 -
Letter to Honest John in The Telegraph and response sums it up for me :-
I would strongly advise readers not to use space-saving spare wheels on motorways. A few months ago, the AA fitted mine after I picked up a puncture on the M18 in Yorkshire. I continued my journey home via the M18 and M1, keeping to the recommended 50mph in the left-hand lane. Those 35 miles were among the most frightening I have experienced in 48 years of driving, with continual tailgating by HGVs whose drivers wanted to go faster. Their excuse, I am sure, is that they have schedules to meet (as, no doubt, have the sales reps who tailgate at 90mph in the fast lane). These spare wheels are unsuitable for use on modern roads because they severely limit defensive driving on motorways.
TL, Derby
You are right. The minimum safe motorway speed for a car is 60mph, to stay ahead of HGVs governed to about a true 56. Any vehicle running at 50mph in the nearside lane is a potential hazard and should display a flashing orange light. By the way, there is no such thing as a fast lane on UK motorways – all traffic should stay left unless overtaking.0 -
ken, this thread is about the new Discovery not the Discovery Sport, the Discovery is a much bigger beast
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The OP was discussing the new Discovery which is the replacement for the Discovery 4. The Discovery Sport is a completely different vehicle that replaced the Freelander 2 and is much smaller and lighter than the new Discovery. The names are confusing and the vehicles also share some design features but there the similarity ends.
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I have to say I am with Easy on this one. A full size, proper strength tyre is what I would want to tow with. Fortunately my Towcar has a full size new spare but I have recently replaced the family car and it came with NO spare wheel- just a can of goo and a 12v compressor! Not impressive.
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My question is, if a space saver is safe and ok, why aren't the wheels that size in the first place?
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The answer is probably because the vehicle would handle like a pig. A space saver is an emergency wheel designed to allow you to get to the nearest tyre depot and has restrictions as to its use.
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The other problem with having a wheelbarrow wheel as a spare is that it is limited on distance and even if you are able to get to tyre outlet that is open there is a good chance that they will not have the tyre that you want. I want matched tyres and particularly so when towing. The tyre that I want is the ones that I have used for the last 11 years and 9 months because the caravan tows well with them on. I usually order tyres from my usual tyre shop as they probably have not got them in stock. Usually takes a couple of hours to get them in. When you have a caravan on the back it is far from easy to get into a tyre shop and so probably need to find a phone number and call somebody out. It becomes more and more problematical the more that I consider it.
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I 'downsized from a Discovery 4 to a Discovery Sport but specified the 5 seat version which has a full sized alloy spare wheel and the heavy duty electric deployable tow bar. I have towed a twin axle Barcelona with the new Sport and it was rock steady with plenty of pulling power. As intended we traded the Barcelona for an Elegance 580 which is marginally lighter at 1705 fully loaded. Again we have rock steady stability. If you check the CC tow match web site it cautions that the weight percentage is about 92%. However it does not take into account the normal loading of the tow car which you can checking using the Towsure matching website. My set up dropped to below 85%. Both Discoveries have tow assist which if a sway is sensed automatically applies braking to the necessary wheels of the car. Again the Elegance has the ATC trailer control. All other specifications of both the new Discovery and the Sport far exceed that required to tow an Elegance. For example the Sport in 7 seat version has a max tow weight of 2200 kg but is increased in the 5 seat version with heavy duty tow bar to 2,500 kgs In conclusion I would definitely seek out a version with a full sized spare wheel.
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When looking at, and towing with a demo Touareg back in 2004 I had real concerns on its space saver for towing. VW UK's response was "okay if not used on the rear axle". Shuffling a front to the back added into the hassle if we had a rear puncture was a load more aggro and part of the reason dropping that vehicle as an option and going the D3 route.
I am reading that the D5 has overtones of a far more worrying caravan tow vehicle issue than just its space saver though:
https://disco5.co.uk/forum/thread125482.html
If that was not enough its aluminium body with no heavy duty subframe/chassis, looking into adding a tow hook it requires a whole bunch of steelwork to be added to carry the hook and transfer the loads into the structure. Lost is the simplicity of the D3 & D4s towing provision and adding what is effectively a steel rear sub frame, somewhat offsets a bit the weight saving of the aluminium body.
At present happy I took the decision to buy one of the run out D4s. Maybe not so "cool" but well proven for our task I think.
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