Tesla CybertruckPerhaps the most extreme case of weight saving is Tesla — who have never shipped a car from the factory with a spare tire. Instead, Tesla owners have, in the past, had to cut away parts of their trunks to fit in full-sized spares,though this is not the case with the Tesla Cybertruck. Even so, the Cybertruck's spare tire situation isn't all that great, given that it still does not ship with the spare from the factory — not even as an option. Instead, you scan a QR code online and get taken to the Tesla mobile app — Android or iOS — and can place the order for your spare wheel. The process is fairly seamless, albeit a bit long winded, but that's not the issue. The real issue is the price — $1,250 at the time of writing. To compound the problem, many owners on Tesla forums are reporting that you need aftermarket parts if you don't want to put your spare in the bed. Even Tesla's own marketing pictures (shown below) show the Cybertruck spare wheel going in the 6x4 bed of the truck, instead of under: However, the one saving grace of the Cybertruck's horrendously priced spare is that, for the money, you do get everything you would need to change a wheel. You get a tire pressure monitoring system, the tire mounted on a full-sized spare wheel, and a toolkit that has a hydraulic lift jack, gloves, lug nut remover hex tool, and a wheel cover remover. And, when compared to rival EV firm Rivian's offering — priced at $1,575 and only available over the phone — the Cybertruck spare holds a little more value.Kia Sorento HEVThe Kia Sorento was introduced back in March of 2002, when it made its debut at the New York International auto show, alongside the then-new Kia Rio and Kia Cinco. Today, the Sorento serves as a midsize crossover between the smaller $28,690 Kia Sportage and the more premium $36,390 Kia Telluride. When it launched in 2002, the Sorento had a 3.5-liter V6 engine that made 192 horsepower, and was mated to either a four-speed automatic or a five-speed manual gearbox. It was reliable, priced well, and pretty bog standard. Today, the Kia Sorento is fairly near the top of its class, with things like 20 standard driver assist features, three-row seating, 40 cubic feet of space in the trunk, remote start, climate control, shareable digital keys, and loads more. The engine in the Sorento of today is also fantastic — both trims on the Kia Sorento Hybrid get the same 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine making 258 lbs-ft of torque and 227 hp combined, of which 59 hp comes from the full parallel hybrid system. Among the myriad features offered on the Sorento HEV is a spare tire on both trims, included as standard. However, again, it is a space saver and not a full replacement set.Land Rover Discovery SportThe Land Rover Discovery is a nameplate that has been around pretty much forever at this point, having been launched at the end of the cold war in 1989 — and has lived on ever since. A great many models have carried the vaunted nameplate through the decades, like the LR2, LR3, LR4, vanilla Discovery, and, most recently, the Discovery Sport. The Sport version of this much-beloved off-roader began production in October 2014 with a radical design change from what Land Rover had been running with at the time. Despite sales success of the hybrid electric Range Rover models, which were hybridized way back in 2013, the Discovery didn't get an HEV or even mild hybrid trim until as recently as 2021.Today, all trims on the Land Rover Discovery are available with at least some form of a mild hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrain. The main hybrid engine choices are a diesel D165 that makes 163 hp, a D200 diesel that makes 204 hp, a gasoline P250 making 249 hp, and two other petrol engines making 269 hp and 309 hp respectively. The first three engines are mild hybrids, and the last two are PHEV engines. On all trims of your Discovery — not just the S — you'll find a spare tire. Land Rover calls this a "reduced section alloy spare wheel," which is just marketing speak for — you guessed it — a space saver tire.Lexus RX350 HybridThe second Lexus on our list is the Lexus RX350, which shares a platform called the GA-K with the Toyota Highlander and Grand Highlander. Many people tend to think that the RX-line from Lexus is based on the RAV4 from Toyota, but this is not the case despite the visual similarities — the Lexus version of the RAV4 is part of the NX series. Today, the RX350 is available in a grand total of eight different trims, compared to the non-hybrid RX350 that only gets six trim levels to choose from. The hybrid version gets an EPA-estimated mileage of 36 MPG, which is certainly not something to scoff at for a midsize crossover SUV. For this model year we get slightly updated styling, the usual suite of safety features, which Lexus calls its "Safety System+ 3.0" that includes lane departure alerts, lane keep assist, pedestrian detection, road sign detection, radar cruise control, and automatic high beams. And yes, all trims and models on the RX line — not just the RX350 — get a space-saver spare tire. The RX350 uses 165 mm spares with a 70% treadwall, and the RX500 uses 165 mm spares with a much taller 90% treadwall. Both versions mount the spare in the boot space.
