I mean, On an All-Wheel-Drive (other drives too, simply takes longer) running with one smaller tire (spare) can seriously damage the differentials so… why not just make it the same size and avoid the car damage of driving on a spare tire long term?
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I carry a full size spare in the bed of my truck and it weighs around 60 pounds. Granted car tires are much smaller and cars are also softly sprung but why would you want to carry around a full sized tire and its weight if you could just get a doughnut sized tire to get you off the road and to a tire shop?
Lots of newer cars do not even have spare tires anymore.
As others have said, cost and space are the biggest reasons. A full size spare takes up a lot of cargo room. The “donut” spare is usually designed to be driven at low speeds to a repair shop, nothing more.
Some cars do come with full size spares, though.
A full size spare takes up more cargo room, weighs more, costs more. Spares aren’t meant for long distance travel—just from scene of flat to repair shop.
Spare tires are meant to get you to your destination or repair shop and get a new tire fixed onto your car, you as the car owner can also buy a new tire that is the same size as your current wheels so when you lose one tire it’ll still be able to he driven on for long term.
Well you aren’t really meant to drive on it long term. In my view manufacturers just want to throw in a tire that’s cheap and easy to fit into the car.
Full sized tires are more expensive and people don’t bother replacing the donut that came with their car with an actual spare tire. A lot of new cars don’t even come with donuts anymore though so now you have to buy a spare tire if you want one.
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