[Ernest]

Looking under Standard equipment list I see you get an inflator& tire sealent kit. As small as it is, there is no room for a spare, which are becoming the way oft the dinosaur. ERNEST:thumbs:

 

[SATN SKY]

I looked in the "trunk" and saw the tire inflation kit. Where I "thought" the spare was turned out to be the gas tank.

You're right....no spare.

 

[Ernest]

I looked in the "trunk" and saw the tire inflation kit. Where I "thought" the spare was turned out to be the gas tank.

You're right....no spare.

Lucky on that one I guess. What is SKY preference? ERNEST :cheers: :driving:

 

[SATN SKY]

Chili Pepper Red
Black Leather
6-Disc in dash CD
XM Radio
LSD
Chrome Wheels

Already imaged and in process.

 

[brentil]

The new MX-5 and RX-8 also use tire inflator kits.

 

[Fformula88]

Yeah, no spare.

If you really get concerned with flats, you could always go with some run flat (EMT) tires, but they probably will cost you a lot in ride quality.

 

[richmcc]

I will probably not go with EMT. However, you need to be real careful of curbs with these tire. My wife had a set on her Cantera and I hit a curb at a speed that would not of done anything on normal tires. However since the sides are so narrow it put a slit in the side. I may be mistaken, But I do not think the Flat Tire Kit would fix this. Which would mean getting towed

 

[Ernest]

Chili Pepper Red
Black Leather
6-Disc in dash CD
XM Radio
LSD
Chrome Wheels

Already imaged and in process.

Congratulations:thumbs: I went code 025 today!!! ERNEST:driving:

 

[ggccg]

The way of the dinosaur or the way of profits...

I've owned a number of small cars, including an old VW Bug, Karman Ghia, 365A Porsche, Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, Porsche 914 (now that's small) and a Mercedes 230 SL.

All of them found room for a spare tire AND a fair amount of trunk space.

I think the real reason that spare tires are being phased out is two part:

1. Cars today are designed to a target price. Additional engineering and machining for spare storage is costly, as is an additional rim and some rubber.

2. On-Star makes sure you end up back in the tender clutches of a GM dealer when you do need emergency road service.

 

[SATN SKY]

ggccg,

I'm in the Fort Lauderdale area. Did you "order" your SKY yet? If so, where?
Are you paying MSRP or a markup?

 

[ggccg]

I have a deposit at Saturn of South Dade since the beginning of July. I spoke to them yesterday and they have not received any images yet but say that they have an initial allocation of 5 Skys. I am #2 on their list and they swear that there will be no hanky panky with the price... no market adjustments... scarcity charges... whatever you want to call it... that the factory sticker is what the price will be.

 

[Lee Willis]

The Corvette ZO6 from 2001 on had the inflator kit, too. (Standard vettes had run-flat tires and no spare, but those don't hold the road as well as GM wanted for the ZO6, and apparently the Sky).

The "goo and pump kit" will repair most punctures if they occur through the tread (as more than 5 out of 6 flats are) but will not repair a puncture through the sidewall. I didn't trust the "goo and pump" kit that came with my '02 though and bought a lightweight jack, socket and long bar, and mini-spare to carry in the trunk. I still carry the kit - doesn't weight enough to matter and I can always try it if I want.

I also have the ultimate flat-tire backup: an AAA card in the glovebox.

 

[azote]

they swear that there will be no hanky panky with the price... no market adjustments... scarcity charges... whatever you want to call it...

make them write it before is to late....

 

[Ernest]

I've owned a number of small cars, including an old VW Bug, Karman Ghia, 365A Porsche, Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, Porsche 914 (now that's small) and a Mercedes 230 SL.

All of them found room for a spare tire AND a fair amount of trunk space.

I think the real reason that spare tires are being phased out is two part:

1. Cars today are designed to a target price. Additional engineering and machining for spare storage is costly, as is an additional rim and some rubber.

2. On-Star makes sure you end up back in the tender clutches of a GM dealer when you do need emergency road service.

That works for me, also far superior tire compounds

ERNEST

 

[JimmieJ]

By chance did you happen to notice which side the gas cap was?

In Oregon, we can not fill up our own cars, and most cars have the cap on the drivers side, except for European cars, they are on the passengers side.
Gas lines do to this.

 

[Fformula88]

By chance did you happen to notice which side the gas cap was?

In Oregon, we can not fill up our own cars, and most cars have the cap on the drivers side, except for European cars, they are on the passengers side.
Gas lines do to this.

On the Solstice, the gas cap is on the drivers side, just behind the drivers door handle. Look for it on the drivers side of the Sky too.

 

[Lee Willis]

I've owned a number of small cars, including an old VW Bug, Karman Ghia, 365A Porsche, Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider, Porsche 914 (now that's small) and a Mercedes 230 SL.

All of them found room for a spare tire AND a fair amount of trunk space.

I think the real reason that spare tires are being phased out is two part:

1. Cars today are designed to a target price. Additional engineering and machining for spare storage is costly, as is an additional rim and some rubber.

2. On-Star makes sure you end up back in the tender clutches of a GM dealer when you do need emergency road service.

Cars today have to have crash protection, emissions control and a host of other things those didn't. Look at the Solstice or the Corvette - there is a good 4-5 inches across the back (about 1.8 to 2 cubic feet total) that is devoted to the honeycomb support for the rear fascia. Its the same with my Porsche - 30 years ago that would have been trunk space. Of course, when my Deutto got tapped -- and I mean just tapped, it caved in the whole rear end, but . . .

"Additional engineering and machining for spare storage is costly" - not really. Consider that my vette has room for a spare (as I said in another post on this site, I carry one in addition the goo and pump kit that came with it), but GM left the spare out for four reasons:
- flats are very rare anymore, a spare is not that important to people
- it takes up room people want
- the goo & pump kits costs them about $7 (wholesale to the factory), a mini spare and jack about $20. This is where they save money.
- manufactuers have to reduce weight in 115 lb increments to get their cars classed down a notch in the CAFE estimation tables (they aren't based on actual MPG but on weight and engine size, etc - some formulae. The 01-04 ZO6 and the 2006 Porsche Carrera 4 are both examples of cars that were close to being across a lower threashold (less mileage penalty points == more fleet-adjusted sales of SUVs) but weren't quite light enough: the vette needed 14 lbs and the tire and jack weighed nearly 20, so by deleting the spare they got it down a whole class (and they could also advertise an empty weight below 3100 lbs). The Porsche is something similar. Both have the goo and pump kit and thus popped down a weight class, gaining their company's second decimal place points, which are worth millions.

 

[KappaMan]

Cars today have to have crash protection, emissions control and a host of other things those didn't. Look at the Solstice or the Corvette - there is a good 4-5 inches across the back (about 1.8 to 2 cubic feet total) that is devoted to the honeycomb support for the rear fascia. Its the same with my Porsche - 30 years ago that would have been trunk space. Of course, when my Deutto got tapped -- and I mean just tapped, it caved in the whole rear end, but . . .

"Additional engineering and machining for spare storage is costly" - not really. Consider that my vette has room for a spare (as I said in another post on this site, I carry one in addition the goo and pump kit that came with it), but GM left the spare out for four reasons:
- flats are very rare anymore, a spare is not that important to people
- it takes up room people want
- the goo & pump kits costs them about $7 (wholesale to the factory), a mini spare and jack about $20. This is where they save money.
- manufactuers have to reduce weight in 115 lb increments to get their cars classed down a notch in the CAFE estimation tables (they aren't based on actual MPG but on weight and engine size, etc - some formulae. The 01-04 ZO6 and the 2006 Porsche Carrera 4 are both examples of cars that were close to being across a lower threashold (less mileage penalty points == more fleet-adjusted sales of SUVs) but weren't quite light enough: the vette needed 14 lbs and the tire and jack weighed nearly 20, so by deleting the spare they got it down a whole class (and they could also advertise an empty weight below 3100 lbs). The Porsche is something similar. Both have the goo and pump kit and thus popped down a weight class, gaining their company's second decimal place points, which are worth millions.

However, in this car, there is not really a place for a spare. Have a look yourself underneath. The special roof with the AFBTS takes up tremendous room in the trunk. To fit a spare and tools would have been prohibitively expensive in this car, IMHO.

Even the MX-5 couldn't find room for a spare in the NC version. It also doesn't hurt their weight, either.

 

[KappaMan]

Vehicles born and bred in US by US engineering have gas fillers on the Driver's side. Including the Saturn Sky.

Cavalier, Sunfire, Grand Am's, Alero, FWD Skylark/Skyhawk, Saab 9-3/malibu, FWD malibu (circa late 90's), Beretta, Corsica, ION, Cobalt, HHR...

all of these cars have fillers on PASSENGER side.

These seemingly unrelated cars all have passenger side gas fillers because the whole J-car, N-car, L-car are basic structural designs derived from a FWD german designed platform. Not a lot of people know this, but the j-car is very closely related to (some say have its origin with) the 1980 Opel Kadett (D), which is generally considered GM's first modern FWD car/platform.

Most European or German-based designs, for a variety of reasons, have the gas filler door on the right, or passenger side. Talking to German automotive enthusiasts, you won't get a clear or consistent answer as to why the filler is on the passenger/right side of German-based design cars, but you'll get the feeling that this is the only "correct" place to put it on any car... :lol:

A short family tree of body cousins:

"=>" means "yielded the basic structure of" or "was the basis of the struture for"

Kadett => J-body
J-body => N-body => L-body
Gen I J-body => Gen II J-body
Gen II J-body => "P-90", N-car platform => "X-130" N-car platform

(as a side note - the Kadett and subsequent generations eventually yielded the European/German "T" platform, which is the basis for the Astra and one of the SAABs which escape my memory at this time)

THEN, the need for a new "global car line" emerged, starting in the mid-late 1990's. This new platform, called "Delta", was supposed to yield replacements for both the J-body cars AND the european "T" platform cars. So, here was a chance for a clean sheet approach for a new FWD car... but had roughly 50% input from Europe and US engineering in the platform design and development until well after the platform's structure had been developed.

Eventually, Opel dropped out and pursued an improvement on a next generation re-fresh of their "T" platform, and GM came out with the Saturn ION based off the Delta platform. By then, though, the "German factor" had already taken place, with the gas filler on the passenger side.

What eventually became the "theta" platform, (saturn VUE, equinox...) was derived ORIGINALLY from the Delta platform. so:

Delta => Theta

Scheduled a year after Delta was a badly needed replacement for the mid-size cars in Germany, with deravitives for Saab nameplate and the US markets. This new, midsized platform was primarily designed and developed at Opel, but the underlying structure is also considered a deravitive cousin of the Delta platform. So:

Delta => Epsilon

and the HHR is a Delta-derived vehicle, so IT has the filler on the passenger side too...

WHEW!

Look at the Monaro (german derived) the first gen focus (german design)... BMW Z4... Z3... Porshe... all fillers on the right side.

 

[kingarthur]

" I may be mistaken, But I do not think the Flat Tire Kit would fix this. Which would mean getting towed"
Why in the world would you tow your car because it has a flat?