Does the Perodua Ativa (D55L) come with a spare wheel?

Although spare wheels are no longer offered in many premium cars (replaced with either run-flat tyres or tyre repair kits), spare wheels are still important for consumers shopping at the lower-end of the price spectrum.

Prior to the Perodua Ativa’s (D55L) local launch, many Facebook users were saying that the Perodua Ativa doesn’t come with a spare wheel. This is not true. All variants of the Perodua Ativa come with a spare wheel. Full sized ones too, not those skinny 60 – 80 km/h speed limit space saver ones.

The photos that were circulated, showing an empty boot floor without a spare wheel, were of the Japanese market Daihatsu Rocky / Toyota Raize donor cars, which formed the basis for our local Perodua Ativa.

Knowing that having the security of a full-sized spare wheel is still important for customers shopping at this price point, Perodua has included a full-sized spare wheel into the Ativa.

This, plus the fact that our local Ativa gets a steel tailgate instead of a lighter plastic one used by the Japanese market Daihatsu Rocky / Raize, is why our local Perodua Ativa tips the scale at between 1,020 kg (X variant) and 1,035 kg (H and AV variant), versus 980 kg for the Rocky / Raize.

The entry 1.0 X variant of the Ativa comes with 16-inch wheels, while the higher specifications 1.0 H and 1.0 AV variants use larger (and a lot heavier) 17-inch ones – none of which is something you want to bend your back lifting in and out off from the spare wheel well of an SUV.

Those who have tried changing wheels on a tall riding SUV / MPV, using the terribly useless jacks that usually come with such cars (packaging constraints make it difficult for manufacturers to provide customers with bigger size car jacks) will know why space saver wheels or tyre repair kits are not such a bad idea.

My colleague Jason has explained why a full-size spare wheel is something consumers should consider doing away with, especially on tall riding SUVs / MPVs with bigger and heavier wheels.

Also read: Here's why having a spare wheel won't do you much good.

Unless you have a blowout (which is really rare), it’s a lot easier to just drive to the nearest petrol station, inflate the tyres, and get it fixed at the nearest tyre shop.

But if you couldn’t tell from the sluggish acceleration and heavier steering that your tyres are losing tyre pressure, then there is a bigger problem and you should invest in enrolling yourself for an advance driver training program.

Also read:

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