New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- Buying a new car is cool. The keys are handed over, the protective plastic is ripped off, the buyer all but kisses his new toy while some idiot takes a photograph. Nay, not so for a dear friend who recently went to collect his new car. He did something less celebratory and more hard-nosed: he inspected the vehicle before accepting delivery. Two things caught his attention.
One was minor: the windscreen wiper blades looked dispiritingly flimsy, unlike the beam blades he had on his other cars. Whether they would perform as well or last as long was something only time would tell. My own verdict, looking at them later, was less charitable. The second discovery was more serious. His Rs 25-lakh car had no spare wheel. Not even a space-saver. In its place sat a gift-wrapped puncture-repair kit.
Imagine getting a flat at 2 am in Delhi, or on a deserted mountain road, and discovering that you have to morph into puncture man. Or that the damage cannot be fixed with the supplied kit. The pre-ordained punishment: a long wait for assistance or an uncomfortable, potentially dangerous search for help. On the positive side, his new car had plenty of modern equipment; oodles of technology and gizmos. But one of motoring's oldest and most practical tools had disappeared.
When my friend cribbed to me about this, it set me wondering. What else have our cars quietly lost?
The Missing Spare
Many manufacturers have quietly replaced spare wheels with repair kits in selected models and variants. Maruti Suzuki's Victoris, for instance, launched without a spare wheel as standard equipment; a spare-wheel assembly was subsequently offered as an optional accessory. That matters: the wheel may be available, but it is no longer necessarily part of what the buyer receives.
There are legitimate explanations. CNG equipment and battery packs occupy valuable space; reducing weight can help efficiency; and a repair kit can be quicker for a small puncture. But who in his right mind loves to wrestle with a wheel on the roadside when a simple repair can safely get him moving again?
A repair kit is not a spare tyre in disguise. It cannot deal with every puncture, a major cut, sidewall damage or a blowout. Its usefulness depends on the damage and professional assistance may still be necessary. What looks like a neat packaging solution in a showroom can become a very difficult calculation on a highway after dark, or even in broad daylight.
The moot point: the buyer should know what is supplied, what the kit can fix and what happens when it cannot. For someone travelling long distances, a spare wheel is not an optional extra; it is basic equipment.
Buttons Behind Glass
Changes in modern cars are not limited to the boot. The dashboard has suddenly become a great study in subtraction disguised as sophistication. Physical buttons and rotary knobs are increasingly being replaced by touchscreens. In specified Tata Nexon and Altroz variants, a revision removed physical infotainment controls and moved the functions to the screen. The appeal is obvious: fewer switches, a cleaner dashboard and one screen for many tasks.
Yet a physical button has a simple virtue: you can find it by touch. A climate-control function buried in a menu looks elegant in a brochure, but it is not an improvement when driving in traffic, negotiating a mountain bend or speeding down the highway. More technology is not always better technology.
And don't you dare call me nostalgic. The ease of using essential controls affects how much attention a driver must divert from the road. Digital technology should make driving easier, not turn ordinary tasks into a search exercise.
What Else is Deleted?
In 2024, Mahindra revised equipment on some Scorpio-N Z4 and Z6 variants. Changes included the loss of a cooled glovebox on some trims, the replacement of the Z6's larger colour driver display with a smaller monochrome unit and the removal of some connected-car functions. These were done as part of an Integrated Material Cost Reduction (IMCR) process. Interestingly, despite losing these premium features, the revisions rolled out alongside a price hike. Of course, none of these items were indispensable to driving.
That said, not every change is a conspiracy to save money. Cars need to accommodate safety systems, emissions equipment, batteries, improved crash structures and complex electronics. Some features become redundant; others are replaced by better solutions. A lighter component may be an engineering improvement, not a cheap substitute.
Equipment also varies by model year, engine, transmission and trim. The examples quoted above concern specific reported changes, not a claim that every car from these manufacturers has been downgraded. Some omissions reflect technical or packaging constraints, and some are permitted under the rules. But legality does not automatically make a choice convenient for every customer.
Inspect Before Vroom
It is not that everything was better in the old days. It is just that progress should mean getting something better-not simply getting used to doing without something useful. A manufacturer may add a bigger screen or new connected functions while removing something less glamorous but practical. The headline feature gets the launch-event spotlight; the missing item often goes unnoticed until the owner needs it.
No one is demanding that every car carry every conceivable extra. Manufacturers must, however, be transparent about what has changed, why it has changed and what the buyer gives up. If a spare wheel is replaced by a repair kit, buyers should know-and be told why. If controls move to a screen, buyers should ask whether this genuinely makes things easier. If equipment is (re)moved, make the change clear, before the customer discovers it when it matters most.
My friend's pre-delivery inspection threw up a useful reminder: never assume that a new car contains everything you expect simply because its predecessor did. Check the spare-wheel provision, repair kit, tools, wipers, controls and equipment list for the exact variant. Ask questions before signing off.
The next time a carmaker unveils more technology, screens and features, buyers should ask one simple question: what have these newbies replaced? After all, the best new car is not the one with the longest equipment list. It is the one whose advantages are real, compromises are clear and whose owner is not left discovering the missing bits on the roadside.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.