The first car I knew of without a spare wheel was as best I can remember a 1980 Renault Fuago, and I am pretty sure the MMC got round to thinking that a spare wheel was no longer a requirement in vehicle design when it seems even Morganeers carry mobile phones and rely on breakdown services, as opposed to getting their hands dirty...? Call it evolution if you will.
I too get frustrated with all the extraneous gizmology in vehicles, which just seems to add to the cost of maintenance and as has been stated can reduce reliability and cause distraction..... However, being a selective Luddite, I often make use of my phone prior to leaving the house on frosty mornings to ask my Tesla to warm the cars interior up to my preferred temp setting and defrost the windscreen , and when reversing into a parking space it is handy that it displays any lines if present, as well as the adjacent vehicles and my distance from them on the screen, providing both a visual and audible warning if I get too close, and that if I am indicating to turn left at traffic lights, if the filter lane arrow comes on and I don`t notice it... once again I get an on screen depiction of the traffic lights and an audible bong to warn me to pay more attention.... and, and, and... Oh well, as I have previously typed the Tesla and perhaps at least some of it`s software well suits the old man I have become... (-:
