Yes, the Australian media absolutely despises the absense of a full-size spare tyre, it really gets irritating reading reviews after reviews of BMWs where consistently, the only negatives are 1) run-flat tyres 2) i-drive and 3) "love it or hate it styling".

Dad's 530i has runflats, as far as I know you can order either a fullsize or space-saver spare tyre if desired - maybe this is the case for the 3 series too? The other problem that is really noticeable with dad's car is the ride quality, which suffers as a result - very unforgiving and juttery. Not good for Aussie (and I presume Indian!) roads.