for what its worth the full size spare is 1.3 in shorter than the normal tire ,my truck is AWD and want the ability to drive for a extended time if use the spare so i switched the tire for the correct size and it fits under the truck fine , the 225 65 17 is pretty common and can be found used...
there is a nut that needs to be loosened / removed that is on a teather ,you have to lower the winch and remove a plastic piece and tip the end on its side and reverse to put it back , i did it on the hoist in the air and it sucked to hold the tire up in the air and replace the thing
i installed a 225 65 17 tire on the stock full size spare rim and it worked fine and fit under the truck but there was not a huge amount of extra room.
the big problem i see is all wheel drive doesn't make anything stop better and thats a bigger problem than going winter tires on front only or rear only drive is way better than normal tires on AWD
i'm 6 ft and my wife is 5'8" and we are able to not move anything at all and we are both good with it , i have moved the column around and thought there is plenty of adjustment
it was a deal breaker for me ,have not hear of anything from ford but hope so ,had a xl super duty with no cruse and in the day ford had a kit for it and was all standard part so lets cross our fingers
yes octane goes down , at 30 day it is can be lower and the fuel you get at the pump is 21 day old on average, so if something is going to sit for a longer time there is good reason to put the best fuel you can get in it