Want to use stuff in your new car? "Pay up sucka!"

[VINMAN]

This Is another reason why Ill hold onto my current vehicles until they die...


https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature

BMW starts selling heated seat subscriptions for $18 a month

BMW is now selling subscriptions for heated seats in a number of countries — the latest example of the company’s adoption of microtransactions for high-end car features.

A monthly subscription to heat your BMW’s front seats costs roughly $18, with options to subscribe for a year ($180), three years ($300), or pay for “unlimited” access for $415.

It’s not clear exactly when BMW started offering this feature as a subscription, or in which countries, but a number of outlets this week reported spotting its launch in South Korea.

BMW has slowly been putting features behind subscriptions since 2020, and heated seats subs are now available in BMW’s digital stores in countries including the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. It doesn’t, however, seem to be an option in the US — yet.

We’ve asked BMW for the exact details of this roll-out, but it was unable to say when the subscriptions had been launched in which countries. It’s no surprise that BMW isn’t trumpeting the news, though. Since the company announced in 2020 that its cars’ operating system would allow for microtransactions on features like automatic high beams and adaptive cruise control, customers have decried the move as greedy and exploitative.

Carmakers have always charged customers more money for high-end features, of course, but the dynamic is very different when software, rather than hardware, is the limiting factor.
n the case of heated seats, for example, BMW owners already have all the necessary components, but BMW has simply placed a software block on their functionality that buyers then have to pay to remove. For some software features that might lead to ongoing expenses for the carmaker (like automated traffic camera alerts, for example), charging a subscription seems more reasonable. But that’s not an issue for heated seats.

Other features that BMW is locking behind subscriptions (as per the company’s digital UK store) include heated steering wheels, from $12 a month; the option to record footage from your car’s cameras, priced at $235 for “unlimited” use; and the “IconicSounds Sport package,” which lets you play engine sounds in your car for a one-time fee of $117.

In the latter case, BMW notes that “the hardware for this feature has already been installed in your vehicle during production, at no extra cost.” How generous.


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[HobieMarty]

Wow, what's that interior fabric, is it vinyl? Is it leather? Velour by chance? Why no, it's none of those, silly consumer,
it's the all new "FLEECE"!!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[pwd72s]

Does Jon-e still make pocket warmers?

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Does Jon-e still make pocket warmers?

Hah, I still have one of those.

[RNajarian]

Tesla started this trend with their over the air subscriptions. I’ll be curious how people will get around this limitation. I see kits being sold on eBay to rewire and bypass this limitation.

Probably would be as simple as tapping into the fuse box adding a switch (or using the existing one) and plug into the heating element.

This pay as you go feature will drive customers away.

[Aurel]

It is all about sucking money from the consumer beyond the initial purchase.
That is why I love used cars. New stuff is just a ripoff that gets improved year after year.

[GH85Carrera]

It is not much different that most software today. It seems all software is going to a monthly subscription model. To have Outlook and office, my business partner each have to pay 12 bucks per month, forever. Photoshop is $20.99 per month.

The days of buying a software package and renewing it only every few years is over. All of our expensive mapping software has to "phone home" to connect to the mothership to keep working. And we pay a large renewal fee every singe year, if not, it stops working.

I suspect lots of car manufacturers will go to the BMW and Tesla mode. Drivers in Hawaii or Florida do not care about heated seats or steering wheels. Heck in the 60s when we lived in Hawaii, the new cars sold there did not even have heaters.

[Arizona_928]

Those are the cheap software packages.

Some of the stuff i play with has a 20k subscription.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Those are the cheap software packages.

Some of the stuff i play with has a 20k subscription.

Oh yea. We have some of the crazy price stuff as well.

[Sooner or later]

We had a thread about this back in July.

Heated car seats for rent!

[varmint]

Who do they think they are, Adobe?

[jyl]

That is crazy.

For me, cars hit the target for functional driving machines somewhere in the 1990s. The best cars from that era (not GM crap) have all the power, handing, comfort, safety, fuel economy, and mod cons that I want or need. New cars are better, sure, but not a manner or extent that I personally care about. You can buy a 1990s or even 2000s Mercedes, BMW, etc for pennies on the dollar you'd spend on a new one. Until that era of cars is no longer serviceable or legal, I don't see myself driving anything else. Well, maybe a cheap EV for around town.

[gsxrken]

My 2003 540 Sport is basically the perfect sedan. I get that manufacturers have to continue to iterate on them to sell new cars, but like JYL said, I must not have been the target market. It just turned 200k last week.

Originally Posted by jyl

For me, cars hit the target for functional driving machines somewhere in the 1990s. The best cars from that era (not GM crap) have all the power, handing, comfort, safety, fuel economy, and mod cons that I want or need. New cars are better, sure, but not a manner or extent that I personally care about. You can buy a 1990s or even 2000s Mercedes, BMW, etc for pennies on the dollar you'd spend on a new one. Until that era of cars is no longer serviceable or legal, I don't see myself driving anything else. Well, maybe a cheap EV for around town.