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Steve Carlton Steve Carlton is online now
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: SF east bay
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I guess if you move to the UK and get an ID.3 that's not sold here, you can avoid it. But that kind of thing is not uncommon and bound to get worse. Most commonly known example is Tesla charging extra for full self driving (FSD) at $99/month. They used to charge, what, $8-10,000 for it and it's just a software download. But not hard to admit that a lot went into it, and debatable how well it really works.

Mercedes charges a subscription fee for continuing it's phone app services and even performance:
https://media.mbusa.com/releases/mercedes-benz-usa-announces-performance-acceleration-on-demand-upgrade-for-eqe-and-eqs-customers

Volvo used to charge for its app after a year, then increased it to correspond to its 4 year warranty.

BMW charges for stuff like heated seats/steering wheels- I don't know the details.

Polestar charges for a performance upgrade package $1,195. For me it would have added $48/mo to my lease payment and it seemed disproportionately expensive for something I wouldn't often engage:
https://www.polestar.com/us/performance-software-upgrade/

With stuff being controlled more and more by software, this is a relatively new concept and it bothers a lot of people, especially since they have the feel of being too expensive. I would rather have the option vs whining about it. I could have bought or leased a more expensive car. Same difference.
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Last edited by Steve Carlton; 09-13-2025 at 05:50 AM..
Old 09-13-2025, 05:46 AM
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