- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@derp.foo
- technews@radiation.party
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@derp.foo
- technews@radiation.party
BMW Is Giving Up on Heated Seat Subscriptions Because People Hated Them::The blowback worked—but subscriptions for software-based new car features will continue, according to a BMW board member.
The fuck it is. You offer car features at time of sale. And if you want me to like your brand, at best you offer OTA or wifi updating for free to enhance the experience, and make me want to buy your next car.
You try and nickel and dime me for shit technology that has been around for 20 years, and I could give two fucks. I’ll plug in my phone, ignore your entire. Infotainment and actively campaign for it to fail and blow up in your face.
They’re just trying to recoup the cost of being forced to install turn signals even though their drivers don’t need them.
They’re recouping the costs of hiring an in house orthodontist to fix all them buck tooth grills they made.
They’re hideous. I feel bad for all the people that were finally in a financial position to afford an M3/M4 and have to drive around that monstrosity.
Do they try to fool themselves into thinking it looks good?
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You know you can buy literally the cars you wanted as a teenager right?
Staying on the BMW thread, you can get a mint E46 or E9X M3 for a fraction of the cost of the new ones. Just gotta find one where the owner has taken care of it and kept service records.
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Preach
I mean the 3/4 is… questionable. But have you seen the 7/X7…? Not to mention the godawful monstrosity that is the XM? Like… what the actual fuck were the designers thinking? And moreover, what fucking imbecilic marketing yahoo thought it was a good idea to unabashedly bastardize literally everything that ///M division was supposed to be about since it’s inception? Like, honestly, I don’t view it as a real “performance” (sub)brand anymore. It’s that bad.
I actually prefer the 7 series over the 3 series looks. They’re both ugly, but at least the grill on the 7 series fits on the front of the car. The 3/4 series has to extend the hood upwards to fit the grill.
Hilarious if you look at the X5 it has a M package… which is just some cosmetics at this point.
What’s sad is that the motor is amazing, and the rear end and 3/4 view is beautiful. That front though instantly ruins it. It could have been an amazing car, but that front is just awful.
😔 I really wanted an M4 but my oh my are they fugly.
My running theory for Audi is they started uniquely animating their indicators so people would use them. Not because they should, but because it made them feel special. Thus reducing the stereotype before getting to BMW levels.
That’s class.
I’m driving BMW and use turning signals 🙈
Of course a BMW driver would be driving while commenting on the Internet.
I use my left one. My right one has a fault, it needs replacing but the replacement has the same design fault. So, fuck bm in that regard.
Agreed, subscriptions only make sense when there is an on-going service, like on-star (no idea if it is worth anything).
So if the digital assistant and driver assistance programs where getting service updates, then this would make sense. However, I’d say that driver assistance really shouldn’t need a lot of updates if it was truly ready for the road.
Exactly, unless it needs the company to have server space or an internet connection then it’s not even close to something that should have a subscription.
I agree. Some subset of ADAS are using things like LIDAR mapping data that do incur ongoing cost. For example, Ford relies on road having recent LIDAR data to let you take your hands off. So they have a subscription, and if you don’t pay… Well it’s almost the same except your hands have to stay on. It is vaguely less competent, but still pretty much follows the lines/traffic on its own.
Of course their pricing is way more than I think will work out, but I can at least understand why a subscription fee is associated.
The argument I could maybe see is that their seemingly fine ADAS system is at higher risk of being hit with a mandatory recall down the road. Those generally ignore all warranty limitations (e.g suddenly having to replace airbags in 15 year old cars…), but might spare them the expense for those who lack the features, or at least the revenue from the users helps fund the possibility of converting a related recall.
Enshitification will continue until morale improves
This sounds kind of funny. “I’ll spend $60,000 on your car but I won’t turn on the radio. That’ll show you!”
More like “if this car is otherwise the best option, I’ll go for it, but your policies are actively having me court your compeititors and damaging brand loyalty.”
Maybe. I feel like it’s going to be kind of hard to make them care if you’re still buying their product though.
It is never “otherwise the best option” because abusive tactics like this are instantly and totally disqualifying. Period.
The line must be drawn here.
radio does suck, but its also a vital information system during emergencies. what liabilities does a manufacturer open themselves up to by refusing access to a potentially lifesaving device?
I think you might have misunderstood the post? There wasn’t anything about the manufacturer disabling the radio. The person I replied to said they’d choose not to use the car’s fancy features and I thought it was funny they’d do that to “spite” the manufacturer after giving them a whole bunch of money.
Luxury car makers will have a harder time justifying a high price tag when an electric Kia will match their 0-60.
Mark my words, cars will be the next common planned obselesence product. As soon as the battery doesn’t take a charge people will junk it and buy another just like the phone market.
Also you have Chinese BYD making huge inroads in various markets now. They’re going to massively drop the price floor for features that are seen as luxury right now.
Jokes on GM customers, they announced they would no longer support apple carplay or Android Auto, and customers would instead need to buy functionally through GM.
Really? I couldn’t!
We all said the same thing about subscription streaming services 5-10 years ago and now look where we are. Nothing we can do unless the masses stop buying this bullshit
sticking with my 08 bimmer - before all this nonsense and buck teeth