BMW offering Heated Seats, Adaptive Cruise Control as Monthly Subscription in S.Korea

[Chihuahua]

Only a matter of time before the cars themselves are subscription based too.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

Only a matter of time before the cars themselves are subscription based too.

That's called a leasing.

[ntg44]

Originally Posted by Artemis

That's called a leasing.

And with garbage practices like this, that's all BMWs are going to be worthwhile for going forward, even more so than before. Can't see why anyone would bother buying one without a single time purchase for built in options.

I'm really interested to find out how the used market for these looks in 3-4 years. Is the CPO buyer going to negotiate feature unlocks as part of the deal?

iDrive 8 jail break coming soon.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by ntg44

And with garbage practices like this, that's all BMWs are going to be worthwhile for going forward, even more so than before. Can't see why anyone would bother buying one without a single time purchase for built in options.
I'm really interested to find out how the used market for these looks in 3-4 years. Is the CPO buyer going to negotiate feature unlocks as part of the deal?

To your potential buyer: "Well, gotta to tell you that my subscription for using the brakes and for electronically opening the fuel cap, will expire in three months. Do mind that a 'seat belt gong' type of sound is sounding all the time with a renewal message permanently spamming your iDrive 8 screen, because I refused to renew the so-called "No Gong Spamming" subscription. The good news: for using 6th and 7th gear and for operating the sunroof, you're still good for 8 months"...

[dutchm2]

Originally Posted by G80M4

https://www.bmw.co.nz/en/shop/ls/cp/connected-drive

https://www.bmwblog.com/2022/07/12/b...-more-options/

Bye bye BMW

ICONICSOUNDS SPORT .... STEERING WHEEL HEATING ....

This is going nuts!

[dutchm2]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

Only a matter of time before the cars themselves are subscription based too.

But that would be with all brands

[dutchm2]

Originally Posted by Artemis

That's called a leasing.

You just took out the words from my mouth Artemis

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by joao.toscano

But that would be with all brands

Agree, that's where the entire industry is headed.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

Agree, that's where the entire industry is headed.

Originally Posted by joao.toscano

But that would be with all brands

Where is the time when you ordered a car with your options specified, paid the dealer, picked it up at the car dealership and drove it home no strings attached ?

Nowadays, with more and more stuff getting "$ub$criptioniz€d", you drive home from the car dealership with a bunch of 'no money - no honey' strings firmly attached to your wallet.

Seems that they are living up to the marketing pillow talk "We don't sell cars, we sell driving experiences". Well, that's rather "milking" than "selling".

[x7m60i]

Time to jailbreak cars

[zx10guy]

For those saying there will be jailbreaks, be prepared to see a bunch of law suits by the manufacturers using the DMCA.

I wonder where all the greenies/tree huggers are with this. Because at it's core, it's wasteful use of resources as every vehicle will have hardware that may or may not be used.

[Westside Guy]

When the time comes for me to replace either my 2021 228i and/ or 2022 Z4 and the dealer says I have to pay for these subscription services I will tell them to include the subscription costs for my lifetime ownership of the new vehicle or I will simply go to another brand who isn't pulling this crap!

[Coi]

Besides the whole idea of the subscriptions, this is one of the most shocking things for me.

So BMW will actually be installing adaptive dampers on their cars and then blocking the functionality to actually use them behind a software paywall.

This means that someone could not even have functional adaptive suspension but if they blow out or damage a shock they're going to have to replace an expensive adaptive damper instead of a regular one. Or have to replace all four dampers with regular ones and do an EDC delete, even though the system was never functional to begin with. This is beyond ridiculous.

Almost sad to see BMW go in this direction.

[Kevny657]

I am looking at getting the 3 series LCI in the UK in a few months.

The one thing I would like is the adaptive suspension.

But to get that on a 3 series 330i for example, you have to pay around £3000 extra and take the M Sport professional pack to get it.


So being able to pay £399 from the connected drive store would be worth it for me.

The only problem with it according to two dealers I spoke to about it, is the only way to know for sure if you can get it is by putting the vin number in connected drive store

But if you've not got the car or vin number yet , you could not be sure if it's available

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Kevny657

So being able to pay £399 from the connected drive store would be worth it for me.

Keeping in mind that the car itself is probably already jacked by that £3000 in cost to begin with over what it could have been if such a subscription never existed to begin with. To "turn on this feature" you have already paid to have that feature present.

It might not be quite that much additional that you are secretly paying (that package may include a few other things as well) but the car is certainly selling for a higher price than needed. In the end you are paying FAR more than £399.

[its55]

https://bimmerlife.com/2022/07/18/do...tm_name=member

[///d]

Buys BMW with subscriptions for various features

Vehicle gets features enabled over the air. All is good.

Network technology used becomes obsolete and unsupported *cough* 3G *cough*

Now your shit doesnt work anymore.


I didn't want to read through 4 pages of bickering back and forth to see if it's been talked about, but I'm curious if these lifetime unlocks transfer when you sell the vehicle. Will the vehicle require a network connection to have the features unlocked or is it stored locally on the vehicle? If it's a lifetime unlock and you sell the vehicle, will it require the new owners to have the plan transferred? I can see issues with private and even dealership sales stating something has all these features, then the new owners lose all those features once they take ownership and the previous owner cancels or removes the vehicle from their subscriptions.

As much as I dislike this new subscription service world we are morphing into, I can see where it can be good and bad. I hate how I seem to be adding more and more payments for things every month.

[kyrix1st]

Another dumb greedy idea by BMW further limiting customization for the customers. They are trying to reduce the logistics cost and at the same time sell the cars at higher prices.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Coi

Besides the whole idea of the subscriptions, this is one of the most shocking things for me.

So BMW will actually be installing adaptive dampers on their cars and then blocking the functionality to actually use them behind a software paywall.

This means that someone could not even have functional adaptive suspension but if they blow out or damage a shock they're going to have to replace an expensive adaptive damper instead of a regular one. Or have to replace all four dampers with regular ones and do an EDC delete, even though the system was never functional to begin with. This is beyond ridiculous.

Almost sad to see BMW go in this direction.

I think you are misunderstanding what 'adding' adaptive means.

For example in the iX3, users already have an adaptive suspension that is active, can add adaptive M suspension features.

The hardware is never functioning as passive suspension. Plus users can buy the full adaptive M setup from factory. Or just add the extra features after purchase.