Your next BMW might only have heated seats for 3 months

[Trik'Stari]

I'm just wondering how long it will take the tech/car enthusiasts to bypass this bullshit.

 

If I paid for it, and it's physically on the vehicle, I have every right to turn it on or off as I see fit.

 

"bUt YoU dIdN't PaY fOr ThE sOfTwArE?!?!?"

 

"Yeah no.... I don't have to pay you just because you built in a timed software switch that turns off. I'm just going to bypass the switch and give you a giant middle finger for being assholes"

[minibois]

If car manufacturers could rent functional seatbelts to us, they would.

Don't try to change my mind, it's clear most of these are in it to scrape as much money out of their victims customers.

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Franck said:

At least most of the useful one should easily be worked around

But nobody in their right mind would buy an expensive car and then spend time to go and hack all the systems...

[Dash Lambda]

Vote with my wallet time: any car that's locked behind a 'cars as a service' wall of bullshit is no longer of any interest to me.

I wish the votes cost less though.

 

Okay, defensive responses...

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

The *only* way to buy a BMW is brand new, and only for however long the warranty is, after that, sell them quick because they will eat you alive in repairs.

Have you owned a BMW? I see this thrown around a lot but I don't see much substance behind it.

Granted, I've only had mine a year so far, but the only money I've really put into service is an oil change and a cabin air filter. Only one I took it in to do was the oil change, and even then it's just because I'm lazy -it's apparently pretty easy to do yourself.

 

My brother's had his for several years now, and the only times it exploded were quite directly his fault, and the repairs weren't all that expensive.

56 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

I would never buy a German car after German carmakers screwed us hard with the emissions scandal.

Wasn't that VW? And then isn't Mercedes responsible for a lot of the import laws? What did BMW do?

[White Brownie]

12 minutes ago, Dash Lambda said:

Wasn't that VW? And then isn't Mercedes responsible for a lot of the import laws? What did BMW

More or less every German car company was involved in that. BMW to a lesser PUBLICLY KNOWN degree, but that (probably) doesn't really mean anyhting(?)

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, Teddy07 said:

I don´t know why people want a BMW. I would never buy a German car after German carmakers screwed us hard with the emssions scandal.

Yeah, that evil VW, I'll never buy anything from them. Then goes and buys a Porsche. Or an Audi. Not even being aware both are owned by VW. It's fun to watch such people tho.

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, minibois said:

If car manufacturers could rent functional seatbelts to us, they would.

Don't try to change my mind, it's clear most of these are in it to scrape as much money out of their victims customers.

Just need to buy I mean bribe errr "contribute" to enough campaigns to secure enough votes and it will happen. I see this as a matter of time at the current rate things are moving to services

[Vishera]

Just replace the computer responsible for it with an aftermarket one - problem solved.

[Blademaster91]

The problem with this is it's a BMW so the car is going to have to go into the shop after 3 months anyway.

And IMO you don't actually own the vehicle if you have to pay to use features that you paid for when you purchased the car.

 

[Jotoco]

Well, I already past 3 to 4% of taxes just to "own" a car each year. Might as well call it rent and make it official. 

[Radium_Angel]

2 hours ago, Dash Lambda said:

Have you owned a BMW?

I drove Italian exotics, the repair bills were cheaper.

I've had many friends who've had the misfortune of owning a used BMW. I've been in European car clubs that are mostly BMW/VW, and then there was me with my Alfas, yeah, I know what it costs to fix old Bimmers. Thanks, I'll pass.

[Dash Lambda]

4 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I drove Italian exotics, the repair bills were cheaper.

I've had many friends who've had the misfortune of owning a used BMW. I've been in European car clubs that are mostly BMW/VW, and then there was me with my Alfas, yeah, I know what it costs to fix old Bimmers. Thanks, I'll pass.

But... you haven't owned one. It's one thing to hear talk about it, another to deal with it.

 

But hey, mine's an F30 with the N55, my brother's is basically the same but a wagon (I know, GT is its own thing, but it's a fucking wagon). That's a very limited sample size, and from what I hear the N55 is one of BMW's reliable engines, among an army of very unreliable ones. Maybe I'll regret my purchase in a few years, but... I sincerely doubt it. Especially when driving it is so fun.

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Dash Lambda said:

But... you haven't owned one

No, for reasons I stated. I won't own one, because the repair bills are cheaper for my Italian exotics, than they would have been for a BMW.

My mechanics did BMW repairs, and MB, and VW, and the aforementioned Italian stuff (for the proper record, I've own Alfas, Lancias, Abarths (the real ones, not the tarted up crap they sell these days) Fiats, TVRs, and Maseratis.)

 

I've seen firsthand what people pay to fix old BMWs. I once had a boss that had a 325 from the late 80s (IIRC), I have seen the looks on people's faces when hit with the repair bill. Thanks, I'll skip.

[jagdtigger]

1 hour ago, White Brownie said:

More or less every German car company was involved in that.

FIFY

[Dash Lambda]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

No, for reasons I stated. I won't own one, because the repair bills are cheaper for my Italian exotics, than they would have been for a BMW.

My mechanics did BMW repairs, and MB, and VW, and the aforementioned Italian stuff (for the proper record, I've own Alfas, Lancias, Abarths (the real ones, not the tarted up crap they sell these days) Fiats, TVRs, and Maseratis.)

 

I've seen firsthand what people pay to fix old BMWs. I once had a boss that had a 325 from the late 80s (IIRC), I have seen the looks on people's faces when hit with the repair bill. Thanks, I'll skip.

When you say 'old BMW', I think you're talking about an entirely different era than I am. All I know for certain is my brother's and my experience with early-mid 2010s models, which were bought used, are currently out of warranty, and treating us fine.

 

I'll believe you about 20-40 year old BMWs.

[Shreyas1]

It's ok, the BMW drivers weren't planning on using those subscription-model turn signals anyways

 

/s

[Kawaii Koneko]

The good thing about this is that if you are shopping used, you don't have to worry about finding one equipped with the options you want. You just subscribe and they are there.  And after buying new or leasing, you can retroactively get an option you skipped out on.

That aside, this is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. I'm sure consumers will not react well and just go with Mercedes or Lexus instead. Let the free market teach BMW why this is a bad idea. Then again, maybe people will just go along with it and when other brands see it doesn't hurt BMW's sales and didn't result in consumers migrating to their brand, they might follow suit. Sucks but that is how the free market works.

 

Let's just see how long it takes for the government to start further over-regulating and mandating these features as standard.

[atxcyclist]

This is only one reason I plan to keep my car from 2005 until I cannot buy parts anymore, that and it's just before all the TPMS sensors, backup cameras, and a lot of other stuff became mandatory and created many more points of failure.

[vetali]

2 hours ago, Dash Lambda said:

But... you haven't owned one. It's one thing to hear talk about it, another to deal with it.

 

But hey, mine's an F30 with the N55, my brother's is basically the same but a wagon (I know, GT is its own thing, but it's a fucking wagon). That's a very limited sample size, and from what I hear the N55 is one of BMW's reliable engines, among an army of very unreliable ones. Maybe I'll regret my purchase in a few years, but... I sincerely doubt it. Especially when driving it is so fun.

BMWs straight 6s have always been pretty solid. I am doing timing chains in my parents N20 right now. Not a fan of that engine. We have a F34 on our lot that I really like but it has a N20 also....

 

Gonna be interesting if the government steps in on this. It effectively kills off trim levels or options. You buy the car then unlock it later on giving the manufacturer the money. Its gonna take a big hit out of the governments profits from taxes.

[Tech Enthusiast]

As a BMW owner I can tell you:

There is no way this is gonna work without an issue or without people cracking it within 5 minutes.

 

BMW does outsource every piece of software. They barely have any IT personal themselves.

And if you own one, you notice that. The software is a hack piece. Every single part seems to be developed by another team and patched together with tape.

Nothing is working really well (tho, most stuff does work well enough).

 

If their security stuff would not rock so hard, I would sell the car right away. But right now, only Tesla and BMW seem to have a car that avoids accidents by itself. And I don't have a convenient way to recharge a car just yet, so I am kind of forced to keep the BMW.

As soon as Audi makes the same system (or Mercedes starts making non ugly cars), I will switch in a heartbeat.

[vetali]

5 minutes ago, Tech Enthusiast said:

But right now, only Tesla and BMW seem to have a car that avoids accidents by itself.

uhh pretty much every manufacturer has some sort of collision mitigation option now days.

[Beerzerker]

I can say if it's a feature physically part of and capable of function in the vehicle, you've already paid for it when you got the vehicle.
Having to keep paying to continue using or just use period for what you've already paid for is beyond stupid.
And I can promise you there will be no refunds towards it.

Take out the heated seats and replace them, then attempt to turn them back in for said refund BMW will promptly and cheerfully tell you to go **** yourself over it.

 

If it's a feature you really don't care about or plan on using, don't have it included in the vehicle when you buy...... But wait, I'm well aware there are "Mandatory" features within models and they won't leave it out even if you tell them too..... And that means as said.

 

I will not buy one of these, entertain the notion of it or anything else in support of such.
I've already crossed VW and Tesla off the list of vehicles I'd ever own and BMW just got added to it.

 

 

[WereCatf]

1 hour ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

The good thing about this is that if you are shopping used, you don't have to worry about finding one equipped with the options you want. You just subscribe and they are there.  And after buying new or leasing, you can retroactively get an option you skipped out on.

Alas, this would make used cars more expensive than they are now, as the companies would still charge you the same amount of money for the features as if the cars were brand new.

[D13H4RD]

Welp, another reason not to buy overpriced luxury cars brand-new for me.

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, VegetableStu said:

 

 

on a separate note: cars (as a freaking transport machine, mind you) should not keep going into "digitally leasing" or microtransactions of basic and hardware features. a hardware part not used is a hardware part being wasted, and to say heated seats should be something that is managed like a digital lease is not a feature the owner of the car would truly be owning

 

 

Absolutely,  The whole concept of software leasing is just an artificial lock on the use of a product.  There is no excuse or reason to put unnecessary software into a device that locks a consumer out of a product feature and ask them to pay for it over and over.  Either sell the car with the feature or don't.

 

I would like to see what the ACCC make of this.