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BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

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Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#111
>> BMW says that they won't store any personal or vehicle data in the system,

But that's pretty much exactly what they're doing. They probably feel the need to claim this in order to not break laws, but saying "We didn't put information about you on a billboard" doesn't mean they didn't do it.

This feels so much like fake news, I hope they actually do it.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#112

BMW is the most user-hostile car brand there is. They’re constantly seeking ways to squeeze revenue from their owners in slimy ways. (They charge an annual fee for access to car play, for instance)

In US they are experimenting with locking almost all features of the car behind a subscription model, so the car leaves the factory in nearly "full" spec, but then you need to pay a subscription to unlock features. For instance if you like heated seats, you can pay a fee and have them unlocked for a year. Or a radar-based cruise control, or satellite radio, or sport driving modes - everything will have its own price.…

Do you have a source for this?

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#113
post #75

I remember reading an interview with BMW designer that the obnoxiously huge front grills are a nod to the Chinese customers. Chinese customers wanted the drivers in front of them to feel intimidated, as if the car and driver behind wanted to eat them. Other premium brands like Lexus followed with this trend.

I'm no fan of the design, but BMW has considered their "kidney grille" to be an iconic design element since 1933. https://www.bmw.com/en/design/the-bmw-kidney-grille-through-... In general, sentences of the form "(I heard from (?P .* ) that )?(?P .* ) is (?P .* )" should be treated with a great deal of suspicion. (Extra whitespace insertion to bypass HN formatting)

Look through that list, many of those kidney grills are modest deign elements with several of them including separate grills for air intakes. The silly giant kidney grills that most people agree look stupid are really an aberration.

Their US market share peaked in 2014 and their total sales peaked in 2015. I am not going to say their a declining brand, but their 2019 market share is only up to 2010 levels.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#114
Don't really care about manufacture warranty (3 years... Really? The service packages the dealers sell in Australia are tricky, especially condition-based engine oil change WTF). Self and trusted mechanic friend can take good care of the car (thanks to realoem, newTIS and bimmerPost, BimmerCode etc.).

I didn't even buy (one-off A$395, LCI became subscription and later scraped) CarPlay for my original F87, because I bought F87 for driving pleasure, the engagement / communication with the car while driving it, don't have a spare hand to deal with the buttons or screen to be honest, not even music when doing spirited driving (50% of the time).

I like the classic FR models with straight 6, missed a used 1M coupe (colleague's, gone while hesitating spending 65k buying a used car), ended up with a compromise, OG F87 (not bad, probably the best that money can buy at that time with everything standard except heated steering wheel). It's like 3.0 CSL, 2002 Turbo, E30 M3(straight four), E46 M3, 1M Coupe with the right size, proportion, front kidney grills (not like the new M4's), what timeless design should be like.

Nowadays when looking at the modern BMWs on road, hope I can have a HUD to filter those :shrug.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#116
post #90
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M2cs or M5c are still by far the best cars in their class. While I'm not a fan of BMW's new design language (think the 4-series, or the iX), nor their move to subscription-based features, it's still my go-to brand. Other (non-exotic) brands are either downsizing (2.0 engine in the new C63 AMG for gods sake) or going fully electric – and I like my v8 rumble in the morning.

2.0 engine in the new C63 AMG for gods sake This sounds bad until you realise that over the past 20 years manufacturers switched from cast iron to full aluminium blocks, which have over twice the thermal conductivity. There's no need for 4.0+ displacements anymore, because they were only there because of the low (tolerable) power density of iron block engines. Sure, turbos etc. sound like a hack and a hack they are,…

> Sure, turbos etc. sound like a hack and a hack they are, but the era of V8 rumble is gone for good.

tell that to the new c8 corvette.

anyways, the C63 AMG is a $70,000 car. for that price you should be able to get a v8 or at least a v6, even if it makes no sense. lots of cars that are way cheaper still have more than four cylinders.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#118

What echo chamber was the guy/gal behind this living in? Nothing about this sounds like a good idea to increase the value of the brand.

Right. It's not just the privacy violation per se, it's that it's a sign the company is now run by idiots.

I don't buy stuff from companies run by idiots.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#119

What echo chamber was the guy/gal behind this living in? Nothing about this sounds like a good idea to increase the value of the brand.

It actually sounds like they hired someone from online ads industry, so the first idea was personalised ads through data collection.

Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards

#120
post #119

What echo chamber was the guy/gal behind this living in? Nothing about this sounds like a good idea to increase the value of the brand.

It actually sounds like they hired someone from online ads industry, so the first idea was personalised ads through data collection.

and implement an IRL popup!
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