This reminds me of the story in China and their social credit score. Apparently they will show your face on a billboard if you are deliquent (one example was if you weren't paying child support). And since they can track you using your phone, they only show the 'ad' when you are present in the space.
BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
211–220 of 351 posts
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#212I used to really like BMWs but they have lost their way in my opinion. Front wheel drive models, charging a subscription for Apple CarPlay, that 4-series grill, increasingly horrific customer service at dealers and foregoing their position as the market leader in handling and dynamics really rub me up the wrong way.
> Front wheel drive models, Better for driving on snow, if you're at a place where that matters.
>Better for driving on snow
Until you have to go up a hill, or steer and drive in several inches of slush. I guess it's marginally more stupid proof if you floor it at a dumb time but that seems like needless optimization of the worst case while totally tanking the average case. With the weight distribution and electronic controls available in modern vehicles FWD has no meaningful benefit other than cost.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not getting extra value in exchange for money Wait, if you're not getting extra value from the product every extra month you use it, then stop paying the subscription! That's the beauty of it!
I mean, why not pay a subscription for a knife? You're getting "extra value" from it every time you use it! Just, no. By "extra" value I mean "extra extra " value - in case of software, new features & updates (which, of course, could also bring no extra value to you, but they do at least in theory ). Btw, I'm not objecting to choice. You want to avoid paying up-front cost for your knives, buy subscription instead? Be…
> But if the company is forcing you to do this
I'm really not sure anyone is forced to drive a BMW, are they.
> But if the company is forcing you to do this, then it's obviously a good (profitable) deal for them, and a bad deal (scam) for you.
I think this is unnecessarily cynical.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the product is changed with an update you don't like Well, you're just left with a 30-50k car with reduced functionality. And, to be honest, CarPlay functionality (or similar) is pretty much fundamental - music, maps - and there's a clear upside of having it integrated with the car (vs. the driver looking down at the phone while driving) and trivial cost ( cheaper that developing own software & OS). The reason I wa…
But this is the case whether you pay up front or as a subscription. So what is the upside to paying up front?
> So what is the upside to paying up front?
A ceiling on the price? Now granted this is a BMW, so I wouldn’t dare own it outside of the warranty period, but I usually keep a car 10-15 years. So the longer I keep the car, the more this feature with a low, fixed cost, costs? Screw that.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#215Wow. Straight out of Minority Report. It seems to me that this would violate laws of some kind.
I remembered a product mentioned in the Fetish section of Wired, many years ago, that cited a use-case tailor-made for this. Just found it online [1]; it's the second item in the article. It reads: __ Action Painting __ Paintball is war, pal, and it demands decisive action, like firing 62-mm paint bombs that turn a 75-foot area into a Jackson Pollock death zone. This bipod-mounted mortar can shoot up to four rounds p…
When I read 'fetish', my mind jumped to some exposure service. For a low fee, we'll monitor numberplates and expose your innermost desires when we think there's nobody else around!
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#216It makes sense, BMW quit being a car company in the past few years. Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. It’s starting to happen and will get even worse, BMW will have a tough…
> Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. Can confirm. BMW used to be quite innovative, at least on the scale of German automakers, with their connect services. We have a fairly…
CarPlay is no longer a subscription. They are also one of the few automakers to implement wireless CarPlay and it works flawlessly.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#217It makes sense, BMW quit being a car company in the past few years. Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. It’s starting to happen and will get even worse, BMW will have a tough…
> Now they’re just clueless assholes. I’ve seen it in their IT systems, their design teams are either on crack or got outsourced to 4 year olds and their product/sales gurus are a mix of bean counters incapable of producing an original idea and a bunch of lifers running on nepotism. Can confirm. BMW used to be quite innovative, at least on the scale of German automakers, with their connect services. We have a fairly…
> CarPlay is a subscription
I've been looking at BMWs this year and IIRC they backed out of this after the backlash: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/bmw-u-turns-ap... - agree with your other points though.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think it's just BMW for the 21st century For people that look at cars as status symbols, sure. Also maybe for people that think straightline performance is all that matters. All mainstream Tesla's are dogs around turns compared to even baseline luxury German cars.
Sorry, but this is both misinformed, and rudimentary "my first car forum" or "import vs domestic in the 1990s" level analysis of vehicle dynamics. To not even attempt to call out a car model or even a brand or generation, and just hand-wave "baseline luxury German cars", and not attempt to specify what type of cornering you're discussing here. The biggest problem a Tesla would have vs a competitive ICE sport sedan wo…
Take a Model 3 on an autocross track or even a windy mountain road. Then take any BMW or Audi priced $10k-$20k lower (and not the boat SUVs) and tell me which one is more fun to drive.
Also, a Roadster is definitely not a "mainstream Tesla." I used that word to specifically exclude the Roadster, as it's $250k and a completely different discussion.
I agree that using the term "dog" was an exaggeration.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
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,…
2021 Corvette Stingray (6.2l V8), 2021 Dodge Challenger (6.4l V8), 2021 Camaro SS/ZL1 (6.2l V8), 2020 Mustang 5.0, various trucks - there's still plenty of modern car with V8, often even N/A V8s. People buy cars like that because they like the V8 rumble. I have an older 3.0l N/A I6 BMW (N52), and not because I couldn't have gotten a more feature-loaded Honda for the same price.
Ford recently rolled out a completely new big block v8 engine family for their trucks and vans. OEMs don't do that kind of thing unless they expect to crank them out for 10-20yr.
Re: BMW to shame out-of-warranty UK drivers with smart billboards
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could call it a "lease"
I don't think you can typically lease a different car every month. I kinda wish you could. I would definitely pay to try a car for a full month before buying it.
Actually you sorta can. I know Volvo has/had a program where you pay something like $1k/month, including insurance, and you can swap out cars twice a month or something like that. I believe some other manufacturers did the same thing.