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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

#321

Post by [deleted] »

judge2020 wrote: post #310
dgemm wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe they are planning to sell heated seats as a subscription service as well. Makes no sense and really transparently benefits the company over the actual "owner" of the car. Why would I ever buy something like that.

A heated seat subscription makes sense when they sell the car to you as if it didn't have heated seats and are allowing you to purchase them at a later date, much like how Tesla's rear heated seats can be bought long after the purchase of the vehicle. It allows the manufacturer to decrease MSRP $x amount (for Tesla, $300) while also saving money on the back-end by not having to handle more part choices being involved…

[deleted]

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

#322

Post by moooo99 »

enos_feedler wrote: post #273
moooo99 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

BMW went on stage at WWDC this year to talk about Digital Key for the car. Their marketing page said it works on all 2021 models. The detailed list says Series 1, 2, 3, etc.. I thought this feature is really cool. I am going to buy this car for it. I talked to 2 dealers and confirmed the feature. I looked up all the info online but could not find any more details. I bought a 2021 m240i for $50,000 USD. I could have g…

> Carplay is only a small preview of the level of integration consumers are going to expect over the next 5-10 years. If they can't sort out a digital key across their lineup, they are kind of fucked.

Oh absolutely. The infotainment system of the German premium automakers is utter trash. It's slow, overwhelming and incredibly tedious to use. My family owns five cars, a BMW, an Audi, a Seat and 2 VW, except for one VW they are all fairly new. The BMW and the Audi infotainment system are equally bad, by far the best ones are integrated in the Volkswagen vehicles. But when comparing them with competitors like Tesla, they still suck.

I don't like Tesla, but credit where credit is due. They software concept for their vehicles is innovative, thought out and incredibly feature rich. If this is what VW, Daimler and BMW aim for, they still have an incredibly long way to go.

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

#323

Post by moooo99 »

tracker1 wrote: post #283
moooo99 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I absolutely hate the UConnect software/entertainment systems in Dodge/Chrysler models, not sure how much this is/was from Daimler though. AFAIK they've relatively recently switched to Android Mobile systems, but I haven't tried them. It's hard to believe that nobody came up with a good/open AV integration for mobile/smart phones a decade ago. Gotta love proprietary interfaces that stop getting updates 2 years in for…

A friend of mine owns a Jeep with a Uconnect infotainment system and let me tell you, Daimler is very far ahead with their current generation of infotainment system.

They launched their MBUX platform a few years ago and hat huge goals, since I don't own a mercedes, I don't know if they managed to keep up with those. However, from what I read online, it doesn't look like it

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

#324

Post by moooo99 »

whydoineedthis wrote: post #191
moooo99 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Idk, I was in a new bmw recently and thought it was cool. Driver assist to stay in lanes. Full touch dash across the entire dashboard. Verbal assistant worked well and was able to adjust settings intuitively. I'm still too poor to buy one new, but it didn't seem completely without innovation.

My 2017 Seat Leon costs significantly less than a comparable BMW 1. I have a decent navigation system, voice controls, Android Auto and CarPlay, touch infotainment (not a fan), and lane assist, emergency break assist and several others. A friend of mine bought a BMW 1 which cost 12k more than my car (MSRP) and, excluding the gps navigation, has none of those features.

Those aren't innovations, those are almost standard in lots of vehicles.

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

#325

Post by enos_feedler »

asciimike wrote: post #269
petre wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Illuminated? It's clearly for the Chinese market then. I'm talking about the grille on the iX. I wonder what's next, an electric X6 with this grill, the pinnacle of ugliness? Compare that with the M2 which is a looker and a badass car.

Speaking as an M2 owner (and an E36 owner before that), can confirm it's an excellent looking and performing car--arguably the last "enthusiast" car BMW has produced. I'm also pretty annoyed with the current direction, and if I get another car (performance or otherwise) it's very unlikely to be a BMW.

Likewise, I just picked up a 2021 M2 which I heard will switch to something new in 2022. I love the car. You can feel all of the engineering and craft in the driving experience.

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

#327

Post by justinclift »

chrisseaton wrote: post #270
xienze wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> A ceiling on the price? So just factor that into your equation. Some people would prefer a ceiling, some flexibility. The point is it isn't obviously and inherently a 'scam.' It's just a different way to price and pay for things.

> The point is it isn't obviously and inherently a 'scam.'

For myself, and it seems like pretty much everyone except for yourself, it definitely is. ;)

But, point taken. Only ~95% of people seem to consider it a scam, and an obvious one. ;)

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

#328

Post by netsharc »

csunbird wrote: post #200
gambiting wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But again, it depends what sort of information is broadcast. If the bilboard says "hey, driver of BMW reg number EK16 WHD, your warranty is expired!" then that's definitely a problem. But if all that happens is a generic BMW warranty bilboard appears whenever an out-of-warranty car drives past "hey, is your BMW warranty expired? Extend today!" then it's probably ok legally.

I mean, the next step after this feels like ads on the infotainment system.

"Today's game: Candy Crush!".

But in all seriousness, it would be easy to profile the driver. Is it close to dinner time? "Try out the hot new vegan restaurant, het 10% discount when you show your BMW key. 2 miles away, navigate there, Y/N?". Replace vegan with steak, etc, depending on the profile.

Driving to a residential address in an expensive part of town around dinner time? "Last minute dinner party gift idea: blah blah wines. Shop is en-route, navigate there, Y/N?".

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

#329

Post by justinclift »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #118
throwbacktictac wrote: post #5

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.

The executives from Boeing had to go somewhere? :)

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

#330

Post by Macha »

Tade0 wrote: post #316
otter-in-a-suit wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think it's important to point out that all those cars come from a country where gasoline is cheap and emissions rules lax. The rest of the world, for the most part, moved on.

Indeed, in my country I'd say a 1.6/1.8 is "standard" and anything over a 2.4 uncommon. Plenty of 1.2s/1.4s around for students and the budget sensitive too, and even some 1.0s (current model Nissan Micra, Honda Civic)
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