BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea • Hacker News Board

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#101

Post by ClumsyPilot » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

farisjarrah wrote: post #95

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #79

We are rapidly moving towards Feudalism. If someone can charge you for using things you already bought and 'own', then average man has no property rights. The fee could be increased at any time, or new fees could be introduced. As the housing crysis deepens, average person will never own a home either. So average person will be in the same position as a medieval serf, conpletely dependand on the whims of the lord, pr…

Conversely, I been seeing more people then ever riding, building and modifying electric and motorized bicycles. You can modify a regular $200 mountain bike with a $200 motor kit from amazon and have a $400 motorcycle that you don’t need a motorcycle license for. If you really don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a $1000 bafang mid drive ebike kit can turn a regular bicycle into a hill crushing monster and can be installe…

> If you really don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a $1000 bafang mid drive ebike kit can turn a regular bicycle into a hill crushing monster and can be installed with almost no specialized tools.

I love electric bikes and want to install the bafang kit myself, but lets keep things in perspective - it's not gonna get my pregnant wife to the hospital.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#102

Post by bluGill » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 12:59 PM UTC

rockinghigh wrote: post #75

nradov wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some EVs actually require more maintenance. For example, due to incompetent engineering and sloppy assembly, Tesla ranks below most ICE vehicles. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/tesla-ranks-30th-in-unoffici...

Neither this article nor my personal experience with Tesla support your claim. > Tesla owners reported more problems with their exterior and interior than with other systems like propulsion, battery or infotainment and navigation. Tesla issues aren't about maintenance, they are mostly about quality control. Maintenance on Tesla is simple: air filters, brakes, tires, air conditioning. https://www.tesla.com/support/car…

ON a modern car you only add oil changes until you get to 100k miles. Oil changes are fast and cheap.

Except for air conditioning - unless you mean the air filter the air conditioner should NEVER need maintenance - if you do maintenance it means an environmental disaster - they are closed systems and so the only time you service them is if they lost the Freon.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#103

Post by jmrm » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

If companies continues adding more subscription options in more models it will make some aftermarket electronic modules, or simply jailbreak hacks, to bypass those locks. It happened already in the Tesla, and I don't think it will stop here.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#104

Post by mwexler » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

rockinghigh wrote: post #78

atwood22 wrote: post #23

Super weird decision from BMW. The brand is all about luxury and performance at all costs. Trying to nickel and dime on seat heaters just seems cheap.

BMW did the same when they charged $80/year for Apple CarPlay for their 2019 models. They stopped shortly after.

As a long time BMW buyer, the brand lost me when they floated this plan. The writing was on the wall: they see themselves as a lifestyle, not a car brand, and we'll see more desperate attempts to make consumers a subscription instead of a purchaser. Everyone wants to be Apple, which gets a feedline of subscription revenue from phone purchasers.

Note the odd logo change around this time as well (2020 or so), another sign of their attempts to "reinvent" themselves as a services company. https://bimmertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BMW_logo_o... (via https://bimmertips.com/bmw-logo-history-origin/) in one picture, and BMW's take at https://www.bmw.com/en/automotive-life/bmw-logo-meaning-hist....

I miss the days when BMW just made really fun cars that I was willing to overpay for, helping my dealer and the factory stay profitable.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#105

Post by bluGill » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:02 PM UTC

nprateem wrote: post #26

atwood22 wrote: post #23

Super weird decision from BMW. The brand is all about luxury and performance at all costs. Trying to nickel and dime on seat heaters just seems cheap.

It's the thin end of the wedge. Want to use the stereo, unlock remotely, etc etc?

The question is will customers stand for it. I know as a used car buyer I won't the subscription so that means the car doesn't have heated seats and is valued that way compared to a different car that does have it. In turn that means BMW is risking lower resale value, and resale is a factor in new car price.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#106

Post by foobarian » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:03 PM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #79

We are rapidly moving towards Feudalism. If someone can charge you for using things you already bought and 'own', then average man has no property rights. The fee could be increased at any time, or new fees could be introduced. As the housing crysis deepens, average person will never own a home either. So average person will be in the same position as a medieval serf, conpletely dependand on the whims of the lord, pr…

At least it will not be illegal to move.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#107

Post by ubermonkey » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

BMW has already shown itself to be skeevy by attempting to charge a fee for Apple's CarPlay; fortunately, if memory serves, they backed down from that.

I'll never buy another BMW, and I won't buy a car from a company that follows suit. It's gross.

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#108

Post by PaywallBuster » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:06 PM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #101

farisjarrah wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, I been seeing more people then ever riding, building and modifying electric and motorized bicycles. You can modify a regular $200 mountain bike with a $200 motor kit from amazon and have a $400 motorcycle that you don’t need a motorcycle license for. If you really don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a $1000 bafang mid drive ebike kit can turn a regular bicycle into a hill crushing monster and can be installe…

> If you really don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a $1000 bafang mid drive ebike kit can turn a regular bicycle into a hill crushing monster and can be installed with almost no specialized tools. I love electric bikes and want to install the bafang kit myself, but lets keep things in perspective - it's not gonna get my pregnant wife to the hospital.

you keep a car for something that will happen once per ~ 4 years?

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#109

Post by DontchaKnowit » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #79

We are rapidly moving towards Feudalism. If someone can charge you for using things you already bought and 'own', then average man has no property rights. The fee could be increased at any time, or new fees could be introduced. As the housing crysis deepens, average person will never own a home either. So average person will be in the same position as a medieval serf, conpletely dependand on the whims of the lord, pr…

See : The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab

Re: BMW heated seats subscription costs $18 per month in South Korea

#110

Post by ubermonkey » Tue, Jul 12, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

2143 wrote: post #31

I seriously hope this doesn't catch on. For cars with internal combustion engines, the company tends to get constant income via service thanks oil filters, other filters, and a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be replaced (assuming people take it to authorised service centers, which I assume most people do when the car is relatively new). With the transition to EV, those avenues dry up because EVs need lesser maint…

Not for nothing, but BMW realizes very little post-first-sale service dollars because they bake that into the price of the car.

If you go and buy a new 3-series this afternoon, you pay for your gas and that's pretty much it. All your scheduled maintenance is included, and you may even end up with a tire plan (wise on some of these cars; Z-rated rubber is pricey, and urban areas can eat tires) so the rubber ends up "included" too.