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

motor1.com

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

#211

Post by jcpst »

alexpotato wrote: post #89
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…

We've all ready reached that for lots of other parts of the consumer spectrum. e.g. you used to own your music and movie collection but now you rent access to it via Spotify, Amazon Music, Netflix etc Even games: it used to be it was YOUR game but now you pay a subscription.

What’s funny is how ethics around this get compartmentalized. I still refuse to use spotify because it’s only a viable model for the biggest artists (I buy digital albums mostly).

But then I don’t seem to stop myself from using Netflix.

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

#212

Post by phasersout »

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…

the same thing with games and that you only own a license of a game and not the game itself.

Started with WoW and getting kicked for "using" exploits which are ultimately just faults in a product that I purchased - why should I as a customer know and care for what an exploit is and what not?

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

#213

Post by petesergeant »

siscia wrote: post #120

At first was a little uncomfortable with the change, but then I thought how much would it be today to add those optionals to a new car. Checking from my phone, the heated steering wheel is more than 300$, which is more than what would cost the permanent upgrade in the car. Now we should wonder, having a construction line and distribution system capable of handling optionals like the heated steering wheel, does it cos…

Also, this means your car can be resold to someone who wants heated seats and a steering wheel, even if you didn't want it (and didn't have to pay for it).

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

#214

Post by _ea1k »

winternett wrote: post #134
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…

I was ranting about this 2 years ago and a lot of people laughed it off... I cited an auto start feature o VOLVO cars that required a siriusXM membership. It's unfathomable that we reached this point of monthly subscriptions being implemented on things that we've already paid for. It's the first sign that we're in for a wave of not feudalism, but outright economic slavery. There is no rational consumer protection aga…

> I cited an auto start feature o VOLVO cars that required a siriusXM membership.

As much as I dislike that kind of fee, it at least makes sense. The remote communication support isn't free.

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

#215

Post by jms703 »

I can see why a car manufacturer would not want to make two versions of each car, one with heated seats and one without. Instead, build it into all of them, and only activate and charge those that actually need it.

Also, the subscription is an option. You can also pay the full price for the feature.

Where I live, I could see using this once or two months a year. Whereas some would need it more and they might just buy the option outright.

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

#216

Post by saiya-jin »

alldayeveryday wrote: post #70
t0mas88 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people over-estimate that because most EVs are very new. Of course this is n=1 type data, but the service cost on engine related things for my several years old BMW are quite low compared to other items. They replace the oil once the computer wants it, which is every 30,000 to 40,000km, so less than once a year for most users. And that's all engine costs I've had over the years. But I do have maintenance cost…

> It's more things like replacing tires at least once a year (which I think high torque EVs will do even faster), then at about 100k miles they replaced the wishbones / control arms. I've not heard of tires that need replacing once a year, unless you are doing an insane amount of driving. Tires are generally lasting 50k, 60k, even 85k miles. Can you elaborate on the scenarios that require yearly tire replacements?

Definitely not true for any kind of safe quality tires. Safety means good dry and wet grip, convenience means noise level, and economy means wear.

Wear for anything quality and safe is maximum 40-50k km, the better performing tire the less. Yeah cheap (mostly) chinese crappy unsafe tires will last much more, but its due to them being too hard and have very little grip, especially in wet.

It means difference between being perfectly safe in 120kmh in moderate rain/snow vs being scared shitless that next bend may kill you (and car certainly behaves like that), so you drive 70-80kmh and become an obstacle to others in very low-visibility and high danger situation.

Definitely not worth saving on tires, ever.

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

#217

Post by naasking »

dexterdog wrote: post #72
notfromhere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re paying for the permission to turn on hardware you already paid for

But you would pay more for it if they had to put it in only certain models based on the packaging. They've done it with satellite radio for a long time now.

Right, so incentivize them to stop trying to reduce competition with software locks. If they can provide the same hardware for cheaper by exploiting economies of scale, that's what we should require them to do. That's what capitalism is good at doing. Software locks are anti-competitive.

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

#218

Post by nemo44x »

coffeeblack wrote: post #191
aeyes wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do those that 'own' a home today in the US really own it? You still have to pay property tax against the "property value" which is a completely arbitrary number set by an outsider. If you don't pay, you lose your home - that is not my definition of ownership.

Good point, don’t understand why it’s downvoted. Could people who downvote leave a comment with their reason?

Because it's a very misinformed opinion. For 1 it isn't arbitrary and it isn't a random person. It is elected officials that set the tax and the price is based on the community budget. Where I live we have high property taxes but we don't complain because we vote for this. We want nice schools, clean parks that are manicured, frequent refuse and recycling service, clean streets, a well staffed police force and fire departments, a fancy 4th of July parade, etc. This stuff isn't free and we choose to fund it with property taxes instead of income taxes, etc.

If you won't or can't pay your tax then you have to sell your property to someone who can. This is what the community that lives in an area agreed on. You can take your house with you though. It's totally up to you to lift it, put it on a truck and put it on a different piece of land, considering the bank doesn't own it. Feel free to find land with no taxes and put your home there.

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

#219

Post by ubermonkey »

woofyman wrote: post #174
nameless912 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My basis for this assertion is that I know very few people who are duped into buying maintenance contracts. Those things aren't "included in the purchase price" for anything but the highest end of mass market cars, they're overpriced tack-ons that dealerships push hard when you're purchasing a car. Granted, I know very few new BMW owners (and the few that I do know, know very little about cars and just wanna go fast)…

All those German cars are leased

Mine never were, but ok.

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

#220

Post by colinmhayes »

ghostpepper wrote: post #202
_fat_santa wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to disagree because at the end of the day, the consumer has a choice. BMW, Stellantis and other car makers are charging subscriptions for features. I see an immediate solution: buy another car. I see this argument a ton, people complain that new cars are too expensive, super high monthly payments and subscription features. Yes these are all problems but they are only problems if you choose to buy a new car. Se…

Buying an old car doesn’t really solve the problem in general, it just solves it for you, temporarily.

The auto sector is one of the most competitive in the world. There are tons of automakers that don’t have subscription services.
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