Earlier quoted context omitted.
So apparently we will download a car.
And (again) possess it but not own it.
Friend’s adult kid has a tshirt: if buying isn’t owning then copying isn’t theft.
Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
241–250 of 325 posts
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this might make sense if you could do the maintenance yourself --- but this is not at all easy or even possible in some cases without expensive/specialized electronic tools --- and this is all by design. Something that should be simple like changing the battery is actually an intricate process on some models involving all sorts of resets and nonsense. A mistake can "brick" your car. I know someone who did this a…
Yes this is more and more true of any car. And yes I'm assuming you can handle at least routine maintenance and repairs yourself. My newest is a W211 which is about 20 years old now. Reliable drivetrain, pretty easy to work on overall, most electronic systems can be at least read if not managed by a generic scan tool such as a YouCanic. You can find them cheap enough so that if they have a major failure you just scra…
With all due respect, your experience is kinda out of date.
A lot has changed over 20 years. Just as an example, a lot of new Mercedes are now being equipped with Renault engines.
https://cartriple.com/mercedes-models-with-a-renault-engine/
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes this is more and more true of any car. And yes I'm assuming you can handle at least routine maintenance and repairs yourself. My newest is a W211 which is about 20 years old now. Reliable drivetrain, pretty easy to work on overall, most electronic systems can be at least read if not managed by a generic scan tool such as a YouCanic. You can find them cheap enough so that if they have a major failure you just scra…
With all due respect, your experience is kinda out of date. A lot has changed over 20 years. Just as an example, a lot of new Mercedes are now being equipped with Renault engines. https://cartriple.com/mercedes-models-with-a-renault-engine/
I'd never consider any of the cheap classes. Most of those are not available in the USA where I am anyway.
E or S class only for what I'm talking about. And S are generally too complicated unless you can find one that's been really well kept up.
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Adobe stock has been heading up and down but there can be many reasons for that. Revenue and profit has gone absolutely nuts since subscriptions started and is clearly the way forward for them. This model makes a lot of sense for software but none for hardware. Adobe customers are indeed pissed off but they should fix that with lower prices and better terms, not going back to the old model that had them losing money.
After I wrote that, I almost immediately regretted that I hadn't used price earnings ratio rather than stock price as the indication that investors don't have confidence that Adobe can continue to extract rent, even though I wouldn't bet against Adobe, I wouldn't short them. Kind of remarkable how low the price earnings ratio is compared to magnificent seven stocks. Only Google gets stuck with a similarly pedestrian…
If you think that's remarkable, look at major non-tech companies.
Banks, mines, energy, rail, telecoms - companies that are making big profits right now and will be with us for decades to come, all priced like they're going to evaporate in a matter of years.
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
But how are you going to brag about your car when it is the same with or without subscription? I saw that current VW models feature very prominent (and IMO ugly, unibrow style) LED strips. Does the car light up in a different color if you pay for the subscription?
With the current market, for a price you can turn things off.
Thaaaat makes a lot of sense. The unibrow with the illuminated VW logo is pretty ugly ;-)
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused, what do you mean by "derate the battery", and how would that cause some of the battery to be deadweight? It sounds to me like they're just limiting the kW output of the pack.
I mean you have a 100kW battery that is limited by the software at 70-80kW. This is what I mean by de-rating. Secondly, a 100kW battery is heavier than a 70-80kW one. If you don’t pony up for the upgrade fee, you carry around all the time probably 50kgs of useless mass. More mass, less mileage.
There's no additional battery cells, is the 50kg extra cooling or something?
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#247Forget Netflix Better idea --- forget Volkswagen. This is just one example of anti-consumer antics bordering on extortion that have been building for a very long time. The overall idea is simple --- reduce the sticker price to a competitive level and try to increase profits with prepaid maintenance, insurance, data collection and other "subscription" services. In VW's case, this appears to be an act of desperation. C…
> The overall idea is simple --- reduce the sticker price to a competitive level and try to increase profits with prepaid maintenance, insurance, data collection and other "subscription" services. Passenger airline carriers and printer manufacturers have a similar model of using their flagship products (flights and printers) as loss leaders for their actual products (credit cards and ink).
For Euro cars, the "actual" product is parts, service/maintenance and subscriptions.
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the manufacturer doesn't want to go through the trouble of creating a less powerful engine because it's not economically advantageous then the consumer should just get the better engine by default. It's ridiculous and insulting to buy a new car (a big purchase for many) to be presented with options where the manufacturer went through considerable effort to _make the car worse_. Manufacturers should be in fierce co…
They are getting the better engine. It’s right there in the car. The thing that is confusing people is it was introduced backwards, I’d imagine intentionally. As stated, it reads as if the engine is being crippled. If you fired up the engine, it would not have the max performance without tweaking the timings, but it would still work. So paying more for the higher model is paying for the software tweaks. It’s not much…
You pay a subscription to overclock your RAM?
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
So if I’m understanding you correctly, the play here is: 1) Build engine with $market_leading_horsepower. 2) Throttle engine so that base models of a car have $market_leading_horsepower - $throttle_amount. 3) Price discrimination for enthusiasts removes the throttling back to the original $market_leading_horsepower while also saving the effort of having to design a faster engine. Is there no extra cost associated wit…
Done right, a more powerful engine needs uprating of a bunch of other components - clutch, brakes, suspension, tyre profile, cooling, exhaust, air intake and so on. Almost certainly not a big deal with a 10% bump, but if it was a big bump, costs could be saved elsewhere in a less powerful vehicle.
But then why offer the ability to unlock the engine’s full power on a model that isn’t engineered to accommodate it?
Re: Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean you have a 100kW battery that is limited by the software at 70-80kW. This is what I mean by de-rating. Secondly, a 100kW battery is heavier than a 70-80kW one. If you don’t pony up for the upgrade fee, you carry around all the time probably 50kgs of useless mass. More mass, less mileage.
There's no additional battery cells, is the 50kg extra cooling or something?
OK, let’s try this another way: they could have sold a car with a say 70kW battery. Instead they are selling it with say 100kW battery.
Am smaller battery would weigh less than a bigger battery.
Because they de-rate the battery via software, you are carrying a bigger battery which weighs more than a smaller battery, while you only get the mileage of a smaller battery.
Hence, you have deadweight in your car.