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BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

forbes.com

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Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#101

Post by 29083011397778 »

ta1243 wrote: post #54

Imagine a car manufacturer sold a car which was just a normal car. It didn't spy on you, it didn't rely on subscription for built in functionality, if you wanted something non-standard (say parking cameras or fancy paint color whatever) you paid for them upfront for a one off $x fee. Chances are nobody would care, but just buy what peer pressure tells them to buy.

> non-standard (say parking cameras...

Those are, and have been legally required, for several years in Canada because cars have gotten so big, and visibility so bad, people kept hitting (typically their own) toddlers.

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#102

Post by Kirby64 »

ketralnis wrote: post #86
bonestamp2 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is nuanced. If they did not sell the car for a penny more than last years model without heated seats, in other words they put up the money for the heated seat hardware in hopes of recouping that cost (and making their usual profit on it) later, then I don't see why people have a problem with getting the same features for the same price as last year. In fact, as someone who likes to buy lightly used cars, I love th…

None of that is my problem. My belongings belong to me. I don't care if a bean counter somewhere was slightly happier about it before it got to me. The moment the car is my car, it's no longer their car to start charging me access to.

And I'm sure you'd be within your rights to add a switch somewhere to toggle the heaters on manually, for instance.

The only difference between some cars power is the ECU tune on the car. Are you entitled to the fastest version from the factory because you bought the cheaper model? I would say no. But you're free to add your own ECU tune via aftermarket methods.

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#103

Post by anon373839 »

> Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway.

They could’ve just taken a page from Audi’s playbook and made heated seats standard. No subscription bs.

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#105

Post by raincole »

anon373839 wrote: post #103

> Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway. They could’ve just taken a page from Audi’s playbook and made heated seats standard. No subscription bs.

Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#107

Post by deelowe »

raincole wrote: post #105
anon373839 wrote: post #103

> Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway. They could’ve just taken a page from Audi’s playbook and made heated seats standard. No subscription bs.

Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

Depends. Will you pay a subscription if they don't? We all know what they were doing...

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#109

Post by not_alexb »

raincole wrote: post #105
anon373839 wrote: post #103

> Rather, the luxury automaker wanted to streamline production and reduce costs there by physically installing heated seats in every single car, since 90% of all BMWs are bought with seat heaters anyway. They could’ve just taken a page from Audi’s playbook and made heated seats standard. No subscription bs.

Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

> Is it really too much to ask it with heated seats built-in? For a luxury automaker...

Lol. Porsche takes this to a whole other level in my experience.

Re: BMW drops controversial heated seats subscription

#110

Post by arcticgeek »

RF_Savage wrote: post #108
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #104

People aren’t happy owning nothing.

And people "owning" luxury vehicles likely disliked having to rent parts of it. And that reputational damage might have played a role. "Nice BMW you got, what's the monthly rent?"

ridiculous. it should be enough that a person chose your brand with their wallet in the first place. no one wants to rent your features.
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