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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

#91

Post by ehnto »

bengale wrote: post #59

I wasn't particularly impressed when I got my new 4 series and had to pay £20 or something like that for auto-highbeams, even if it is a one off. I can sort of understand a subscription for the speed camera data, although its a bit cheap, but for the lights it seemed mad.

Dealer options have been around for a long time, but usually the equipment isn't already fitted to the car, the dealer has to add it. I think that's why this approach feels so inauthentic. Your car has the equipment, but you're not allowed to use it, even though it's there, and you own it...

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

#92

Post by 2143 »

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?

> Tires are generally lasting 50k, 60k, even 85k miles.

Probably depends on road conditions. Where I'm at good tyres — my criteria being soft ride, good grip, low noise — last at most 40k km. But then the roads here aren't exactly the best.

Not just tyres, even things like oil, filters, engine mounts etc need to be changed more frequently where I'm at, compared to Western countries.

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

#93

Post by bleuchase »

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…

You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.

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

#94

Post by wil421 »

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?

Low profile tires do not last 50k much less 85k miles. Lots of BMW tires are front/rear and left/right which means you can’t rotate. People on the X7 forms said they had to start changing tires around 20-25k.

My coworker had a Leaf and said he went through rear tires 2x as fast.

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

#95

Post by farisjarrah »

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 installed with almost no specialized tools.

The housing crisis is definitely a tougher nut to crack, but I don’t believe the auto manufacturers have quite the same leverage over the American population long term, especially if gas prices and electric vehicle prices keep skyrocketing significantly faster then inflation.

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

#97

Post by ClumsyPilot »

runnerup wrote: post #3

I kind of like the idea of the manufacturers installing hardware that I don’t have to pay for and can enable with a software patch or computer swap.

I bet my house there will eventually be a car that charges you extra for driving to the hospital, or outright refuses, and that there will be people on this forum defending this 'feature' with "manufacturer doesn't want responsebility for transporting a bleeding person, you should call an ambulance"

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

#98

Post by bguebert »

ridgered4 wrote: post #73
benj111 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what the going rate would be to deploy airbags at the point of impact. I suppose the challenge would be getting consent in-between the crash becoming inevitable and actually happening

Didn't this already happen with some motorcycle safety system that required a monthly payment or it would get disabled?

Is this subscription safety vest what you are thinking of?

https://www.inputmag.com/tech/this-motorcycle-airbag-vest-de...

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

#99

Post by ausbah »

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.

I think the value proposition with stuff like Spotify is different. a.) there are still services where you can own your copy of the music, there is still - at least some semblance of - consumer choice. b.) the amount and variety of music I listen to on Spotify and pay per month is WAY more than paying for individual songs (at least personally)

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

#100

Post by gfunk911 »

This seems no different than Intel manufacturing fewer distinct things and using CPU locking to sell at more price points.

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/2239/cpu-lock

It’s cheaper to physically put the functionality in all the cars than to differentiate at assembly time. We don’t have the same visceral reaction to paying for options at the dealer.

(I am assuming they aren’t adding this charge RETROACTIVELY. That’s very different)

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