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I don't understand why you'd buy a BMW when they treat customers this way. Vote with your money.
by 7thaccount 4y ago
I don't understand why you'd buy a BMW when they treat customers this way. Vote with your money.
- winReInstall 4y agoThats the beauty of it. You can not. Because we do no longer have a free market. All car companies, belong by shareds to a few titanic entities, who will push this in lock step to all there companies. Welcome to the gilded age.
- jacquesm 4y agoBMW is a pretty recognizable brand and other than Mini / Rolls Royce (the latter of which you probably won't need to avoid and the former tries to sell you on the fact that they are a life-style rather than a vehicle for an entirely different demographic) voting with your feet may well have the desired effect.
- onethought 4y agoI think you under estimate how many OEMs there are. Which “few titanic entities” are you referring to? Tesla? BMW? Toyota? Volkswagen Group? Gheely? BYD? Hyundai? Honda? … the list goes on. Basically there isn’t a more competitive anti-monopoly industry than the car industry.
- 2143 4y agoBut don't they all cater to different segments of the market? Somebody who wants to buy a BMW will likely not be cross-shopping with a Hyundai, even if there's are models at the same price point.
- onethought 4y agoTrue so they only have: Audi, Lexus, genesis, infiniti, Tesla, Daimler, the list goes on… to choose from. The luxury car segment is also huge…
- petre 4y agoReally? I could always buy an Alfa Romeo instead, which not only comes with heated seats but also with leather as standard upholstery in the Giulia and Stelvio models. The Chinese car manufacturers are going to eat them alive soon anyway.
- rhexs 4y agoThe people who want a BMW to show the world they own a BMW are exactly who they are targeting with this. Same situation as Mercedes. Taking dumb money more or less.
- itsoktocry 4y agoTesla pioneered this nonsense via FSD subscriptions (which doesn't even exist) and limiting the battery. And yet everyone around these parts cheers them on.
- pavel_lishin 4y agoI know this is a rhetorical question, but presumably because the benefits outweigh the negatives in their case. If you're looking to buy a fancy car in Texas, you're probably not particularly interested in heated seats.
- atwood22 4y agoSomething about a monthly fee for basic functionality screams “low class” to me. It’s like the difference between renting and owning. “You don’t have enough money to buy outright, so you’re forced to pay for a basic thing in perpetuity.” That taints BMW’s brand. I’ll buy a Lexus, thanks.
- pavel_lishin 4y agoThere is probably a large percentage of BMW drivers who are renting or leasing their cars.
- ok123456 4y agoWhat happens when air conditioning is a monthly charge?
- AceyMan 4y agoTexas gets plenty cold in the winter months, particularly in the high plains; heated seats would absolutely be useful for a decent chunk of the year.
- bourbonjuggler 4y agoI agree. Why bother creating a workaround for this problem? The easiest resolution to this is to spend your money somewhere else.
- izacus 4y agoI'll bet you a barrel of beer that all luxury cars will have all features locked behind perpetual subscriptions within 5-10 years. "Great" thing about consolidated megacorporation dominated markets: you have nowhere to go if only three companies decide to squeeze more money out of you. And shareholders WILL demand that every car manufacturer squeezes more money out of you by locking equipment you own now behind subscriptions.
- chrismcb 4y agoI don't drink beer, but I would take that bet. No one has followed bmw into subscription model for Apple car pay. The only reason other companies works follow this model, is if it succeeds
- bastardoperator 4y agoLOL, locked. There is no such thing when I have physical access to the computer.
- izacus 4y agoBreaking DRM on that physical computer is illegal and good luck getting your modified vehicle insured if it fails the manufacturer bootloader lock check ;) It sounds like you missed last 15 years of developing DRM technology and IP law.
- bastardoperator 4y agoMy insurance company doesn't care about the infotainment center in my vehicle and DRM hasn't stopped anyone ever. Look at all the farmers waiving their middle finger to John Deere. When has anyone in the history of buying insurance been forced into a bootloader check? Never, you're making stuff up. If I own the car outright, I own the computer and can do whatever I want to it. Seems like you missed all the DRM hacks, and think vehicle insurance companies do IP law.
- rowanG077 4y agoRemember non-smart TVs? I can vote with my money by not buying a TV at this point.
- raxxorraxor 4y agoYou still find them in the premium segment. TV for businesses often lack most smart features. Price range > 1000$ though.
- rapind 4y agoWe just lost the vote on TVs is all (for now). As the wolf sheds the sheep clothing though that might change (not optimistic). I doubt BMW is going to nail this on their first pass, but subscriptions are obviously more lucrative so they may keep trying (or others will). Regardless, software running everything is a nightmare in progress. The quality standards are atrocious and regulations haven’t even come close to keeping up.
- thfuran 4y agoIt seems unlikely that regular TVs will come back without some very stringent legislation preventing monetization. As it is, Vizio makes less money from selling their hardware than from other BS.
- highwaylights 4y agoAlso, customer service aside, they're not great cars in the first place. If you're buying a gasoline car and it's not a Toyota or a Mazda, you're doing it wrong.
- 2143 4y agoI guess you haven't heard about Toyota's subscription fee for enabling remote-start[1]. Eventually they're all going to jump on the bandwagon. [1] https://www.motor1.com/news/554620/toyota-subscription-fee-remote-start/ https://www.motor1.com/news/554620/toyota-subscription-fee-r...
- WkndTriathlete 4y agoMazda is doing the exact same thing. When my wife and I purchased our CX-5 that was an option and we said "hell no" even though it gets to -30 F in the winter in the Upper Midwest. The trend toward turning products into subscriptions has been in flight for at least 20 years. It was bullshit when it started and it continues to be bullshit today.
- highwaylights 4y agoAt least in your example you still have a lovely CX-5.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y agoI think its just as good to vote by hacking. Like when pirating music was a result of people just saying f-u to the way industry was trying to sell us music, why not have hacking car software be a way of saving f-u to the car industry trying to rent-seek us to death. The music industry changed and now we have reasonable streaming alternatives. See if the car industry gets the message as well.