My 2023 37 is here but…

[DFS]

BMW turned their heated seats into a subscription service. Think I heard Tesla can add 100 extra "horsepower" via subscription service.

While not the same as a full delete, I would think those are worse. Because you actually have them, but can't use them without more money.

Just pointing out that every brand has issues.

My $76,000 '22 Tundra they wanted a subscription for remote start services....really hope this new model gets crushed by consumers.

 

[impaul4]

BMW turned their heated seats into a subscription service. Think I heard Tesla can add 100 extra "horsepower" via subscription service.

While not the same as a full delete, I would think those are worse. Because you actually have them, but can't use them without more money.

Just pointing out that every brand has issues.

the bmw subscription is only if you ordered one or bought a used one without heated seats.

You can still add them as an option like any other car and don’t have to pay an subscription

 

[MDJAK]

the bmw subscription is only if you ordered one or bought a used one without heated seats.

You can still add them as an option like any other car and don’t have to pay an subscription

Are you certain about that?

Oh, and my wife's former, my daughter's current, Lexus Rx350 came with remote start for a year. After that, pay the piper. Guess what. No more remote start.

 

[impaul4]

Are you certain about that?

Oh, and my wife's former, my daughter's current, Lexus Rx350 came with remote start for a year. After that, pay the piper. Guess what. No more remote start.

Yeah the bmw subscription is only for basically retrofitting.

Now I do see a trend with Lexus and Toyota for subscriptions for remote start. Although the tundra remote start is useless. Lasts all but 5 mins and as soon as you unlock the door it turns off

 

[GordoJay]

BMW turned their heated seats into a subscription service. Think I heard Tesla can add 100 extra "horsepower" via subscription service.

Fūçk them. Hard.

While not the same as a full delete, I would think those are worse. Because you actually have them, but can't use them without more money.

Far worse. You paid for the hardware and now you have to pay ransom to use it? It's wrong on so many levels. And heated seats? What, you're paying for new features and upgrades? That's beyond lame. BMW can suck it.

 

[xlover]

Fūçk them. Hard.


Far worse. You paid for the hardware and now you have to pay ransom to use it? It's wrong on so many levels. And heated seats? What, you're paying for new features and upgrades? That's beyond lame. BMW can suck it.

Definitely far worse... but lets be clear bmw has not introduced subscriptions for physical features in the US market... yet. Adaptive suspension is piloting in the UK and heated seats piloting in korea... basically we need to trust those consumers to do the right thing and revolt. BMW was beaten during the carplay subscription revolt in US. My big worry is that the recent auto market has shown folks will bend with their wallets to just get what they want (anyone here paid an ADM??), so carmakers likely feel empowered to keep pushing for subscriptions for physical features.

BMW is however (and most oems are) working quickly towards subscriptions for software features especially things enabled by wireless connections. BMW For example offers their basic connectivity (on par with ford pass) for 4 years then customer has to pay... but at the same time have some useful stuff on subscription that makes sense because it isn't for everyone, like a traffic camera identification service. Useless to me as we dont use speed cameras in MA.

I was really surprised early on in my truck research that ford offers ford pass complimentary, stellanis for example is a 3 or 6 month trial.

 

[GordoJay]

My big worry is that the recent auto market has shown folks will bend with their wallets to just get what they want (anyone here paid an ADM??), so carmakers likely feel empowered to keep pushing for subscriptions for physical features.

Agreed

BMW is however (and most oems are) working quickly towards subscriptions for software features especially things enabled by wireless connections. BMW For example offers their basic connectivity (on par with ford pass) for 4 years then customer has to pay... but at the same time have some useful stuff on subscription that makes sense because it isn't for everyone, like a traffic camera identification service. Useless to me as we dont use speed cameras in MA.

I wonder how well that has been working so far. NAV is what I'm thinking about. Gen 2 was $700 up front with a three year? trial, followed by subscription. For a system not as good as the one on your phone, which is free. But you can use Android Auto or Carplay to get the better free map on the screen. My guess is that they don't sell very many subscriptions.

I was really surprised early on in my truck research that ford offers ford pass complimentary, stellanis for example is a 3 or 6 month trial.

Don't be fooled. Ford is making money by selling your information. Every place your truck has gone, when and for how long. Your contacts, calls, and texts, if you gave those permissions. A subscription charges you extra for having your data sold. Ain't that special.

I think if heated seats become a subscription, I'd wire in a switch and do it manually. Remote start? I love it in the winter but I would do without it. Or I would see if I could sign up for a few months and then drop it in the spring, hoping it would cost the company more than they earned from my sorry ášš. I would hate on the company every time I thought about how I had paid for the hardware already and they were extorting me if I wanted to use it. I don't think it's a marketing win for a company to be hated on every time a customer pulls their keys from their pocket. Dunno, though, it might be a desperation play if they're on the ropes financially.

 

[STiago1]

I work in ford dealership, I have seen this heated steering removal and my first thought was am not paying 100k for a frikkin truck that cannot keep my hands warm at - 30⁰C winters in Canada!

I dont care it has all the options but without heated steering and heated seats its a no go for me, am not wearing a gloves and fight the cold inside a 100k truck ffs the truck prices are going up everyday with dealers wanting almost 20k over msrp for these boxes on wheels

 

[xlover]

Agreed



I wonder how well that has been working so far. NAV is what I'm thinking about. Gen 2 was $700 up front with a three year? trial, followed by subscription. For a system not as good as the one on your phone, which is free. But you can use Android Auto or Carplay to get the better free map on the screen. My guess is that they don't sell very many subscriptions.



Don't be fooled. Ford is making money by selling your information. Every place your truck has gone, when and for how long. Your contacts, calls, and texts, if you gave those permissions. A subscription charges you extra for having your data sold. Ain't that special.

I think if heated seats become a subscription, I'd wire in a switch and do it manually. Remote start? I love it in the winter but I would do without it. Or I would see if I could sign up for a few months and then drop it in the spring, hoping it would cost the company more than they earned from my sorry ášš. I would hate on the company every time I thought about how I had paid for the hardware already and they were extorting me if I wanted to use it. I don't think it's a marketing win for a company to be hated on every time a customer pulls their keys from their pocket. Dunno, though, it might be a desperation play if they're on the ropes financially.

I think figuring out what to sell as subscription (like NAV in fords case) has been a massive struggle to actually create value vs the wishful thinking automakers have. I dont think the talent that has lead or in most cases still leads these teams for most OEMS actually understands the digital market.

I do totally get that free app use is a trade off with data monetization and personally i think that trade off is fair because 1) i get a service I want at no extra cost, use of mobile connection to the vehicle 2) its something i cannot monetize on my own, selling my own data is near worthless, it only has value aggregated across thousands/millions

 

[FordPerf Addict]

Question, for those with the 23s and a heated steering wheel delete. And even 22s in general. Do they still have Rear heated seats ? Because if it’s a chip shortage issue. I’m pretty sure no one would care that there’s no rear heated seats.