BMW to charge $18/month for heated seats

huskylord

huskylord

New member
I hate where this trend is going:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature

BMW is now selling subscriptions for heated seats in a number of countries — the latest example of the company’s adoption of microtransactions for high-end car features.

A monthly subscription to heat your BMW’s front seats costs roughly $18, with options to subscribe for a year ($180), three years ($300), or pay for “unlimited” access for $415.

It’s not clear exactly when BMW started offering this feature as a subscription, or in which countries, but a number of outlets this week reported spotted its launch in South Korea.

BMW has slowly been putting features behind subscriptions since 2020, and heated seats subs are now available in BMW’s digital stores in countries including the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. It doesn’t, however, seem to be an option in the US — yet.
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My buddy pays Toyota ten bucks a month for remote start/disable in order for him to protect against his truck getting stolen.
 
Great microtransactions are now starting to infest cars.....

First it was those stupid "season pass" subscription services type crap and now this.....
 
Sasquach said:
Great microtransactions are now starting to infest cars.....

First it was those stupid "season pass" subscription services type crap and now this.....
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Been around for awhile. Looking at you Tesla for being egregious with it.
 
logical said:
Been around for awhile. Looking at you Tesla for being egregious with it.
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Do you care to provide any examples?

- Enhanced Autopilot - One time purchase
- Full Self Driving - One time purchase or monthly subscription
- Acceleration Boost (Model 3/Y Long Range) - One time purchase
- Heated Rear Seats/Steering Wheel (Model 3 Standard Range/RWD) - One time purchase
- Premium Connectivity - monthly or yearly subscription

I would like to know how that is egregious, especially in comparison to charging a monthly fee for heated seats.
 
Clockwork said:
Do you care to provide any examples?

- Enhanced Autopilot - One time purchase
- Full Self Driving - One time purchase or monthly subscription
- Acceleration Boost (Model 3/Y Long Range) - One time purchase
- Heated Rear Seats/Steering Wheel (Model 3 Standard Range/RWD) - One time purchase
- Premium Connectivity - monthly or yearly subscription

I would like to know how that is egregious, especially in comparison to charging a monthly fee for heated seats.
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And then you sell the car and the next person has to buy it all over. Theres your example. Basically paying for **** that you have the hardware for already over.
 
Until people start avoiding the brand, or buying the vehicle without paying for the option and letting the managers know that it's ridiculous and hurts your opinion of the brand, then it's going to continue.


When it's a "Well, we could install a moon roof, or not install the moon roof... you want it, it costs" then there's some justification for it (even if they charge too much.)

When there's already a sunk cost for heated seats THAT YOU ALREADY PAID FOR (it's not like they're eating that material cost unless you buy the plan), and now there's a usage fee for utilizing something that you already paid for, that's egregious.


Less egregious are the remote-control schemes using satellite connections, etc. I still refuse to pay for them as the cost is a lot higher than the functionality warrants, but at least there's some justification in that they have to buy bandwidth from the providers, etc.


- Enhanced Autopilot - One time purchase
- Full Self Driving - One time purchase or monthly subscription
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These I will give a pass to, on the principle that it's ongoing development and that costs software engineering dollars.

Edit: Not that I don't think it's a better idea to just make it part of the car purchase itself rather than nickle and diming the customer, but I can see the rationale at least.


- Acceleration Boost (Model 3/Y Long Range) - One time purchase
- Heated Rear Seats/Steering Wheel (Model 3 Standard Range/RWD) - One time purchase
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Those are bullshit.
 
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koralis said:
These I will give a pass to, on the principle that it's ongoing development and that costs software engineering dollars.



Those are bullshit.
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Cant give a pass to any of them. If you pay for it you should have it. If self driving is continually updated(it is) then just provide me the version I paid for in perpetuity. You can keep all the new updated versions.
 
logical said:
Cant give a pass to any of them. If you pay for it you should have it. If self driving is continually updated(it is) then just provide me the version I paid for in perpetuity. You can keep all the new updated versions.
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They can't do that. Liability problems.

"Oh sure, the new version would have saved 20 people's lives, but he didn't want updates."
 
If you want to make this about self-driving go ahead, but I posted this about "mundane" stuff now getting lumped in with subscription models. Heated seats should be a standard in this day and age, especially for a luxury brand.
 
If subscription based services in cars for features they already have the hardware for (that I bought) are the way of the future, then it looks like I’ll be driving older used vehicles til I die.

Vampires.
 
I think companies are going to have to give lifetime warranties if they want to do that otherwise there is going to be a aftermarket of people "jailbreaking" cars as soon as the warranty expires
 
koralis said:
Until people start avoiding the brand, or buying the vehicle without paying for the option and letting the managers know that it's ridiculous and hurts your opinion of the brand, then it's going to continue.


When it's a "Well, we could install a moon roof, or not install the moon roof... you want it, it costs" then there's some justification for it (even if they charge too much.)

When there's already a sunk cost for heated seats THAT YOU ALREADY PAID FOR (it's not like they're eating that material cost unless you buy the plan), and now there's a usage fee for utilizing something that you already paid for, that's egregious.


Less egregious are the remote-control schemes using satellite connections, etc. I still refuse to pay for them as the cost is a lot higher than the functionality warrants, but at least there's some justification in that they have to buy bandwidth from the providers, etc.




These I will give a pass to, on the principle that it's ongoing development and that costs software engineering dollars.



Those are bullshit.
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In car DLC and microtransactions....the worst of both worlds.
 
Clockwork said:
Do you care to provide any examples?

- Enhanced Autopilot - One time purchase
- Full Self Driving - One time purchase or monthly subscription
- Acceleration Boost (Model 3/Y Long Range) - One time purchase
- Heated Rear Seats/Steering Wheel (Model 3 Standard Range/RWD) - One time purchase
- Premium Connectivity - monthly or yearly subscription
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Ironically, you just proved his point. Having to pay to "unlock" features of your car (and yes, this is very different that adding on aftermarket parts).
 
Jankan said:
I think companies are going to have to give lifetime warranties if they want to do that otherwise there is going to be a aftermarket of people "jailbreaking" cars as soon as the warranty expires
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Until the manufacturer detects the jailbreaking and then disables/nerfs/or otherwise impairs the car. At the very least, it would void any warranty for new cars.
 
BMW knows this will be unpopular. That's why they're experimenting with a non-important luxury feature like self-warming seats. They're waiting to see the response so they can evaluate this kind of subscription for core features in the future.

If consumers want to protect themselves, they need to make a VERY large stink about it, to send a message that will ripple out to all other car manufacturers. Remember the backlash about the xbox one launch stuff... it needs to be like that. If the only blowback is that a few bloggers posted about this being a little strange, we can expect to see much more of it.
 
xCLAVEx said:
Ironically, you just proved his point. Having to pay to "unlock" features of your car (and yes, this is very different that adding on aftermarket parts).
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They are features you didn't pay for. You got the car at a lower price point by not ordering it with them. Being able to later pay for those features when you do have the money seems like a good option.

Selling the **** on a subscription basis is what's egregious.
 
Clockwork said:
They are features you didn't pay for. You got the car at a lower price point by not ordering it with them. Being able to later pay for those features when you do have the money seems like a good option.

Selling the **** on a subscription basis is what's egregious.
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But you did pay for them. All the hardware is in the car ready to go. If I can order the car without all the cameras and **** then maybe you would be right. They are literally turning a 0 into a 1.
 
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