The Dark Wob

I've just come across this somewhat tardily and wondered what your views are on it.

BMW launches heated seat and steering wheel subscription service in the UK
Didn’t spec a heated wheel when you bought your BMW? You can now activate it for £10 per month.

Heated front seats (£15 per month), automatic high beams (£10 per month) and the ‘Driving Assistant Plus’ active cruise control (£35 per month), Adaptive M Suspension that can be added retrospectively for £399 per month.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/bmw-la ... service-uk

I wonder if they deactivate it all when you trade it back in. The next buyer could pay to have them reactivated again.
Or activate every option so the garage can flog it for more.
It'll just be a matter of time before back street mappers learn how to do it for a one off payment.

Very much your last comment I reckon.

I guess that it's the next logical step on from leasing rather than buying cars. I'd rather own mine.

In a way its like going back to the days when you had to pay extra for a radio in your BMW or Merc. I imagine more and more items will become optional if this is a success.

I believe Tesla do something similar. I suppose you could "jailbreak" your car.

I mentioned this a couple of weeks back. Seems odd that in a time that we are all meant to be cutting back options that may well never ever be used are being incorporated into vehicle systems. Not just by the odd one but by the many thousands.

I've been expecting this for a while, seemed the obvious next step.

It's probably cheaper to knock out everything the same and just software cripple the bells and whistles.

My washing machine is software crippled to 1400rpm spin, but can do 1600rpm.

Scruffy Bodger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:04 pm I mentioned this a couple of weeks back. Seems odd that in a time that we are all meant to be cutting back options that may well never ever be used are being incorporated into vehicle systems. Not just by the odd one but by the many thousands.

Sorry, I probably read it and then promptly forgot about it. When you're old everything is new.

I imagine BMW will have factored in the street mappers - they probably only care about the 3 years or so it’s in warranty so after that they are probably happy to let it go.
How much is it to enable the indicators, the ability to turn off the fog lights and that giant electro magnet in the grill that attaches them to everyone else’s fucking tailgate?

LynehamHerc wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:59 am

Scruffy Bodger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 27, 2022 9:04 pm I mentioned this a couple of weeks back. Seems odd that in a time that we are all meant to be cutting back options that may well never ever be used are being incorporated into vehicle systems. Not just by the odd one but by the many thousands.

Sorry, I probably read it and then promptly forgot about it. When you're old everything is new.

I only mentioned it in another thread so easily missed assuming you don't read every single post on here.