[Ahithophel]

Latest evidence of paradigm shift and example of "you'll own nothing and like it" agenda.

[Rural_Michigan]

I’m starting to believe it. Make everyone bankrupt. Take all assets. You own nothing.

Looks to be happy with the Dutch farmers

[Paladin2]

F dat chit.

Break My Windows.

[BitWielder1]

Eventually we'll be paying to stay alive, like in the movie "In Time".

[Dr. Sivana]

More ways to reduce a car’s resale value.

[hadaclueonce]

Mean while in the US we have the new car option of Biden seats.
Turn it on and blows smoke you ass.

[CA_soon_gone]

So I’m pretty sure you own the car. After all you do have title. Now it seems BMW has their device on your property. Sounds like a rent payment is in order. And what’s powering the device? Sounds like they need a monthly power bill as well.

[Sirius Lee]

This will be good for Audi sales.

[NetAddicted]

Say what?!

[Feckless]

Who do they think they are, Harley Davidson?

[EVO X]

Seems rather greedy to me. I could possibly see a one time activation fee. It might make some sense for production line efficiency. I certainly wouldn’t buy one of their cars if the only option is to rent features..

[steelwheels]

BMW is offering a subscription service to turn on heated seats in its cars.

Sounds like freedom to me, not to mention capitalism.

[SES1066]

I remember being bemused when I was at a high-level convention and the Hyatt that I stayed at charged for internet connection and other such ‘convenience items’! This was a surprise as the previous night on the trip to the convention, I stayed at a motel that cost a third of the Hyatt and had the internet AND breakfast included. (FYI: The Hyatt chain is the base of the Pritzker Family fortune, a rabid LEFTist family that includes the current Illinois Governor. Given any choice, I’d stay elsewhere!)

This BMW ‘rent’ operation seems on the same mode and proliferating through the industry. Amenities that are electronic and not part of the actual driving function will become revenue-stream charges! Not a trend that I like!

[butlerweave]

Why buy their car if you have to rent the Key ,LOL

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I believe the heated seats, heated steering wheel, support for Apple CarPlay - everything that can be "subscribed to" can also be permanently enabled for a price. Factor in that price when purchasing the car, and decide whether it's a good buy for you.

If you're leasing, decide whether you want to pay the subscription cost over the life of the lease.

And if you buy a used car with subscriptions disabled - hey, that car is your property and there will most likely no longer be a warranty to violate by breaking the firmware that disables the features. So download and install the firmware update (there will be one) that permanently enables the features and enjoy your car.

[TangoLimaSierra]

People are going to start jail-breaking their cars.

[Myrddin]

It seems to be a common scam to build a device with software control that disables the hardware that the customer purchased unless a fee is payed to turn the hardware feature on. Zero electric motorcycles engages in the scam of crippleware on top of the hardware to harvest more revenue to enable an existing feature of the purchased hardware. That alone has put me off purchasing a Zero product.

[Noumenon]

I remember when BMWs were fun. Still miss my old 2002 Ti.

[Gaffer]

I have owned in my lifetime, TWO Z3s, a 328i, a 325i and a POS SUV with a first gear built for 50 degree inclines it seems - worthless for normal driving. On EVERY instance there is for an after market part potential they figured out how to nix it.

For example, a completely normal 1156/7 tail light or brake light bayonet bulb.... THEY had to offset the opposing bayonet nibs so you couldn’t just buy a Sylvania bulb or something - has to be BMW.... And don’t even get me started about how they play around with OBDII CAN testing compatibility and stuff.....

There are just so many little areas where they’ve worked overtime to screw you. This is just one more.....

[Fresh Wind]

“Tesla reportedly removing paid-for features after used-car sales”. Also, Tesla is no longer allowing end-of-lease purchases.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/23/tesla-removing-content-from-used-cars/

More reasons to shop elsewhere.