Listening to R 4 again, apparently the latest wheeze from BMW (and some other manufacturers) Much o the technology on the cars is supplied via an app, which you have to subscribe to £££ All the tech is built into the car as standard (cheaper to manufacture) but you have to have the app subscription and pay when you have the tech activated + pay per month. Heated seats, automatic high beam etc. You can pay to have the heated S/wheel without the app £200. BUT if you sell the car it is then removed and next owner has to pay again.

> @"Elcarajillo"#p22481 You can pay to have the heated S/wheel without the app £200. BUT if you sell the car it is then removed and next owner has to pay again. The whole thing stinks, especially this bit.

@"Elcarajillo"#p22481 My first reaction was that this is a typical money grab by another big corp. But then actually there could be some perks… It’s not uncommon for car (and motorbike!) manufacturers to build the cars with preparation for upgrades already there. Makes sense from a manufacturing perspective. But paying monthly might actually be better than paying once up front. I wonder how subscribing to heated seats/wheel etc for just the three coldest months of the year over say 5 years of ownership compares to the up-front cost of buying those extras initially and then only using them for a third of the year. I’ve also been guilty of being suckered into speccing extras on cars I’ve barely used. Would’ve been great to have an app to switch them off and not pay for them! Edit: I’ve just Googled. It’s £10 a month for heated seats. £150 over five years if used for Winter only. I’m not sure what BMW charges for heated seats but I’m guessing it’s a bit more than £150. Their other argument about buying a used car and wanting extras that the previous owner didn’t have is a pretty good point.

> @"Ernie1"#p22484 Edit: I’ve just Googled. It’s £10 a month for heated seats. £150 over five years if used for Winter only. I’m not sure what BMW charges for heated seats but I’m guessing it’s a bit more than £150. You can't pay for less than 12 months, so 350 unlimited would be the best option financially and when you sell the car, it wouldn't have heated seats. The main problem is heated seats are standard on most Beemers, so you are going to have to pay for something you probably would have got free. The net result is we will gradually go back to a world where when you bought a Mercedes it came with nothing, not even a radio. If people buy into this, cars won't be any cheaper and options previously free will hide behind a paywall. And don't think they won't do this, they made electric windows a paid option for years, even though wind up windows were more expensive to install. They then hit on the ruse of electric fronts and wind up rears in the hope everyone would opt for electric all round (at the same price as before). Remember full size spare, to space saver, to useless tyre repair kit. Thorpe park, free parking, to £3 per day, to £8 per day (plus que jumping tickets at extra prices) Disney went from free parking to really quite expensive. P.S. We Must not give La Marzocco any ideas

APPS for BMW.

Ernie1

DavecUK

Ah I didn’t realise there was a minimum subscription. Yeah it’s a joke then, not a great sign for the future.

The biggest racket is when manufacturers tie extras together in ‘packs’.

In our car I wanted reverse sensors but had to buy them with about seven other things I didn’t need for a ridiculous four figure sum. So I opted out.

And reversed into a lamp-post about three months later…

CoyoteOldMan

Ernie1 Which will cost you a ridiculous four-figure sum to fix… (I hope not)

DavecUK

Ernie1 The biggest racket is when manufacturers tie extras together in ‘packs’.

BMW already doing that with the software coded options for the 1 series.

CoyoteOldMan

DavecUK We Must not give La Marzocco any ideas

"To enhance your La Marzocco espresso experience even further, the new version of the app will charge you the average price of a single or double coffee* every time you use it. The coin-operated controller* will also enable features such as ‘caffè sospeso’.

For the ultimate in faithful replication of the Italian Caffè experience, the telemetric attachment* can be set up so that the order for the coffee can be placed remotely from your sitting room, the coffee shot delayed by a few minutes**, and the per-shot charge amount increased to simulate the genuine Italian custom of charging more for ‘service to the table’; the tipping function with variable tipping percentages will create the most realistic simulation of a real coffee shop.

* Additional equipment required - RFID coffee filters for dose identification, coin-operated controller and telemetric attachment are optional and charged separately from your La Marzocco coffee machine. Average price determined from a sample of Italian coffee shops using La Marzocco equipment.

** Time-to-service varies in a random fashion depending on time of day and your distance from your La Marzocco coffee machine, and you may not always be served the drink you ordered at first."

MediumRoastSteam

A lot of businesses are moving to a subscription model, presumably after the success of Amazon Prime and Netflix. Here are many other subscription services, from the milkman to fruit and veg delivery, to car leasing or gas boiler, plumbing and heating repairs.

The subscription model guarantees a steady income stream to the platform, allowing to evolve products and, in a way, allowing the customers to choose - and pay accordingly, gradually - for what they want. And when they don’t want, they stop paying for it.

It seems to be the operating model our society is going towards.

dutchy101

You will own nothing and be happy. .

DavecUK

dutchy101 You will own nothing and be happy. .

Exactly, once we used to own a record or a CD, nowadays we don’t. That lack of owning a physical thing hasn’t made it cheaper.

Once we used to have checkouts in supermarkets, now we don’t. There is no one to help us, or till things quickly. It takes forever with a trolley full of food at automated checkouts, which fail to work or sometimes require a rescan in case of theft…….oops, sorry, that hasn’t happened just yet, I’ll post it in two years.

How about houses, I feel sure the rich would like to own all the houses and we can just rent them.

Perhaps one day we will pay an air tax, while we’re still breathing of course. I’m sure someone owns the air….and it’s not me.

JahLaza

DavecUK once we used to own a record or a CD, nowadays we don’t

Nor does the artist who made the music!

MediumRoastSteam if there’s a problem with the heating element, or whatever other part of the “heated seats”

You’re paying rent,it’s the landlords responsibility 😂

MediumRoastSteam

So in case of the BMW heated seats subscription, what happens if there’s a problem with the heating element, or whatever other part of the “heated seats” component? Given the fact you are paying effectively to have heated seats, does this effectively shifts liability to the subscription provider in making sure it’s working and running safely and effectively?

Doram

MediumRoastSteam perhaps I can get a reduced price subscription with ads transmitted directly to my bottom?

dutchy101

Doram hahaha

DavecUK

JahLaza You would have to have those sea6ts repaired at your expense, just like any other fault!!