oh yes, surely that idea helps them compete with Chinese cars, this is what they are going to add value to and justify their price

is that why they never use turn signals? you need a subscription?

fuck the subscription model. I want to own my shit!

I will never buy a bmw because of this, and they were on my short list of new car next year.

I'm probably going Volvo now, we will see.

Every upgrade in John Deere equipment of the same model is installed on every unit sold, just unplugged, because it’s cheaper to have the same build process.

I'd like to sit here and say well now I'm never going to buy a bmw, but I don't think that was ever going to be a choice on my part anyway.

And i will never commit to BMW.

It sounds like their market research told them they would make more money this way, and my own anecdotal evidence makes me think they are correct, unfortunately.

The area where I live has some diversity and some decent people, but it is majority white christian conservative. The amount of luxury SUVs I see rage-driving around town can be astounding at times. It's right up there with the amount of frighteningly expensive emotional support trucks with the drivers still wearing their ball caps and wrap-around shades on overcast days.

Are we sure they didn't just put the controls on the turn signal lever?

That is a hill to die on. I wish you the luck that is deserved.

• to bmw, not oc

Most BMW drivers lease vehicles so they're already used to what amounts to subscription. My fear is that these news articles are actually designed to normalize this to buyers of brands where leasing isn't the default. They show how the affluent don't mind paying to convince the less fortunate it's a glamorous move.

Now we all know that if we see someone in a BMW at a traffic light who looks particularly comfortable, that person is an idiot.

I guess my previous BMW will be my last one.

Considering I'd never buy one, great! I couldn't care less.

Time to focus on jailbreak cars. We need to kill off the DMCA now!

Guess what car I won’t buy.

This is a terrible article. It didn't give a single example. It also said there is subscriptions for things that need a constant connection. The connected drive stuff currently are things anyone can do without. This is very rage baity.

I guess because BMW doesn't believe their customers make wise decisions?

Drove BMW my whole life and the brand no longer makes cars for people who like driving. Hard to imagine this is the company that made the e46 m3.

Coming up to 10 years of ownership on my 335i and it will be my final BMW. They literally don't even make a car that is more fun than my clapped out 335. Pathetic. It's all touch screens and electronic steering and shit that car enthusiasts despise.

Porsche is the only company still making good cars. Unfortunately that is also reflected in their prices.

Charging someone to use something they already own is extortion.

Of course they will. BMW drivers aren't buying them because they're actually good cars.

Shifting toward a subscription model at this stage in the game just screams “we are having money trouble.”

Which is ironic considering the image BMW has.

BMW buyers are rubes, so it all make sense.

Completely off topic, but I couldn't help noticing that that is the ugliest car interior I have ever seen. From the wonky cornerless screen to I don't know what's going on with that steering wheel and the horrendously stripy all over the place centre console.

So how does the car know if your subscription is valid?

Is it going to be like Microsoft when every so often your subscription is a deactivated until you can validate it again?

So your car will need to have constant connectivity to wifi or at least reconnect each day/week/month to confirm the subscriptions are still active?

Bring 

My 

Wallet 

What Has Seat To Do With BMW? It is Volkswagen Company.

For now, BMW is defaulting to a more traditional approach. If it requires a data package of some sort, it will probably have a recurring fee—and BMW says its customers are already comfortable subscribing to such add-ons.

Sounds like a fairly reasonable position imo, and that they listen to the outrage about heated seats (which tbh was ridiculous). I get the feeling that everyone who commented on this didn't actually read the article, lol.

Full disclosure: I own a fairly recent BMW and do like it a lot. Would I have bought it with subscription based heated seats? Maybe not, but I do appreciate other things like having a physical button to go into battery save mode and not having to dive 3 touch screen menus down.. or that it's one of the most powerful hybrids in electric only mode (though not anymore I think).. or being generally more dialed back when it comes to driver assist features.

That said I will admit that it has a physical button that tells me to pay up when pressed, to enable automatic high beam control.. though it's not like it was an advertised feature (got it used).