If you purchase 12 months at a time, you can save a lot on the power steering subscription.

The fact they can legally charge a subscription for a fitted feature that does not pose any continuous cost for the company is insane

107

It should be forbidden by law.

58
- Next we're going to get a subscription fee to unlock the full potential of our phone batteries. But if we don't pay, at least we'll have 50% of the battery 🤮
  
  18
- But since it's not, don't buy anything from those companies.
  
  13
Flip it to instead focus on them forcing limited lifespans for the cars by doing this and then dropping support.

8
The fact they can legally charge a subscription for a fitted feature that does not pose any continuous cost for the company is insane

It's called "Rent-Seeking Behavior" and it has infected essentially every single fucking millimeter of the market.

You'll own nothing and you'll fucking like it.

6
Rent-seeking.

4

Permanently Deleted

59

Or the Tesla blows up because you sent a mean tweet.

29
- A mean xit?
  
  12
- "you liked ElonJet, so we're now banning you from all Tesla services"
  
  12
- The tesla drives you directly to the gulag
  
  1
Or Epson bricking your car cause it got 6 years old

9

Car in the 90s: .... door doesn't close securely anymore ... the windshield is cracked ... the brakes don't work sometimes ... the transmission is slipping ... the engine is misfiring ... the alternator doesn't work anymore ... the coolant is way below the add mark ... steering fluid is almost empty ... you have no more headlights ... the rear trunk door has fallen off ... CAR IS STILL DRIVEABLE

Car in 2020s: ... The car is all in one piece (it may even be brand new) ... one random system trouble light ... alarm goes off at regular intervals to annoy you to the point of taking it to a mechanic.

36

Windshield wiper fluid low is so obtrusive. It warms you next to the odometer as a message pop-up instead of a light, other things have lights, why doesn't it? Know what's worse? It also pops up multiple times on the dashboard touch screen blocking you from seeing your navigation while driving. At least I know I'm low on wiper fluid!

7
- It's like all of the annoying assholes we knew growing up somehow managed to get into decision making decisions at all the major corporations. It's so common now for designs to be absolutely completely fucking terrible. Constant nagging and annoyances. Fuck off already! I'm living my life, stop trying to live it for me.
  
  4
- My 2020 Seat Ibiza doesn't warn me about wiper fluid at all. It just stops working, which can be quite annoying when it's empty right as I'd really need it
  
  4
Oh man, I forgot about the doors that don’t close properly. You knew it was going to be a fun ride when you got in one with a bungee cord holding it shut.

2
- Lol .... I grew up for a few years on a native reserve in northern Ontario ... I remember driving around in trucks without doors
  
  On one drive with my friends as young teens ... I was 13 going on joy ride ... as we tore through town, the front hood flipped open and onto the windshield ... while we going fast on a narrow gravel roadway ... it's one of those moments where you go from sheer joy to absolute terror in a heart beat.
  
  I've been in a lot of shitty vehicles in my life and we learned how to make things work ... as long as it had pistons and a carburetor, we could get it to run.
  
  2

Ironically, BMW, the company that was charging a heated seat subscription, is also the same company that still lies about its horsepower numbers today.

31

Which way? I've seen advertising use wheel hp instead of crank which is what I assume to be the default.

10
- Their performance models often make more power than what they advertise. One modern example.)
  
  11
- In the positive direction. Many of the new M3s and M4s, and even the Toyota Supra that they manufacture, have been marketed as making less power than cars that they will easily beat in a drag race.
  
  10

BMW drops plan to charge a monthly fee for heated seats

25

Looks like customers have successfully voted with their wallets. Nice!

13
- So rare for that to actually work these days.
  
  15
BMW backtracks: Automaker will no longer charge monthly fee for heated seats

The backlash was high enough that they decided to look for other subscriptions that wouldn't upset people so much.

1

BMW cancelled plans for this heated seats subscription based on memes like this. Keep up the good work!

21

BMW didn’t give a single fuck about some autistic teenagers online making memes. They cared about actual customers not buying BMWs over it.

1
- The memes helped people decide not to buy it
  
  5
- But teenagers will eventually become potential customers so it should matter.
  
  And maybe the memes can help spread messages. I mean i get ads from companies in meme format so it must have some effect.
  
  5

I've wondered about how feasible it is to bypass all of these artificial locks these car companies put on their "services"

15

If you want to maintain the warranty, that's where you're going to be screwed. If you're buying used, who gives a fuck. Root the car and turn everything on. The car manufacturer cares about the first sale and that's it. They'll attempt to make it hard to root to prevent resales with more features enabled, but we're going to do it anyway. A lot of people are pessimistic about the future of cars (which is fare for new cars), but personally I don't care. Fuck the companies. There's a way to control all their devices whether they like it or not.

12
- Isn't DMCA 1201 the problem here? It's the same law John Deere beats hackers, crackers and tinkerers over the head with. They put a token, flimsy digital lock on their equipment so any replacement must be blessed and ordained by JD itself to work. If you defeat that lock, or tell someone else how to defeat that lock, you're on the hook for fucking prison time or 500.000 bucks on your first offense. I agree with the spirit of your comment, when I purchase a thing the manufacturer can go fuck itself. But right now governments around the world (other countries have their equivalents based on the WIPO internet treaties) put all their legal weight behind this business model.
  
  8
I hear it's pretty easy

Do not take my word for it. I'm not a mechanic. Fuck I don't even have custom firmware on my Prius

8
This feasible.

8

Hopefully as my life goes on I will continue to make more money as I go.

I intend to use that money to own and maintain old ass cars until it's literally illegal.

15

I understand your sentiment but cars today are safer, quicker, dont rust as much, and get better gas mileage.

The cost to maintain an older car won't be cheap and it is shit for the environment.

We just need to place government regulations on subscriptions. With recent wins pertaining to right to repair, hopefully they pick up speed and people start voting to make good changes.

If you purchase a product, you should own it. If it has a feature that is disabled by the company, they should have to lease that space on your product, thereby paying you for the storage. That would incentivize not making products like this.

5
- Just because cars are getting newer, does not mean that they're easier to repair on your own
  
  5
- I flatly concede that new cars are safer. Granted that, it's not really that bad to maintain an old car if you take a known good platform purchased in cash and maintain it in a low rust area (which I am). I present two examples:
  
  I have a 1991 Chevy S10 I bought in 2011. Other than fluid changes, I have put in brakes (twice), battery, starter, and a water pump in it since that time. Total cost, maybe $300? I bought the truck for $2500 and it gets around 25mpg.
  
  I have a 2005 Scion xB. Purchased 2019, I have put only brakes into it (cost $150ish). Cost was $2800, and it gets over 30mpg almost always.
  
  Separate to these, I have an e-scooter I use for commuting and small errands on nice days. I think the trio makes a great combo of practical stuff mover, people mover, and "just me" mover. I find it hard to believe this trio would be anything close to the carbon output of making two new equivalent cars and burning the same amount of fuel with them.
  
  Thoughts?
  
  4
- I understand your intentions, but blindly believing modern cars are safer just because they're modern isn't exactly a good mentality either.
  
  For instance: the Volkswagen Up!! Being safer than the Renault kwid which is still better than the equally modern fiat panda, which got the lowest possible grade.
  
  Remember: the auto industry will not make safer automobiles without pressure, I know this because the volkswagen T2 was built all the way to 2014 only getting performance or interior updates because of the lack of pressure on them to make a safer vehicle for that class.
  
  Edit: also do note that the kwid built on Brazil is significantly different from the Indian kwid, meaning that one got 3 stars and the other only one.
  
  As a side note: the Volkswagen Up! performed well when it was tested in 2014 by latinncap
  
  0
Ah, so you're THAT guy in the scifi movie!

1
- I would love to be that guy in a sci-fi movie!
  
  2

That time when Toyota overbuilt the shit out of an in-line six with way less power than it could handle as part of a gentleman’s agreement to avoid government intervention and ended up being an absolute fucking monster.

14

"Oh, but the stock supra had no power. It's not fair to compare it to ." That was the point you nitwits, it was supposed to be modded.

2
- Haha 1khp 2JZ go brap brap brap
  
  5

Meanwhile hillbillies are learning how to start ford f150s with the button that opens the door.

13

These companies just care about the first sale, but I guarantee you there's going to be a thriving market in the future of rooted cars with all features enabled, and they're going to be far better than whatever the dipshit buying the new car for 4 times as much gets.

4
What do you mean by hillbillies?

-2

Car companies absolutely understate performance. Probably even more so now.

8

It took me far too long to realise that this was a meme and not a link to a news article...

8

This was at it's peak in the nineties, with the gentlemens agreement between the Japanese automakers. I suspect some vehicles had their power underrated by 50KW or so.

5

The Volkswagon recall really pussy whipped the entire automotive industry.

5

Vwagy group cars are still being made this way. Audi engine, Lamborghini transmission, etc. The internal components are just shared between productions to cut costs, while they tweak the timings in the computer to match the customer expectations.

They got their hand slapped by the EPA for the TDI emissions line, but the cars are basically performance vehicles detuned. You can supe a modern jetta or golf up for under 3k, 90% of it is just changing the intake and exhaust manifolds while changing shift timings. The Jetta models actually improve fuel economy with an APR tune.

2
- Yeah the EPA TDI bullshit is what I was talking about. It blows my mind to meet EPA "Standards" they had to make the engine perform worse and be less fuel efficient.
  
  2
Can you elaborate? I'm not familiar with the connection you're referring to.

1
- Thier TDI desiels were programmed to have a "emission testing" mode which meets EPA standards, and then a "normal drive" mode which was more powerful and more fuel efficient, but didn't meet standards. They got caught and had to recall and buy back every car that had this feature.
  
  1

"They don't make them like they used to."

Yeah dad, you are right. You are far less likely to die.

4

Fatal crashes have actually gone up in recent years. Likely due to an uptick in SUVs and pick up trucks with their huge blind spots

There are less crashes now overall but they are far more deadly.

13
- Its under 5 falaties per 100K in most of europe. Norway at 2. Monaco at 0 (but foes that count?)
  
  Russia is at 11.
  
  Usa is at 13.
  
  2
Really not true about diesels. DPF is a common problem but didn't even exist in early diesels. Mechanics hate DPFs. Maybe true about petrols.

But EV are better still (if you can have a home charger) and weren't really a thing in the 80s/90s. Bar milk floats.

2
- I'm not a car guy and I really can't even tell if you responded to the right comment or if it just makes so little sense to me I wouldn't know either way.
  
  3

Is making cars like 10x times as expensive as it was in 2005? Games justify greed mongering technique like that by their companies claiming they take much more money to make than they did in 2005 when the switch to $60 dollar big budget games happened.

3

In 1991 we paid around $60 for the best Nintendo NES video games (we had 22% VAT at the time in my country). That's roughly $127 adjusted for inflation.

4
- Early video-games were very expensive
  
  1

Car in the 80s/90s: "Leaded Normal, Leaded Plus, or Leaded Super?"

2

As someone who rode in cars in the 80s, cars today are superior in every possible way.

2

As someone who also rode in cars in the 80s, I call BS. Cars today are superior in a lot of ways like fuel economy, crash safety, and probably reliability.

But cars in the 80s didn't spy on you. Cars today do. That's not superior.

Cars in the 80s were easier to work on. Cars today can require absurd things like dismounting the motor just to get to the spark plugs. That's not superior.

Cars in the 80s had physical knobs and switches to control everything from turn signals, windshield wipers, defogger, radio volume, you name it. Cars today frequently have some or all of these features buried in a submenu on a touchscreen. Muscle memory? Forget it!

That's not superior.

13
Prove it

2
- My car in the 80s didn't have an airbag.
  
  Good talk.
  
  -1