That New 3 Series You Want Might Only Have Heated Seats For First Three Months You Own It

German luxury cars are renowned for the breadth of their options sheets. On one hand, this means you can get your next BMW 5 Series configured exactly how you want it. On the other hand, it means you'll often wind up paying for extra for seemingly basic things like, say, a spare tire. Now, BMW is raising the ante by making many car options into software services enabled whenever you want them. The disconcerting part? They can be disabled, too.
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TauronB2G - 7/1/2020 4:59:56 PM

+2 Boost

Somebody will hack it and turn it all on.

ricks0me - 7/1/2020 6:09:33 PM

0 Boost

Tauron: I hope you are correct

Another reason not to buy a BMW. Who wants to drive around with cold nuts?

malba2367 - 7/1/2020 7:58:13 PM

+3 Boost

This is actually a good idea...it will lower their build costs, and allow customers to add features to an existing vehicle. The only problem is that morons who don't understand how things work will get all butthurt and cry that they are being charged for something they already paid for.

PUGPROUD - 7/1/2020 8:25:22 PM

+1 Boost

In the end customers will decide if this is a good idea or not. If they think otherwise or are confused BMW will have to rethink this approach, Its only recently BMW had to back off charging an annual fee for Apple Car Play because of consumer resistance.

Truthy - 7/2/2020 9:45:44 AM

+2 Boost

You are spot on. Since the charge for Apple Car play did not work, it seems odd to try again. And if customers are confused this is because BMW is not communicating this well. Some arrogant VP in the organization is convinced this is a good idea and will keep trying.

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 7/1/2020 8:56:23 PM

+3 Boost

I think you can get 4 heated seats AND a heated steering wheel in a Hyundai compact car these days. This is a silly plan. As @PUG said they just went through this already and backed down.

The long view strategy is to adapt to a market where less people are driving every day, holding cars longer and less cars will be sold. You don't want to be the brand that is a pain to deal with in a down market.

Moo1 - 7/2/2020 8:55:49 AM

0 Boost

I can see hackers doing their thing with this. I won't buy a BMW with this feature.