Worst "Software" Subscription Ever

This is not exactly Mac related but we have been talking a lot about software subscriptions.

Surely this is the most outrageous such subscription I have ever seen

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Tesla offer a similar package for some of their cars, albeit a one off charge (last time I looked) e.g. Upgrading your Model 3 Long Range to the Performance specs.

Ignoring the costs for a minute, this is a real benefit with software when you can buy a lower config and upgrade it later if you wish. This wasn’t possible on cars which didn’t have this type of software.

Similar illicit “upgrades” have been possible on other cars in the past, e.g. Volkswagen Audi Group diesel engines could be “Tuned” through the use of ECU updates so if you bought a car with 130 bhp it could be upgraded to 180 bhp. There was always a risk in doing this that 1) You were invalidating your warranty, 2) other parts of the car (e.g. brake pads and discs) may not be specified to cope with the greater power and 3) you were also modifying the car which, if you didn’t inform your insurance company meant you were breaking their terms and would effectively be uninsured if they found out.

Sometimes a subscription on a car can make sense, e.g. for a self driving type feature, if you spend a lot of time driving locally, but twice a year you take a massive road trip, you can add this for a much lower fee, as and when you need it rather than paying. But $1,200 a year for faster acceleration seems expensive. I suppose the market will decide.

My 2006 H-D FXDI motorcycle, an early fuel-injected V-Twin, was forced by exhaust emission standards to run overly lean. It got great gasoline mileage but ran hot and was prone to pinging. The aftermarket offered many solutions but the best was Harley’s official Race Tuner, an electronic link that allowed downloading improved air intake and fuel settings. Gas mileage dropped noticeably but the engine ran cooler and a lot stronger.

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I’ll be blunt. Anyone who pays an annual fee of $1,200-$2,000 so they can accelerate .5 to 1 sec faster is nuts, I don’t care how much discretionary money one has. If .5 to 1 sec is that important, skip the Mercedes and Tesla, buy one of these instead. :wink:



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But when one of those pulls up next to you in your Mercedes, you know you’re going to get beat off the line. But if another Mercedes pulls up with trick software that is not obvious, you might get surprised. Which may be worth it to some wanna be street racers. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hardly worth $2K/year unless one’s pride dominates one’s life. :joy:

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We’ve officially crossed the threshold of every company out there trying to squeeze every last dime out of us. Not on the same scale, but I had to buy exterior Christmas lights last week because the ones I bought 2 years ago literally fell apart.

My dad was saying he used the same lights the entire time I was growing up, and now he has to buy new ones every 2 years or so. In a world so concerned with the environment and reducing waste, we sure churn out a lot of junk that just isn’t meant to last.

Christmas lights, household appliances, some tools (I had a PVC saw that broke on first use) – the list goes on. I’m so sick of being squeezed for every dime. ’

I bought a Christmas gift on Amazon for my daughter last week. When I logged on today I saw that it’s now $25 cheaper. I contacted them about it and they said they don’t do adjustments after the sale, but I’m welcome to return it. As a Prime Member it would still be $35 to ship it back! They’ve got you coming and going.

/rant

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Everything you say is true, but I think the most convincing counter argument is that if it can do it with just software, and it’s just a settings change, then you’ve actually already paid for all of the hardware to do whatever it is that you want to do. The car is just preventing you from accessing functionality that you’ve theoretically already paid for.

To use a really ridiculous example, imagine you bought a drill. Somehow this drill can tell whether or not it’s being used to build a house, and will lock you out if you try. It’s fine for everything else, but not building houses. The minute you try to build a house, an LCD screen lights up and says “ unlock construction option? $80 - click here to pay.”

I think we would all think that was ridiculous, because all the functionality is clearly there already. Same for cars.

And I also think this is different from the situation where the bike was configured to run lean for emissions purposes, but then you can do an aftermarket mod to make it better – presumably at the expense of emissions performance. In that case, the mod you’re making may well be illegal for the manufacturer to ship. This would be a setting straight from the car manufacturer, all of which would logically have to be compliant with appropriate laws.

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All of your examples concern artificially imposed limitations. I bet a Mercedes acceleration subscription has emission and fuel efficiency implications, too.

We must vote with our wallets. If there’s a good alternative, always choose that. Except when we believe the subscription model benefits us, as well.

The top of the line Tesla’s are faster than all of those, the Tesla S takes just under 2 seconds 0 - 60, the Roadster they’re due to release is sub 2 seconds

Hell, even the Model 3 performance is only just over 3 seconds.

That’s why I keep eyes front when any of them pulls up alongside me in my pickup truck. :rofl:

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I agree that would be ridiculous, but if it was clear at the point of purchase that this was the case, no-one could complain.

I also agree that when an automaker sells you a car with disabled hardware, you’ve already paid for it. The Automakers are not making a loss on any car they sell. But it’s the deal and you buy the bill of goods which doesn’t include heated seats (BMW), and if you want them, you add it at the time of initial purchase or pay to get them switched on later. No one has been Duped.

If you really don’t like it, vote with your wallet and go elsewhere.

BMW Soon understood the backlash and relented.

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Yes but a Telsa doesn’t look nearly as cool. :blush:

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I expected this to be a thread about iMazing.

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@rkaplan - this is outrageous and hilariously bad. And, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Mercedes man.

@anon20961960 - Why do you feel this way about Banktivity (maybe this is a separate thread). Mine subscription just renewed yesterday, so this has been on my mind. I’ve been very frustrated–vocally so–with the change over to Yodlee (or whatever it’s called) for handling transaction downloads.

@Bmosbacker - Those happen to be my top three choices if I had an insane about of discretionary spending, didn’t have four kids who will one day need to go to college, and didn’t live in the heart of Los Angeles where the difference between the acceleration curve of a a refurbished 1964 Volkswagen Beetle and 2023 Corvette Stingray is virtually negligible most hours of the day.

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So you, don’t feel alone,

I share this sentiment. This thing is rampant. On the positive side, though, it does make finding good companies (manufacturers and service providers) who make great products or deliver world-class services that they stand by all the more valuable today. There are some gems out there, and I’m glad to “invest” with them. It just seems so much harder to find them, and it’s tough when you think you’ve found one and it turns out the opposite. The seeming betrayal tends to put a bitter taste in one’s mouth.

Support the good ones, stay clear of the bad ones, and try not to let the bad ones make you too cynical. That’s no lecture from me to you, but a sermon to myself.

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we’re talking about luxury electric cars that cost over 100k $/€… it’s the same as charging 1000 $ more for a golden gearshift, or charging 400 $ for a monitor stand that adjusts in height (:wink:).

Luxury brands work this way

What I’m saying is that I don’t think Mercedes could sell a package - software or otherwise - that rendered the car non-compliant with emissions laws.

Third parties logically have more leeway. Some of the third-party downloaders I’ve seen have explicit warnings to reset to factory before doing emissions testing or taking the vehicle in for service.

it’s for electric vehicles only, as far as the article says, so no emission at all (I bet it’s not that easy for an endothermic engine car)

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