Renting Features

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Renting Features

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Points: 736172
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July 14, 2020 at 12:00 am

#3767849

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Renting Features
December 4, 2022 at 3:54 pm

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phegedusich SSCommitted Points: 1552 More actions · Answer 1

Dear BMW,

If I’m going to buy a car that costs more than my parents paid for their house, I expect all of the installed components to work out of the gate. For as long as I own the car. For no “extra” charge. I’m not buying a house and renting the kitchen or the furnace.

While optional components such as heated seats and satellite radio are not essential to the operation of the vehicle, they will still be in place and subject to failure. What if I didn’t “rent” the heated seats, but a flaw in them fried the car’s electronics?

Is our economic system finally so messed up that the only way to profit is to rent everything out?

DinoRS SSCrazy Points: 2683 More actions · Answer 2

Dear Tesla,

thank you for your autonomous vehicle package, too bad it won't work anymore once someone sells a Tesla second hand. You can beat on any bush you want but instead of BMW you should've taken the Tesla example even though it might go against the american pride way of life.

You can already unlock features with Porsche Cars OTA.

I don't mind being able to unlock I don't know adaptive dampers or something as long as it stays part of the vehicle afterwards however Tesla is at the forefront showing how to f*ck things up for consumers.

I wouldn't say you'll find unlock codes all over the place, engine and car mappings are rather well secured and such rental features have to be embedded in the ECU which means unless you have the time for a BFA (brute force attack) via preferrably GPU against the encryption certificate I think the rental features are rather safe.

You can ofcourse take a different ECU, have your car custom programmed but with all respect let me tell you: for your average Diesel or BMW or whatever you won't go down that route because this is a substantial Investment which might start off with a custom wiring loom.

Robert Sterbal SSChampion Points: 11050 More actions · Answer 3

I too was surprised that this piece was about BMW and not Tesla

412-977-3526 call/text

Tom Uellner SSCrazy Points: 2995 More actions · Answer 4

Far too many things in my life want a perpetual income ever month. No, I don't want more monthly bills for options in my car. I'll either buy it or I won't, but I'm not paying monthly for it.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736172 More actions · Answer 5

I used to feel this way. I'll buy music, not rent it. I've changed.

I do want to own some things, and that should be an option. However, I also think that those $1000 heated seats might not be something I want to pay for up front. Maybe I am on a budget or I live in a warm climate and don't care that much. The cost of the car isn't the full cost with the options, it's the cost of the more base model. I can then add options later, not under pressure from a salesperson when I buy the car. Maybe I move to the North and want to enable heated seats. Or move to the South and disable them.

I get that monthly bills aren't necessarily what many of us want more of, but if the initial cost is low enough, it might be a good trade.

Tom Uellner SSCrazy Points: 2995 More actions · Answer 6

Good points Steve.

The musician in me will stick to buying music though... 🙂

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736172 More actions · Answer 7

Lol, I still buy some, but not as much as I expected. Spotify has really been something I enjoy using to explore a variety of artists.