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78
Forget Netflix, Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription - Owners can now subscribe to boost the power of their car… for a fee (www.autoexpress.co.uk)
posted 308 days ago by SophiesBoyfriend 308 days ago by SophiesBoyfriend +78 / -0
Forget Netflix, Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription | Auto Express
Owners can now subscribe to boost the power of their car… for a fee
www.autoexpress.co.uk
27 comments share
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Comments (27)
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▲ 32 ▼
– RoulerBleu 32 points 308 days ago +32 / -0

''Everything is a subscription'' is cancer.

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▲ 16 ▼
– lapalapa 16 points 308 days ago +16 / -0

Never pay for this crap. Do not allow it to become successful.

Subscriptions allow the sellers to become lazy. VW should be kept in their toes.

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▲ 2 ▼
– GamingTheSystem-01 2 points 307 days ago +2 / -0

Voting with your wallet only works in the positive direction. As long as enough people buy it to justify the development, they'll do it. And considering it's an if/else statement that costs $1000, it only takes one idiot in the whole world to pay for it. To "vote" against this you'd have to find some way of costing them millions of dollars.

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▲ 1 ▼
– lapalapa 1 point 307 days ago +1 / -0

The idea is that they'll lose just that, millions of dollars in lost sales as people gravitate away from them and towards brands that don't do subscriptions.

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▲ 1 ▼
– GamingTheSystem-01 1 point 307 days ago +1 / -0

Ideally yeah, problem is the profit margin on a $50,000 car is only like $3500. So adding $1000 or $2000 of 1's and 0's is a huge increase in profits because you don't have to build anything - it's all gravy. Automakers will likely slowly start aligning on this until everyone is doing it. They don't have to overtly conspire because they all see the same numbers.

Sorry, I am just blackpilled on this. The only way I can see this turning around is something like a massive cyber terrorism incident like remotely bricking thousands of vehicles.

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▲ 22 ▼
– LastRights 22 points 308 days ago +22 / -0

Rent seekers.

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▲ 1 ▼
– enevold 1 point 307 days ago +1 / -0

middlemen.

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▲ 16 ▼
– The_Shadow_of_Intent 16 points 308 days ago +16 / -0

Let's check if it's an EV... yeah, looks like it is. What a surprise. This is the future of the car industry if Trump had not come out against it. The retune could be as simple as moving a scrubber bar from 201 bhp to 228 bhp.

27 hp is absolutely not worth it in my opinion. You'd forget you bought it in a week but your 700 euros would be gone.

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▲ 2 ▼
– KekistanPM 2 points 308 days ago +2 / -0

On my city commute I'd never have a chance to use it anyway.

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▲ 5 ▼
– bloodguard 5 points 308 days ago +5 / -0

It's going to be interesting to see how they react when people start "rooting" their cars and monkey patching all their goofy subscription nonsense.

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▲ 4 ▼
– NotCreativeName 4 points 308 days ago +4 / -0

EVs already have a tendency to brick themselves when the mandatory software updates fail. So doing that if they detect unauthorised modifications isnt out of the question

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▲ 1 ▼
– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
▲ 1 ▼
– akira2501 1 point 307 days ago +1 / -0

"Limp Mode Activated. Return Vehicle to Dealer."

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▲ 4 ▼
– FromTheShadows 4 points 308 days ago +4 / -0

The manufacturers will just do what Nintendo does: brick the vehicle.

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▲ 1 ▼
– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
▲ 4 ▼
– FellowCanuckIstan 4 points 308 days ago +4 / -0

Can you activate only when you need to pass a car on a two lane road?

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▲ 2 ▼
– Jalapeno_gringo 2 points 308 days ago +2 / -0

I think that's what variable cam timing does.

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▲ 4 ▼
– AlfredicEnglishRules 4 points 308 days ago +4 / -0

It's not like the computers are all standardized and can be accessed through a $25 device. They have complete control and car guys won't find a way around it pretty easily.

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▲ 3 ▼
– NotCreativeName 3 points 308 days ago +3 / -0

Only the diagnostics are standardized. If you want to tune or perform coding you would have to reverse engineer the computers/bypass any applicable DRM(like certain infotainment features in VW cars like CarPlay have DRM checks to see if an volkswagen stealership activated it)

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▲ 1 ▼
– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
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– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
▲ 2 ▼
– enevold 2 points 307 days ago +2 / -0

man, i miss my 1998 citroen xsara. installed the sound-system myself, could repair everything with plenty of space to work in.

a nice old-ppls car, soft susppension, soft steering, nice power with only 90 ps.

would cost me 10x as used nowadays to get that lvl of comfort.

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▲ 1 ▼
– ApathySK 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0

I wonder if there's communities that focus on breaking these and getting a "luxury" car for cheap. Just buy the best bang for the buck and then unlock all the features permanently.

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▲ 1 ▼
– enevold 1 point 307 days ago +1 / -0

what is it now? 40 000 for a golf with acceptalbe extras?

the suzukis for hunters have a waiting period of 2 years.

is there anything but dacias for ppl who only want a car to drive towards a mountain and go climbing?

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▲ 1 ▼
– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
▲ 1 ▼
– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0
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– deleted 1 point 308 days ago +1 / -0

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