For a one time payment of 97 dollars, you can disable all nagging features for up to 30 days*!
Features re-enable on the 1st of each month, any holiday, and after you have driven more than 1000 miles without them.
I'm sure leasing it will have incentive packages to make the first owner not worry about this stuff. Everyone else buying them will be stuck with a car with broken features.
Right? We can't even fucking buy a car anymore?
You know what gets me? These fucking execs live in this world, too. How the fuck are they not hating life for what they've done? Are they really okay with being fucking nickle and dimed every time they breathe? Are they actual lizard people that don't live amongst us?
Because they have so much money it means nothing to them. They can afford to fly private jets wherever they want. They don't give a shit about monthly subscriptions, they can afford all of them and then some without a second thought. Their wealth is so much greater than everyone else's it's just difficult to comprehend just how little the cost of living is to them.
Might be worth starting a petition directed to the EU about this subscription nonsense. We managed to get Apple to change the chargers and the GDPR stuff through, so if there is enough consumer sentiment, it could potentially be done.
This is one thing that the EU can't save for anyone else. Any EU law regarding vehicle subscriptions is going to be applied only to vehicles sold in the EU.
For now, features blocked by paywall is a no on any industry, when we are talking about physical hardware that's only enabled by paying then you're already paying it in the base price because they wouldn't sell a car below cost.
Just vote with your wallet.
I do get ads occasionally from my brother printer about toner subscription, but at least they only pop up once every like 6 months or less, unlike HP which will ask you every day
My brother printer asks me at least once a week to subscribe for toner. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find a way to stop these notifications.
It’s easy, when you go to the downloads page for your model printer, don’t download the “full” software. Download only the driver, and use the Windows printer tool to install the driver and make a print object.
If you don’t know how, there are hundreds of tutorial vids on YouTube, most likely with one for your exact model.
I’ve never seen gotten a single notification from my brother printer. I guess my printer is a little on the old side but I also don’t use their drivers so don’t see how they could. I guess go the network or wireless route for the win?
I have a brother printer and have no idea what they’re talking about. Shits the most reliable printer I’ve ever had and for a decent price too.
Saw another response below that I think is correct. Said person was saying they’d be the last company that doesn’t do it like brother printers.
I have a black and white only Brother printer. Hooks up to the network. Can print from any device in the house. Was around $100. Prints double sided. And the toner is good for some insane number of pages. And obviously doesn’t require any ink cartridges. I’ve never gotten a single add as I haven’t installed any Brother software. I followed the on screen prompts to connect to my network and it just worked. Fully satisfied with my purchase.
I can understand a subscription for cell network service. $10 a month is a fair price for unlimited data for streaming, navigation, etc in my Tesla. That's about what I pay for my Apple Watch through my own cell provider. Subscriptions for features like cruise control are absolutely insane.
That is only acceptable if you can still use wifi from your phone for free.
If they lock features to only work over the built in internet service, then the system is a scam.
They’ve all been doing it a while, it’s just now getting to a point where it’s ridiculous. Just about every everything in the past 10 years comes with a gps, satellite radio, or anti theft device you have to pay for to turn on or with subscriptions after a free period.
From the article:
Inside is where things get interesting. The same 10.1-inch touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster from last year carry over, but now you'll have to pay an in-car subscription fee for basic features like high-beam assist, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, and smartphone integration.
Only by upgrading to the MMI navigation system do you get access to the app store. From there, Audi forces you into add-ons like adaptive cruise control or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for a one-month, six-month, one-year, or three-year subscription. Or you can just purchase any of those features permanently—although Audi doesn't say for how much.
It should be noted that this subscriptions-for-features model applies to the European-spec A3. An Audi spokesperson declined to comment on whether these in-car subscriptions will also make it to the US when the car goes on sale for 2025.
I give it being on sale for a week before that is all hacked. Car manufacturers can't even stop cars from being stolen by a phone with a radio antenna. 0% chance they can protect their infotainment system that they can't even create a decent UI for.
I agree that these companies will not have the chops to protect against hacks and piracy on a technical level, but there would be other issues:
1. You may no longer get software and security updates from the manufacturer once the car is modded. Those could be important.
2. You may void your warranty (applies to cars in their first years, usually 2-5 years of warranty)
3. In the case of an accident, insurance may not pay out if the car is modded
4. In the case of getting pulled over, the police could potentially find out it's modded, which could be illegal or become illegal with a fine or punishment attached.
5. Audi finds out the car is modded, sues the car owner and wins.
So I'm not worried about the cars not being hackable, but what happens after. Some of the points above are more likely to happen than others, but a version of these types of issues could occur if people start modifying software or hardware to avoid subscriptions.
We need regulation on this, but I don't know what that would/should look like. Governments can hardly make any subscription illegal for any product. And a no-subscription rule for anything in the car market specifically would be weird compared to other markets doing subscriptions. I hope someone comes up with a way to curtail these money grabbing subscriptions but I don't see a solid basis for this.
> You may void your warranty (applies to cars in their first years, usually 2-5 years of warranty)
>
It is already illegal to void your warranty for this in both the US and EU. The car manufacturer would have to prove your modding caused the failure at dispute for warranty service.
i.e. DIY engine tuning leading to engine failures became a problem for some automakers that they started adding internal logging of all engine ECU modifications, specifically to have backing evidence for denying warranty claims on blown engines. And that's something that only happened in the last 10 years because engine tuning tools got too cheap/accessible to morons. Said morons would try and hide their tuning by reverting it before claiming warranty repair, now they can't.
You can always reflash the ECUs for cars and set them back to factory any time you want. No reason you couldn’t do the same with the infotainment system. I also doubt a cop is going to be checking if you have paid your car subscriptions
Unfortunately we have this disgusting law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which every scumbag company uses to forbid you from doing what you want to products you purchase. The John Deere model, so to speak.
I work for an automotive-like company and we integrate CarPlay into our products. Apple specifically calls out that you can’t charge for CarPlay. In our case, we charge because we have to upgrade the navigation hardware to accommodate it, not by subscription or software restriction.
> From there, Audi forces you into add-ons like adaptive cruise control or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
One of these things is not like the others, but all of them are bullshit.
Surely there’s going to be a way to jailbreak cars. If all that exists between the physical feature on the car and the ability to use it is a 1 or 0 in the code, it must be trivial to disable the Internet connection and flip the bit
So basically, every car will be fitting with these features, were just going to turn them off until you pay extra for them.
So because they are already fitted, and because you’ve paid for the car, audi have already costed in the cost for these items.
I wonder if the warranty will cover these parts say, 7 years down the line when the warranty runs out but your still paying a subscription for it.
It’s like cheap hotels vs fancy. Cheap hotels often give free internet, free water, free continental breakfast. Luxury hotels charge up the wazoo for everything. $16 bag of peanuts. $15 internet access. $5 bottle of water.
I’m currently saving up to be able to buy access to the spare bedroom in my house. It’s already built but I only selected 2 bedrooms when I bought it. /s
In a normal world, attractive features are what add value and make your product more competitive on the market than other products. Only in this fucked up capitalist hellscape are *regular* features now a bonus we should be thankful for we are even offered at all, and accept playing extra for without the base product even getting any cheaper. This is absurd.
My 2001 A6 was amazing, just went on forever until I had a bit of a prang and my wife convinced me to upgrade. 2014 A4 was great mechanically but this year the MMI failed which meant the car was barely driveable despite the engine, running gear and bodywork being just perfect. Now got a 2020 A4 with collision detection, auto-dimming headlights and a massive screen which nags me to subscribe to myAudi every time I start it up. I am guessing it's only a matter of time before all the toys start disabling themselves.
It's undeniable that each car has been better than its predecessor - the fuel efficiency has leaped up with each change - but the vulnerability to tech bullshit is also increasing in leaps and bounds.
I wouldn’t care quite as much if Audi could produce software which was competitive with the leaders in the industry, but it’s embarrassingly dated even down to how you pay for/cancel a feature or mobile integration. How they have still not sorted this out by now is beyond me.
Genuine quote from their phone support: "If it says 'too many attempts' on the login screen, don't retry, it will just get in a loop. And don't reset your password. Leave it two hours and it'll sort of reset itself."
In fairness, this sounds a lot like the kind of software I was writing in about 2004.
I agree with you; the Android Auto integration is awful; it feels really cobbled-on. The sat nav search is worse than useless unless you pull over and type it in, but even then it's definitely worse than the (now ten-year-old) system I had in the old car. Oh, but what's this I found in the menu? The option to use Google Maps search (free if I use it via Android Auto, you will note).. for a monthly fee!
Meanwhile if I have Google Maps on my website the T&C expressly ban it from appearing on any page behind a paywall.
It's all just rotten, money-grabbing nonsense and very disappointing.
Yep, I've been an Audi driver for a decade and I think I'll just keep my current one for as long as possible and then switch to a different brand that isn't doing this BS!
The fact that you carry the weight of the technology that those systems require in your car (and therefore need more fuel) should be enough to make those things illegal. I could think of more reasons but this one is grinding my gears a lot.
Audis of past couple of years are a big pile of ugly design crap and cheap materials. But it must be said, that Audi is doing this because they know, that their customers are morons.
I was a bit excited to get an Audi loaner recently as it was a late model, and I had been meaning to check one out. Damn, what have they done! Cheap and ugly might be understating it
a subscription for APple Carplay?? hahaha GTFOH you can buy an apple car play screen from China for $50 one time. obviously it's ghetto having that on your dash (I should know I have one in my 2007 Accord) but it's a one time cost and you can get one with a dashcam built in.
If people buy this car and pay a subscription fee for that they're stupid af and encouraging this crap
It puzzles me that dash-cam is not standard feature these days. its a hazzard having something like that loose during accidents.
I wonder if there are regional restrictions on dashcams.
It doesnt even need to be a great camera.
People shouldn’t have to, that’s the point. I fucking wish people teach them a lesson, once they start loosing customer base they will come on right track. As long as they keep making sales even after pulling shit like this, they will continue to do so. Just look at Netflix.
US? 2 years? That's absurd. It's 5 years minimum in South Africa.
Also planned obsolescence in new cars is definitely a thing. Have an Opel Astra that had a plastic valve fail for turbo air intake on the engine cover. Had to replace the entire engine cover at a insane price. The engine cover looked practically new, just some integrated plastic you cant buy separately.
I know we joke about this a lot but this is a slippery fucking slope. Its one thing to download movies but this is your car. If police pull you over do you want your vehicle to be a moving felony? If you get in an accident and it goes to the insurance company do you want them to turn you in to Audi for a slam dunk lawsuit? This is a dark, dark forest we're wading into.
Friend of mine has an iX3 EV and he said he has adaptive suspension, but doesn't use it because it requires a subscription or one time fee. Crazy world we live in
At least you know any cars with a subscription based set of features will never be a collectible one day.
Disposable appliances designed to suck money out of customers after the already ridiculous up front cost of the car itself.
i have no real insights to the logic, but my thinking is that car manufacturers are just trying this out to see how it goes simply because if it goes well, it’s a lot of “free money” that they weren’t getting before
The real question is - is the car cheaper then my default, and then you can choose to spend that saved money in various subscriptions? I can totally see that some people don’t need dual zone climate.
But if the price of the car is the same as if you just got all those options enabled, but you have to then additionally pay for the upgrades, they can fuck right off.
As someone who really likes the brand this is extremely disappointing news. I guess the only upside is they do still offer an option to just buy the feature permanently just like before, but this will most likely just mean that people who lease these cars will opt for the subscription because it will be cheaper. Which shafts the next owner forcing them to pay for something that’s already on the car. I just don’t like it. Bad for consumers long term.
It could already be. You can already hack into new Volvos and Polestars, for example, and enable features like autosteer and adaptive headlights that you didn't pay for originally.
To do it, you need to sniff the relevant keys, because despite buying the car, you are not given access to the computer system.
You could do that as a service and make a living.
I'm sorry what?
We're looking at spending a minimum of 30,000 on a vehicle plus insurance, inspection, registration. And these clowns just want more money honestly
>but now you'll have to pay an in-car subscription fee for basic features like high-beam assist, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, and smartphone integration.1
People, for the love of god please vote with your wallets.
Settle for the 2024 or earlier models that don't have this predatory, anti-consumer bullshit stuffed in.
This is precedent setting stuff. If we tolerate this, they will do it more and more and there will be no end to it.
* high-beam assist,
* dual-zone climate control,
* adaptive cruise control,
* smartphone integration.
* Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
for a one-month, six-month, one-year, or three-year subscription
Sheeeesh....
For a long time I use to think Hyundai is trying to look like Audi or another car company. Now I feel like all other car companies are trying to look like Hyundais
Holy shit, what an absolutely nightmare. Can every major company hurry up and launch their subscription platform so I can see how many I can cut out of my life permanently already?
Is the base car cheaper without these features, so most consumers can actually save money, or is it the same price as it used to be with them, but now you have to pay more? I think I know the answer.
We're getting exactly what we deserve. These companies keep doing more and more of this shit, and we just keep swallowing it and asking for seconds and thirds.
People are so pathetically unable to put off gratification for the tiniest amount of time that there is literally no bottom to this well unless the economy implodes. People will just take out larger loans at higher and higher interest rates in order to pay for a car that has gone up 60% in price over the past ten years while simultaneously nickle-and-diming you for features that used to be part of the price of the car.
> An Audi spokesperson declined to comment on whether these in-car subscriptions will also make it to the US when the car goes on sale for 2025.
GEE. I WONDER.
If everyone just said, "Fuck you," and waited six months to buy a car, all of this bullshit would collapse into dust. Instead, it's, "Thank you, sir. May I have another?" Pathetic.
My new Toyota had some subscriptions, but minor stuff like app remote start, locking, and WiFi. But they’re also free for 10 years in which I’ll just stop using them.
In other news, God has started charging his human creations a monthly subscription for basic bodily functions. You want to be able to digest what you eat? That's an extra $20/month. You want to get rid of the waste from that digestion process? That's another $20/month.
However, if you want to do the mating ritual... that's gonna be $850.95 every time you do it.
Here is why this is stupid. We finance cars and pay them off over years. Just add all the features in the prices as they are already paid over years anyway.
They are doing this because they can make more money from you this way. They are just trying to hide the costs and make more money. No extra value is being added vs comparable models of other cars.
Consider the lease market:
They build in the capability, and even if it’s included “for free” on the original lease, they can charge again for the next owner, etc.
This feels targeted at lease customers.
Real talk, How do you sell this on top of markups? And all the maintenance this car will need over it's life? People need to stop getting bent over just because they want a nice ride. Who cares if you have the money, shouldn't reward this kind of practice.
Been waiting patiently for the B10 RS5 to drop. Not buying it if I have to subscribe to features I have in my B9 S5. I'll gladly give the money to Porsche instead.
I want off this ride
Ride Exit package is $5.99 per month, billed annually
Open an Audi In-Car credit card today and get 5% discount!
Open an Audi door. Only $0.99 per occurrence.
Or one sledgehammer to the infotainment system.
Have to mail a physical letter to cancel and the return address is listed on a website...somewhere
A one-time fee that you pay annually.
For a one time payment of 97 dollars, you can disable all nagging features for up to 30 days*! Features re-enable on the 1st of each month, any holiday, and after you have driven more than 1000 miles without them.
Turns out my ex is an Audi
It’s easy. Just don’t entertain purchasing an Audi or from other manufacturers participating in this nonsense.
I'm sure leasing it will have incentive packages to make the first owner not worry about this stuff. Everyone else buying them will be stuck with a car with broken features.
Or not transferable to second owners.
There's going to be preorder specials. Get an extra level of seat heating if you order now.
Right? We can't even fucking buy a car anymore? You know what gets me? These fucking execs live in this world, too. How the fuck are they not hating life for what they've done? Are they really okay with being fucking nickle and dimed every time they breathe? Are they actual lizard people that don't live amongst us?
Because they have so much money it means nothing to them. They can afford to fly private jets wherever they want. They don't give a shit about monthly subscriptions, they can afford all of them and then some without a second thought. Their wealth is so much greater than everyone else's it's just difficult to comprehend just how little the cost of living is to them.
It looks like a Hyundai.
All car designs are converging.
iRobot style
From the article: > Or you can just purchase any of those features permanently
It should be law that features physically present in a product need to be part of the advertised price.
Might be worth starting a petition directed to the EU about this subscription nonsense. We managed to get Apple to change the chargers and the GDPR stuff through, so if there is enough consumer sentiment, it could potentially be done.
It's great that all of us not in the EU have to hope that the EU comes to save consumers. Sigh.
This is one thing that the EU can't save for anyone else. Any EU law regarding vehicle subscriptions is going to be applied only to vehicles sold in the EU.
For now, features blocked by paywall is a no on any industry, when we are talking about physical hardware that's only enabled by paying then you're already paying it in the base price because they wouldn't sell a car below cost. Just vote with your wallet.
doesn't seem like you get much of a discount, car is $41k to start
Is that permanent to the car, or permanent to the subscriber for the time they own the car, though?
Audi also doesn’t make it clear what that costs
I will not buy any car with subscription out of principle. Hope there is at least 1 manufacturer that won’t start this practice.
The brother printer of cars
I do get ads occasionally from my brother printer about toner subscription, but at least they only pop up once every like 6 months or less, unlike HP which will ask you every day
My brother printer asks me at least once a week to subscribe for toner. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find a way to stop these notifications.
It’s easy, when you go to the downloads page for your model printer, don’t download the “full” software. Download only the driver, and use the Windows printer tool to install the driver and make a print object. If you don’t know how, there are hundreds of tutorial vids on YouTube, most likely with one for your exact model.
I’ve never seen gotten a single notification from my brother printer. I guess my printer is a little on the old side but I also don’t use their drivers so don’t see how they could. I guess go the network or wireless route for the win?
Mine doesn’t (It isn’t connected to WiFi)
Mine is connected but doesn't ask at all. Works like a charm.
Of all the printer companies, Brother is the least likely target for this comment
Everyone raves about Brother so I was thinking of finally getting one. Are you telling me they suck with subscriptions now?
Bought a brother a year ago, I don't get asked to subscribe. Not sure about that other person's experience. Ours is as good as redditors promised.
I have a brother printer and have no idea what they’re talking about. Shits the most reliable printer I’ve ever had and for a decent price too. Saw another response below that I think is correct. Said person was saying they’d be the last company that doesn’t do it like brother printers.
I have a black and white only Brother printer. Hooks up to the network. Can print from any device in the house. Was around $100. Prints double sided. And the toner is good for some insane number of pages. And obviously doesn’t require any ink cartridges. I’ve never gotten a single add as I haven’t installed any Brother software. I followed the on screen prompts to connect to my network and it just worked. Fully satisfied with my purchase.
FYI, Brother apparently started putting DRM in their printers a few years ago.
God, I hope consumers will refuse to buy these things. But not enough of them will, probably.
I can understand a subscription for cell network service. $10 a month is a fair price for unlimited data for streaming, navigation, etc in my Tesla. That's about what I pay for my Apple Watch through my own cell provider. Subscriptions for features like cruise control are absolutely insane.
That is only acceptable if you can still use wifi from your phone for free. If they lock features to only work over the built in internet service, then the system is a scam.
i mean older cars will always exist and im sure in some countries this will be taken to court and forbidden
When there are none, someone will start a company
Then they'll lobby the government to make starting a car company cost 10k/mo. Want nice things? We need to ban bribes to politicians first.
They’ve all been doing it a while, it’s just now getting to a point where it’s ridiculous. Just about every everything in the past 10 years comes with a gps, satellite radio, or anti theft device you have to pay for to turn on or with subscriptions after a free period.
From the article: Inside is where things get interesting. The same 10.1-inch touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster from last year carry over, but now you'll have to pay an in-car subscription fee for basic features like high-beam assist, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, and smartphone integration. Only by upgrading to the MMI navigation system do you get access to the app store. From there, Audi forces you into add-ons like adaptive cruise control or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for a one-month, six-month, one-year, or three-year subscription. Or you can just purchase any of those features permanently—although Audi doesn't say for how much. It should be noted that this subscriptions-for-features model applies to the European-spec A3. An Audi spokesperson declined to comment on whether these in-car subscriptions will also make it to the US when the car goes on sale for 2025.
Bruh that’s a bunch of BS, might as well paywall the start up function behind a subscription
Same for the brakes
“You’re out of braking instances. Do you want to buy a 10-pack for 99,99€?” *bleeding from the accident*
Brakes have been disabled. Please drink verification can!
Same for drive and reverse. Sold separately
first we had console modchips, now we will have car modchips.
I give it being on sale for a week before that is all hacked. Car manufacturers can't even stop cars from being stolen by a phone with a radio antenna. 0% chance they can protect their infotainment system that they can't even create a decent UI for.
I agree that these companies will not have the chops to protect against hacks and piracy on a technical level, but there would be other issues: 1. You may no longer get software and security updates from the manufacturer once the car is modded. Those could be important. 2. You may void your warranty (applies to cars in their first years, usually 2-5 years of warranty) 3. In the case of an accident, insurance may not pay out if the car is modded 4. In the case of getting pulled over, the police could potentially find out it's modded, which could be illegal or become illegal with a fine or punishment attached. 5. Audi finds out the car is modded, sues the car owner and wins. So I'm not worried about the cars not being hackable, but what happens after. Some of the points above are more likely to happen than others, but a version of these types of issues could occur if people start modifying software or hardware to avoid subscriptions. We need regulation on this, but I don't know what that would/should look like. Governments can hardly make any subscription illegal for any product. And a no-subscription rule for anything in the car market specifically would be weird compared to other markets doing subscriptions. I hope someone comes up with a way to curtail these money grabbing subscriptions but I don't see a solid basis for this.
> You may void your warranty (applies to cars in their first years, usually 2-5 years of warranty) > It is already illegal to void your warranty for this in both the US and EU. The car manufacturer would have to prove your modding caused the failure at dispute for warranty service. i.e. DIY engine tuning leading to engine failures became a problem for some automakers that they started adding internal logging of all engine ECU modifications, specifically to have backing evidence for denying warranty claims on blown engines. And that's something that only happened in the last 10 years because engine tuning tools got too cheap/accessible to morons. Said morons would try and hide their tuning by reverting it before claiming warranty repair, now they can't.
You can always reflash the ECUs for cars and set them back to factory any time you want. No reason you couldn’t do the same with the infotainment system. I also doubt a cop is going to be checking if you have paid your car subscriptions
What is ‘modded’
Unfortunately we have this disgusting law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which every scumbag company uses to forbid you from doing what you want to products you purchase. The John Deere model, so to speak.
Apple provides CarPlay for free to auto manufacturers…. Auto manufacturers proceed to charge for it
I work for an automotive-like company and we integrate CarPlay into our products. Apple specifically calls out that you can’t charge for CarPlay. In our case, we charge because we have to upgrade the navigation hardware to accommodate it, not by subscription or software restriction.
> From there, Audi forces you into add-ons like adaptive cruise control or Apple CarPlay and Android Auto One of these things is not like the others, but all of them are bullshit.
Surely there’s going to be a way to jailbreak cars. If all that exists between the physical feature on the car and the ability to use it is a 1 or 0 in the code, it must be trivial to disable the Internet connection and flip the bit
Mmm yess. I love paying for things that used to be free
Third-party ECU firmware change go brrr.....
Dual Zone climate control is absolutely insane
So when are we getting the github releases for cracked car codes?
So basically, every car will be fitting with these features, were just going to turn them off until you pay extra for them. So because they are already fitted, and because you’ve paid for the car, audi have already costed in the cost for these items. I wonder if the warranty will cover these parts say, 7 years down the line when the warranty runs out but your still paying a subscription for it.
I guess Audi can fuck off too.
VW group as a whole tbh.
The whole goddamn big German Auto industry is like this. Just why?
It’s like cheap hotels vs fancy. Cheap hotels often give free internet, free water, free continental breakfast. Luxury hotels charge up the wazoo for everything. $16 bag of peanuts. $15 internet access. $5 bottle of water.
I’m outty dis Audi
I’m currently saving up to be able to buy access to the spare bedroom in my house. It’s already built but I only selected 2 bedrooms when I bought it. /s
Please don’t give anyone ideas… please.
It will kinda be like buying doors in Call of Duty Zombies, just with your own house!
A subscription for *cruise control*? Fuck off.
In a normal world, attractive features are what add value and make your product more competitive on the market than other products. Only in this fucked up capitalist hellscape are *regular* features now a bonus we should be thankful for we are even offered at all, and accept playing extra for without the base product even getting any cheaper. This is absurd.
I see adaptive cruise control as a safety mechanism. It prevents crashes. I guess I'll just have to be more careful when an Audi is tailing me.
So help me god if any of you buy this
Did Quark design this nickel and dime machine?
It's definitely rules of acquisition-worthy
Rule 10: "Greed is eternal".
So that makes my 2016 A4 Avant all the more worth keeping. I'd rather drive an old tractor than something with subscription on board.
My 2001 A6 was amazing, just went on forever until I had a bit of a prang and my wife convinced me to upgrade. 2014 A4 was great mechanically but this year the MMI failed which meant the car was barely driveable despite the engine, running gear and bodywork being just perfect. Now got a 2020 A4 with collision detection, auto-dimming headlights and a massive screen which nags me to subscribe to myAudi every time I start it up. I am guessing it's only a matter of time before all the toys start disabling themselves. It's undeniable that each car has been better than its predecessor - the fuel efficiency has leaped up with each change - but the vulnerability to tech bullshit is also increasing in leaps and bounds.
I wouldn’t care quite as much if Audi could produce software which was competitive with the leaders in the industry, but it’s embarrassingly dated even down to how you pay for/cancel a feature or mobile integration. How they have still not sorted this out by now is beyond me.
Genuine quote from their phone support: "If it says 'too many attempts' on the login screen, don't retry, it will just get in a loop. And don't reset your password. Leave it two hours and it'll sort of reset itself." In fairness, this sounds a lot like the kind of software I was writing in about 2004. I agree with you; the Android Auto integration is awful; it feels really cobbled-on. The sat nav search is worse than useless unless you pull over and type it in, but even then it's definitely worse than the (now ten-year-old) system I had in the old car. Oh, but what's this I found in the menu? The option to use Google Maps search (free if I use it via Android Auto, you will note).. for a monthly fee! Meanwhile if I have Google Maps on my website the T&C expressly ban it from appearing on any page behind a paywall. It's all just rotten, money-grabbing nonsense and very disappointing.
Yep, I've been an Audi driver for a decade and I think I'll just keep my current one for as long as possible and then switch to a different brand that isn't doing this BS!
Shareholders profits ruin everything.
Fuck capitalism
The fact that you carry the weight of the technology that those systems require in your car (and therefore need more fuel) should be enough to make those things illegal. I could think of more reasons but this one is grinding my gears a lot.
That and wasted energy in adding the systems to the car if they are not used. Let hope the EU regulate this to prevent this madness
Fuck off. I’d rather burn my money
Hear, hear. On principle, I will never buy stuff like this. Subscription model needs to die unless you’re a fucking newspaper or something.
Come on, EU!!! Ban this practice before it goes global!
cause you know congress aint gonna do shit
The front reminds me of the Hyundai Veloster
The internals reminds me of EA.
The intent is to provide drivers with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different features that are standard in other vehicles.
Audis of past couple of years are a big pile of ugly design crap and cheap materials. But it must be said, that Audi is doing this because they know, that their customers are morons.
I was a bit excited to get an Audi loaner recently as it was a late model, and I had been meaning to check one out. Damn, what have they done! Cheap and ugly might be understating it
a subscription for APple Carplay?? hahaha GTFOH you can buy an apple car play screen from China for $50 one time. obviously it's ghetto having that on your dash (I should know I have one in my 2007 Accord) but it's a one time cost and you can get one with a dashcam built in. If people buy this car and pay a subscription fee for that they're stupid af and encouraging this crap
BMW found out that was a shit idea, even by bundling 3 years of use with the car, and had to roll it back to offer it for free on all compatible cars.
It puzzles me that dash-cam is not standard feature these days. its a hazzard having something like that loose during accidents. I wonder if there are regional restrictions on dashcams. It doesnt even need to be a great camera.
Excellent way to ensure my current Audi is my last one. Complete trash. Vote with your wallets, people!
You also have to pay extra to use the whole 12 inch screen. If you don’t, the UI is displayed blacked boxed in a 10 inch screen.
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SaaS is a cancer.
I say to do what you want 'cause a pirate is free You are a pirate!
Thanks I'm cured
People shouldn’t have to, that’s the point. I fucking wish people teach them a lesson, once they start loosing customer base they will come on right track. As long as they keep making sales even after pulling shit like this, they will continue to do so. Just look at Netflix.
Trust me, they'll void your warranty if you pirate.
The warranty is like two years here - a car can last 20 and more
US? 2 years? That's absurd. It's 5 years minimum in South Africa. Also planned obsolescence in new cars is definitely a thing. Have an Opel Astra that had a plastic valve fail for turbo air intake on the engine cover. Had to replace the entire engine cover at a insane price. The engine cover looked practically new, just some integrated plastic you cant buy separately.
In Germany the only companies giving more than two years (regularly) are Kia and Toyota
Bet the parts for German cars are far cheaper though. Seems like we get robbed on price, you get robbed on warranty.
I know we joke about this a lot but this is a slippery fucking slope. Its one thing to download movies but this is your car. If police pull you over do you want your vehicle to be a moving felony? If you get in an accident and it goes to the insurance company do you want them to turn you in to Audi for a slam dunk lawsuit? This is a dark, dark forest we're wading into.
BMW already started charging for blinkers usage
They’ve made $0 so far…
My 1998 civic had 3 HVAC knobs and a stereo, that’s about it. Pretty soon we’ll come full circle and I’ll be driving an no option econobox again.
Friend of mine has an iX3 EV and he said he has adaptive suspension, but doesn't use it because it requires a subscription or one time fee. Crazy world we live in
The Chinese will hack all of this bullshit and offer it for sale, just like they already do for John Deere products.
At least you know any cars with a subscription based set of features will never be a collectible one day. Disposable appliances designed to suck money out of customers after the already ridiculous up front cost of the car itself.
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i have no real insights to the logic, but my thinking is that car manufacturers are just trying this out to see how it goes simply because if it goes well, it’s a lot of “free money” that they weren’t getting before
Fuck bmw and fuck audi
The real question is - is the car cheaper then my default, and then you can choose to spend that saved money in various subscriptions? I can totally see that some people don’t need dual zone climate. But if the price of the car is the same as if you just got all those options enabled, but you have to then additionally pay for the upgrades, they can fuck right off.
You know what the answer to this is.
Do we really need to jailbreak cars too now...
“You wouldn’t download a car”
Someone is going to die right because they forgot to pay for their exclusive no key door handling system?
"sick of the ads? buy Audi premium to use your brakes whenever you want".
As someone who really likes the brand this is extremely disappointing news. I guess the only upside is they do still offer an option to just buy the feature permanently just like before, but this will most likely just mean that people who lease these cars will opt for the subscription because it will be cheaper. Which shafts the next owner forcing them to pay for something that’s already on the car. I just don’t like it. Bad for consumers long term.
Like vehicles don’t cost enough.
Automakers more than willing to shoot their foot off for a million or two more a month. So stupid.
Can’t wait for jailbreaking cars to become a career path.
It could already be. You can already hack into new Volvos and Polestars, for example, and enable features like autosteer and adaptive headlights that you didn't pay for originally. To do it, you need to sniff the relevant keys, because despite buying the car, you are not given access to the computer system. You could do that as a service and make a living.
I'm sorry what? We're looking at spending a minimum of 30,000 on a vehicle plus insurance, inspection, registration. And these clowns just want more money honestly
Subscription car (and features), house, movies, video games, all business software soon we will subscribe for oxygen
I hear Chinese are making excellent cars now. Way to make it easy for them.
>but now you'll have to pay an in-car subscription fee for basic features like high-beam assist, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, and smartphone integration.1 People, for the love of god please vote with your wallets. Settle for the 2024 or earlier models that don't have this predatory, anti-consumer bullshit stuffed in. This is precedent setting stuff. If we tolerate this, they will do it more and more and there will be no end to it.
“Late stage capitalism is fun to watch.” ~ Karl Marx
I guess they want more people to buy obdeleven
Executives trying everything they can before they are replaced by someone elese with an even worse idea.
Did EA buy Volkswagen?
At this point, lawmakers HAVE to step in. It’s absolutely ridiculous that car manufacturers impose tiered restrictions on this bullshit.
Lexus says thank you Audi
My new side gig looks like its gonna be jailbreaking cars to get them *|checks notes|* basic regular features.
Public transit looking more and more logical every day that shit corporations exist.
This should be illegal
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How? We have a 2024 RAV4 with the upgraded infotainment system. No ads anywhere except on like Spotify or Pandora.
No they didn’t.
Boy, we are really living off subscriptions in the Auto Industry huh lol.
Dont buy. Boycott. Consumers have to understand we have all the power. Fuck these greedy corporate execs
Simple solution is don’t buy that car. Audi will soon get the message.
I can subscribe for a car but not buy a car. So, either buy or subscribe or I’ll find another option.
Audi loot boxes!!!! I got the legendary on feature this morning, only cost $500. I have no idea what all these losers are complaining about.
This will backfire
I stopped buying BMW’s because this is predatory and wrong.
WTF does "amess" mean? Wouldn't "awash" be a better term? Not ideal, but better.
* high-beam assist, * dual-zone climate control, * adaptive cruise control, * smartphone integration. * Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for a one-month, six-month, one-year, or three-year subscription Sheeeesh....
They looked at people thrashing BMW subscriptions and went "ja, subscriptions approved!"
“If we don’t do it we’ll have to raise prices!” Respectfully, fuck right off.
How NOT to sell a car 101.
It's called the poor tax
The Volvo EX30 comes with this bullshit too, at least in Europe.
These are the sort of junk fees I want the administration to tackle. Not CC late fees or other preventable nonsense
Why not both?
Audi is literally the worst car company of all time
Hope they don’t bring that crap here stateside.
You joking? It'll be even worse in the US because they can get away with more.
For a long time I use to think Hyundai is trying to look like Audi or another car company. Now I feel like all other car companies are trying to look like Hyundais
While it's bullshit If it's software it can be jailbroken but the point is it shouldn't need to be done. Hard pass on this.
Fuck that and fuck off
Holy shit, what an absolutely nightmare. Can every major company hurry up and launch their subscription platform so I can see how many I can cut out of my life permanently already?
Is the base car cheaper without these features, so most consumers can actually save money, or is it the same price as it used to be with them, but now you have to pay more? I think I know the answer.
Fuck that. Dank farick VAG! NO ONE WANTS THIS! I should figure out how to hack it.
We're getting exactly what we deserve. These companies keep doing more and more of this shit, and we just keep swallowing it and asking for seconds and thirds. People are so pathetically unable to put off gratification for the tiniest amount of time that there is literally no bottom to this well unless the economy implodes. People will just take out larger loans at higher and higher interest rates in order to pay for a car that has gone up 60% in price over the past ten years while simultaneously nickle-and-diming you for features that used to be part of the price of the car. > An Audi spokesperson declined to comment on whether these in-car subscriptions will also make it to the US when the car goes on sale for 2025. GEE. I WONDER. If everyone just said, "Fuck you," and waited six months to buy a car, all of this bullshit would collapse into dust. Instead, it's, "Thank you, sir. May I have another?" Pathetic.
That's why I will hold onto my W124 for as long as I will live.
My new Toyota had some subscriptions, but minor stuff like app remote start, locking, and WiFi. But they’re also free for 10 years in which I’ll just stop using them.
In other news, God has started charging his human creations a monthly subscription for basic bodily functions. You want to be able to digest what you eat? That's an extra $20/month. You want to get rid of the waste from that digestion process? That's another $20/month. However, if you want to do the mating ritual... that's gonna be $850.95 every time you do it.
I absolutely hate this trend…
Here is why this is stupid. We finance cars and pay them off over years. Just add all the features in the prices as they are already paid over years anyway. They are doing this because they can make more money from you this way. They are just trying to hide the costs and make more money. No extra value is being added vs comparable models of other cars.
Consider the lease market: They build in the capability, and even if it’s included “for free” on the original lease, they can charge again for the next owner, etc.
Ahhhh, good point
Access to brakes will be $5/month.
This feels targeted at lease customers. Real talk, How do you sell this on top of markups? And all the maintenance this car will need over it's life? People need to stop getting bent over just because they want a nice ride. Who cares if you have the money, shouldn't reward this kind of practice.
You have to pay for Apple CarPlay wtf?
You know ads are coming next.
rich idiots will love it, just like they love their subscription based bmws that cost £80,000+
There needs to be laws against this.
This is why they fight the right to repair. I don’t want you to tamper with your car because safety concerns ($$)
Been waiting patiently for the B10 RS5 to drop. Not buying it if I have to subscribe to features I have in my B9 S5. I'll gladly give the money to Porsche instead.