In the end, the KIA car company made its cars into subscription models, I really hate this because in the end the car we buy with our own money doesn’t feel like it belongs to us. Should we finally buy an old school car ? so as not to be affected by this subscription models or is there a way to crack the software installed in it ?

  • Transporter Room 3@startrek.websiteEnglish
    23514·
    10 months ago

    I love all the comments saying “yeah well that stuff isn’t free someone has to maintain it”

    YOU’RE PAYING 100K FOR A FUCKING CAR

    That’s the payment. That’s what they get their money from.

    Wanting more in perpetuity is fucking stupid no matter what the excuse is.

    • june@lemmy.worldEnglish
      581·
      10 months ago

      There’s also the fact that remote start, while shorter range, has existed on key fobs for like 20 years. My ex wife’s 2022 Hyundai has remote start, but only through the app, while my 2013 Focus has it on the key fob.

      That’s honestly the only feature that’s bundled in those subscriptions that I really want, though the alarm notification is a nice to have.

    • IronicDeadPan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      252·
      10 months ago

      A 2024 Kia Telluride is right around $50,000 USD (fully loaded specs), but I get what you’re saying with regards to vehicles in general.

      Like BMW and Tesla having “creature comforts” behind subscriptions.

    • vamputer@infosec.pubEnglish
      20·
      10 months ago

      Not only that, but if you have no choice but to buy a car with internet connectivity, these are supposed to be the kind of bells and whistles they give to at least make it SEEM like you’re not being completely taken advantage of. It’s like a double-dip. “We’re giving your car connectivity so we can sell your telemetry, AND we get to charge you for all the useful features, too!”

      If it costs SO much to maintain these services, cool. I’d be happy to save the poor little car manufacturers money by buying a model that uses no connectivity whatsoever. But, for some reason, they don’t seem to want to offer that. Gee, I wonder why.

      Demand more out of them, because they’ll always be looking to get more out of you.

    • yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish
      131·
      10 months ago

      This reminds me of the video game industry. Make a complete game, then choose to remove pieces to sell later as add-on content. Lol. The only thing I see costing them money is if they have to pay for an LTE subscription to maintain that internet connectivity so you can start your car from an app.

    • farquadsquads@ani.socialEnglish
      132·
      10 months ago

      They have considered how much the gains from being evil assholes offset the cost of alienating some people, and found that they make more by being evil, it’s not stupid.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.mlEnglish
        74·
        10 months ago

        You keep mentioning “official video by (insert manufacturer name here)”. Are you even thinking when you say that? It’s the manufacturer, what the hell were you expecting them to promote? “were fucking you over, so here’s why you have to give us more money for a car that you think is yours but actually will never be”?

        • locuester@lemmy.zipEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          The video shows the fob starting the car. It also states that you can pay for the app to be able to do it anywhere.

          It’s not a promo video, it’s a “how to” for car owners.

          Are we not to believe that it really does that?

          What is this internet thing for if I can’t find information? Do I have to drive to a car dealership and ask to find out if this is true? Do I need to see it in action? When I do, can you even trust my answer?

          • youmaynotknow@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            Not 1 person here has mentioned that it doesn’t work. Not 1 person here has said that the “feature” is useless or anything remotely similar.

            What is in question here is the fucking pushing of companies to tie as many idiots as humanly possible to their subscriptions to keep on draining funds from them.

            Give me the car for free, and maybe I’ll subscribe. Otherwise, I buy stuff with ALL it’s capabilities enabled or not at all.

            My car is worth US$85,000 in my country. Everything works, app and all, and I don’t have to pay anything other than my loan, insurance, maintenance and charge (yes, it’s an electric vehicle).

            I own a 2023 BYD Han, I have an account for the app, and I can do whatever it’s able to do from it without ever having to open my wallet again.

            If and when they decide to make this a paid subscription, then I’ll sell that one, and move on.

            So, yeah, follow a bullshit advertisement that you call a “tutorial” and believe what you want. They are just like drug pushers, only for tech.

            Now who is the one making fucking noise without looking a things from a common sense perspective?

            • locuester@lemmy.zipEnglish
              1·
              10 months ago

              Now who is the one making fucking noise without looking a things from a common sense perspective?

              IMO, you. Again, the video isn’t marketing. The car auto-starts just fine without paying anyone a penny extra.

              The manufacturer offers overpriced warranties and app features. Totally optional. You don’t have to buy it.

              The dealership offers overpriced vehicle service also. It’s optional. You don’t have to buy it.

              Some people want that stuff. I don’t. You don’t. 🤝

    • Goku@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      10 months ago

      Not to mention the data they mine from you with their “app” that they can sell to advertisers.

    • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
      114·
      10 months ago

      The issue is that with ongoing service across time, the longer the service is being used the more it costs Kia. The larger the time boxes Kia uses the bigger the number is and the more you’re going to scare off customers.

      Using Kias online build and price, looks like the most expensive Telluride you can get right now is $60k MSRP, cheapest at 30k

      Let’s assume Kia estimates average lifetime of a Telluride to be 20 years so they create an option to purchase this service one time for the “lifetime” of the vehicle. Taking in good faith the pricing Kia has listed, using that $150 annual package, and assuming that price goes up every year at a rate of 10% (what Netflix, YouTube, etc have been doing) across those twenty years you’re looking at around $8.5k option. At the top trim thats still 14% extra that is going to make some buyers hesitant, at the base model that’s 28% more expensive.

      Enough buyers will scoff at that so Kia can either ditch the idea entirely as they’ll lose money on having to pay for the initial development and never make their money back, or they find some way to repackage that cost and make it look like something that buyers are willing to deal with.

      To me the bigger issue is the cost of the service vs what you’re getting. Server time + dev team + mobile data link cannot be costing Kia more than a few million annually, mid to upper hundred K is more likely so they must not be expecting that many people to actually be paying for any of this

    • devilish666@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      97·
      10 months ago

      Finally someone who gets it
      Glad to see you here my fellow comrades
      Honestly the people who defended subscription models for something that you already paid & own are dumb (or maybe just trolling around) like people who defend adobe for subscription models

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
        23·
        10 months ago

        Honestly the people who defended subscription models for something that you already paid & own are dumb

        You don’t own the cellular towers your car needs to connect to in order to work with the app.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            That’s the point. It IS a subscription. The person I’m responding to believes that it shouldn’t be and that they’ve paid for it already.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
            3·
            10 months ago

            It doesn’t. The car works just fine. The features that require a cell phone are specific to operating your car while not present at your car.