Capped speed isn’t enough. I want it to slam the brakes on the highway and go “Tired of the ads? Get the Volkswagen Battlepass and enjoy an uninterupted drive!”
Submitted 2 days ago by Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 1 day ago
Chronographs@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Every tine you bring the car to a stop it covers half the windows in ads like youtube does when you pause it to try and read something
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Ooh, how about it accelerates really slowly at stop lights unless I pay for “turbo mode” to not get honked at?
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Need a panoramic view instead of just a slit? Get the Extend-A-View™ subscription to instantly make the full surface of all your windows transparent!
13igTyme@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’m actually fine with that. People don’t need to go 0-60 in an intersection.
gressen@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Our family was looking for a newer car. We found a listing for a VW, went to the dealership with intent to buy and was told that the car (which was standing RIGHT there) was available for sale in 3 months. Now we enjoy our new Toyota.
madcaesar@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You dodged a bullet.
VW has gone down the drain.
JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 1 day ago
Had a 2023 VW ID4. They literally go out of their way to make your experience worse in many cases.
They have an app, they can read locked state, but can’t lock the car.
Their app/website makes you completely re-sign in and re-accept cookies every month or so that breaks any API usage mildly like HomeAssistant.
The key unlocks the door if you walk to it, 50% chance to re-lock the door when you walk away without interacting with it.
Can detect tire pressure, but they don’t tell you what it is, only if there is “pressure loss”
Backup cam was horrific quality, especially the field of view of a telephoto camera, especially compared to my 2015 Nissan altima
The entertainmrnt console was terible, extremely laggy, and Android auto was the worst experience. It would take between 2 and 15 minutes to connect to android auto with multiple different phones, and it would choose 1 app per phone to not display. My girlfriends’ was her maps app which is insane. Sometimes I would be at my destination before it would connect.
Also putting a trailer hitch on it would have been like 1500-2000€…
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The car has to ripen.
blattrules@lemmy.world 1 day ago
From the same company that brought you test based emissions upgrades?
ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 2 days ago
Ill take “reasons why I still drive a b5.5 passat” for $500, Alex
KingGordon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Woo! 2002 passat owner checking in here!
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
03 Jetta 1.8T 5mt reporting in 😋
GetAwayWithThis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
It’s due for a head gasket change, not much else. Not worth upgrading to a newer car for my price range and use case. I don’t need a computer I don’t own.
Ulrich@feddit.org 1 day ago
ICE vehicles have been the same for a long time, only they lock the horsepower upgrades behind upgrade packages/trims.
vollkorntomate@infosec.pub 2 days ago
And they wonder why nobody’s buying their cars…
Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Stupid comment, since VW group is by far the most sold in EU.
Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social 1 day ago
Lemmy moment
Nima@leminal.space 1 day ago
In EU they sell well. not in the US, however.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2 days ago
Most car for the last decade or two already come with a lot of options built-in that are simply disabled by software in the factory. It’s cheaper to just build in a standard set of electronics and disable what’s not bought by the customer because many brands still like to milk the customer with options. Subscriptions just take the buying of options to renting.
VW here also also has the “lifetime subscription” for this. That makes it basically the same as you buying the option and they switch in it on in the factory. It’s just plain in your face that it’s behind a paywall while the old checking options didn’t feel as much as a paywall.
Anyway, I went with Hyundai. They didn’t do options and subscriptions. You only get to choose the model and looks, that’s it.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Wouldn’t it be even cheaper to design the next version modularly and interchangeable?
Ah, wait, that would make it too easy to repair for users.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2 days ago
That would require more logistics to get different modules, checks to make sure the right ones are installed and labor to install them. Somewhere there is a cutoff point where modularity is cheaper.
ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Wouldn’t it be even cheaper to design the next version modularly and interchangeable?
The extra labor to manage more components and check/verify each single vehicle fits it’s unique specs would eat up the saving really fast. It’s so much easier to do a single HW config and manage it through SW, and electronic components are generally cheap.
Guidy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Fuck “lifetime subscriptions”. They’re taking a page from Tesla and I’m sure they’ll require any new owner to pay them separately should you sell the vehicle.
Simply avoid VW and any future brand that pulls this shit.
Ulrich@feddit.org 1 day ago
Tesla does not and has never had “lifetime subscriptions”. They have a single connectivity subscription (they still have basic connectivity for free for all cars that allows you to monitor and control the vehicle,as well as navigation). Any other upgrades are behind 1-time payments (or your choice of either).
kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Well hyundai has 3-4 system, they cut cost of manufacturing by only having predefined trim levels that you can’t customize.
They might still do this cutting of horsepower but they do it because of batteries.
e.g. the 39kwh and the 64 kwh Kona has the same motor but on the 39kwh it’s limited as the battery pack can’t deliver enough juice.
Sarmyth@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Sounds like a good reason to skip buying any car warranty going forward since I’ll be attempting to void that shit almost immediately.
Bad business decisions all around.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
option to pay $22.50 per month or $879 one time to gain 20 horsepower.
At least you can buy it outright, so not the worst scheme of this sort, but still a scheme.
Auto Express UK reported on the pricing but could not verify whether the subscription follows the vehicle or the user profile.
This is bad journalism, per EU regulation, if the option is bought it follows the car, if it’s a subscription, I doubt they can legally demand either the original and definitely not another owner to keep it. A subscription can be cancelled, otherwise it’s an indefinite contract.
…
Oh sorry I forgot for a second that UK is no longer in EU, so UK customers can be fucked in new creative ways, which probably also explains why this experiment is in UK. Ah well they chose to fuck themselves over I guess.
wewbull@feddit.uk 1 day ago
We imported all the consumer protection laws, so as long as this isn’t a recent change it will be the same in the UK.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
AFAIK a lot of the EU protections have been dismantled in UK after UK left EU.
Even democratic rights to protest have been removed, and privacy rights against government surveillance that is illegal in EU.
So I seriously doubt they haven’t cut user protections too, the conservative government was clearly a government that worked against the general population to benefit the rich and those in power.
alvyn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
Fuck you volkswagen!
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
If you pay a little extra a little corkscrew that raises up from the middle of the driver seat every half hour will only do so every two hours too.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Sold my Audi when they started this, VWs are already overpriced basic shits.
Give me asian cars.
dan@upvote.au 2 days ago
Is $879 for an extra 20 horsepower even worth it?
Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Not really IMO, but I would personally never buy it, since it’s an artificial limitation only meant to extort buyers for more money, for something that cost them nothing, and I would never reward artificial limitations and such shenanigans.
I’d probably look for some third party hack to unlock it for free instead, or probably buy another brand of car.
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
No. Switching from 140 to 160 hp isn’t something you’d really even notice on everyday commuting. More is more of course, but unless your driving style is very aggressive that doesn’t really make any difference on the driving experience. What it might do is improve your range slightly, but that depends heavily on multiple different things and if your driving style and conditions on most common routes aren’t suitable it might even reduce the range you’ll get out of the thing.
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Do you notice the power difference when your AC is on?
This 20 hp should be similar tbh.
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Fair if you care about it.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 day ago
For ice cars If you are outside warranty you can just have your ECU remapped and gain much more hp.
I am guessing these remaps will eventually be available for electric motors too
dan@upvote.au 1 day ago
I’m not sure about other EVs, but on the BMW iX, a lot of the computer stuff is encrypted now, and has to be signed with BMW’s private key (i.e. they’ve actually implemented encryption correctly). Apps like Bimmercode don’t work on it.
Vupware@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Consumer planning anything but Volkswagen subscription upgrade
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Volkswagen is desperate and absolutely fucked. If this is their answer for every one of their shitty little cars being over taken by Koreans they are just fucked.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
VW makes better EV’s than Hyundai/KIA IMO.
Also VW group has bigger sales.Hyundai and KIA have some good options too, but there is no way to call VW shitty by comparison, when they far outsell the competition in EU.
In Denmark where I live, Korean EV’s have dropped out of top 10, while VW group has 7 cars in top 10!
kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Vw doesnt make better EVs than hyundai lol, their range is worse, their charge curve is worse, their software is worse, what they have is better brand still, people are sleeping on Hyundai/Kia even though they offer better equipped cars for cheaper and with better reliability and warranty.
That’s completely okay with me. i get to buy these as used cars at extremely cut price.
CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
[laughs in 2013 era type-1 mod]
Siethron@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Fuck off
madcaesar@lemmy.world 1 day ago
🤔 💭 Our cars aren’t selling… Hmm… Should we make them last longer? No. Should we make the interior out of anything except hard plastic? No. Should we make our cars easier to repair and not have even the most basic shit require specialized tools? No. I got it! Subscriptions for basic shit that gauges the few customers still buying our shit!
poopkins@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I understand your point, but have you driven a VW in the past decade? They are reliable, relatively easy to repair and have comfortable interiors that aren’t with “hard plastic.” Perhaps you’ve confused VW with Ford?
skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I fix cars for a living every day.
Maybe, compared to a BMW or other “luxury” car marketed to rubes. But a Honda or a Toyota would totally eat VW’s lunch in regards to reliability, at half the purchase price.
The VW Beetle is famously easy to repair, basically every modern VW model sucks ass. It needs some proprietary tool to access half the vehicle on more than half the models. I do not like working on them. We also get wonderful examples of German Manufacturing Precision™️ where you have a half a millimeter clearance to remove a part. This was worse in older VW’s in my experience (the Germans really took to AUTOCAD like fish to water when that became common, methinks) but it still happens.
Actually totally agree here, the interior of most modern VW’s is pretty nice. Shame that doesn’t extend under the hood.
VW also got caught straight up lying about their emissions testing a few years ago so that also destroyed basically all trust that I had in their brand. They’ll sell you a car that runs, but there’s really no knowing if the numbers that it reports are actually accurate.
Sarmyth@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah. I think my car has a pretty decent build overall but the (I shit you not) 14 recalls ive had to bring it in for ranging from door handle replacements, firmware updates, back hatch issues makes me raise an eyebrow to it. I let a few stack up before I bring it in because I never notice any issue before or after, but better to get the free service than not.
Evidence strongly counters my own feelings on the matter.
madcaesar@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Ford is even worse than VW, but VW is overpriced shit.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Reliably cheating emissions regulations, maybe.
tabular@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Does “relatively easy” mean in comparison to modern cars, and not easily repairable older cars? I don’t follow cars but if it’s anything like other tech then it’s soon to be crippled by part tying.