Stop saying nurburgring
Comment on VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 1 day agoIt’s completely different. It’s a car that was sold with an option at moment of purchase. 145 HP or 200 HP for more money? Normal people chose the 145 HP because cheaper and pay less taxes and insurance and because when you drive in the city the 50 HP do not make any difference.
Suppose one day the owner needs to win races at the nurburgring instead of commuting or taking kids at school, so they give the option of unlock the full power instead of buying a new car.
If it was something like “from today you need to pay a subscription if you want to open the back windows” I would agree with you, but in this case it’s a power unlock that was known from the moment of purchase and not a surprise shock.
Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
You racing in the city?
grue@lemmy.world 1 day ago
No, that’s absolute bullshit.
In your example, they absolutely and unequivocally bought all 200 HP, from the beginning, and merely got a good deal on it if VW charged a lower price than the identical car with different number on the label. But it was always their property from the beginning because that’s how property works.
They owe VW nothing after the fact, and always had the capital-r Right to use every bit of horsepower the engine was physically capable of!
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
ECU hacks exists since decades ago, it is simply a different, more conservative curve because the car it’s a vehicle for urban usage and doesn’t need to be racing competitive.
They call it unlock but it’s a different power curve and possibly the 159 kmh limit removed (but with an ev you really don’t want to go over 130 unless you’re racing, the power consumption is so high that you need to stop to recharge after just 100 km)
I repeat, that this is not something like heated seats or android auto/car play support (BMW did those as a subscription), something that renders the car almost useless if removed.
99% of owners won’t even think a second about this option
grue@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Yeah, no shit ECU tuning has long been a thing. I’ve got a '99 VW with an ECU tune myself.
The thing is, they’re calling this shit an “unlock” because they’re charging for it, which is obviously the essential difference. They are attempting to colonize your property in order to charge you rent for something you are already entitled to do!
How the fuck are you failing to understand how beyond the pale that is?!
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Come on, there are dozens of way more useful features that can be unlocked without paying VW using obdeleven, I’m sure the same can be done for this.
This is just a fancy way for a driving profile, like eco, sports, normal. Think it like “sports+”
99% of people wouldn’t feel the need to enable this even if it was free but buried in the app menus
And the most important thing is that there’s still the option to get it lifetime and tied to the car, so when you sell the car the new owner can still use it, unlike Tesla where you pay $10k for “full” self driving but then when you sell the car the feature vanishes into thin air and they keep the money without refund