Comment on VW introduces monthly subscription to increase car power
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 19 hours agoECU 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
grue@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
What part of “it’s a violation of people’s property rights to try to extract rent for the thing they already own” do you not fucking understand?
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
It’s 27 HP. 27 HP. Literally nobody could tell the difference with a blind test unless on a Dyno or on a racing track.
And on an ev I would pay extra (one time, fuck subscriptions) to have less HP because that translates to more range, longer life for tires and cheaper insurance.
In this specific case I’m ok, because it only takes money from gullible people.
If it was something way more useful like GM that is intentionally disabling carplay or android auto because in this way they can sell a map/data subscription, FUCK THEM!