GR Yaris Merc subscription for faster acceleration

[Spirited]

Firstly, we had subscription offered for heated seats. Now for faster acceleration. I wonder what's next; and in the meantime, I grab any old school car like the GRY, as they seem to be a dying breed.

Mercedes-Benz to introduce acceleration subscription fee

Owners of some Mercedes electric cars in the US can soon pay a $1,200 annual fee to speed up faster.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[corroded]

I guess it makes the Tesla 2k slightly less egregious but I hate this. Why the anything but constantly updated software needs a cost attached is totally beyond me.

If I'm honest they need to regulate this practice. Wasting actual material on making heated seats that are literally never usable, and lugged around with the car for its life because the owner never subscribed is a ridiculous situation, as is actually making someone pay 80 quid a month for a faster 0-60. The one off fee, I can sorta understand but jesus maybe Tesla starts packing extra motors in your car incase you want to upgrade to Plaid mode.

With electric cars I could see an economy of scale to certain things being generic, more so than petrol. That's why I sorta think that could work if it was a once off for the life of the car.

That said, and if acceleration is fine to paywall, what about braking? Maybe you only get 50% brake force unless you upgrade to the 'I don't want to die' pack

 

[JonW]

I hate this trend too. The new KTM 1290 comes with the option of a Tech Pack, its a cost option at around (approx) US$750, Au$1.2k, £800.

Its an 'all software' update and gives you amongst other things: more power, the ability to turn more stuff off and a quickshifter etc.

What irks is that all this is stuff you already paid for an is in the bike from the factory, you are just paying more to switch it on.

 

[Ecsrobin]

I hate this trend too. The new KTM 1290 comes with the option of a Tech Pack, its a cost option at around (approx) US$750, Au$1.2k, £800.

Its an 'all software' update and gives you amongst other things: more power, the ability to turn more stuff off and a quickshifter etc.

What irks is that all this is stuff you already paid for an is in the bike from the factory, you are just paying more to switch it on.

But more cost has gone into developing the extra features, they assume not as many will but the extra features so price accordingly? I don’t have a problem with that.

The practice of subscriptions though to activate installed features is different than offering a one off cost.

 

[Onehp]

With ICE cars, one often heard of models with the 'same' engine but with different power levels. And while they sometimes actually were identical engines with only a different engine tune, more of the time that same engine actually had different hardware like weaker pistons, different heads, different intakes, smaller turbos, weaker IC/ cooling, weaker gearbox etc. Quite a misunderstanding.

I suspect these subscription developments have roots from such misunderstandings turned mainstream perception.