Ah right, this was BMW too:

For the past few years, BMW has behaved in a way that seems to treat their buyers as targets for more revenue over everything else. Remember all their subscription bullshit? People hated that, and worked around it, and eventually BMW had to dial that back, because having a subscription for heated seats makes people want to riot.

So, definitely on the "don't even consider" list.

Now I can pretend I’m in a NYC taxicab that smells like cigarettes and vomit! Nice work, BMW!

Tbf, I feel like a large percentage of BMW owners deserve all of this...

Watering down the brand, lol

Well that was a dodged bullet. I'm glad we settled on a different car when we got ours recently.

Still, I think pretty much the whole industry is moving towards SaaS bullshit. Everything from subscription heated seats to ads in the infotainment. Hell, even in our new car, I can't start the car without it begging me to connect to Amazon and setup Alexa. It's making me miss my older car's basic dash and infotainment honestly, but getting Android Auto/Car Play and a suspension that doesn't feel like the Tower of Terror (or whatever it's called now) whenever we go over a speed bump was life changing.

This shit should be illegal. At the very least, I hope that ad isn't playing while driving.

Are there any car brands which don't do things like this

They play ads in taxis in NYC?

They did, and probably still do. It’s not a screen on the dashboard, though. They’re on the backs of the front seats, so anyone sitting in the back gets pestered.

I mean they did that the second they started making SUVs and then really did that the second they put an M badge on an suv. Seriously, their brand used to be 3,5,7 series. What even numbers are they now? They don't mean anything anymore. Bonkers. But hey line go up I guess.

No one pays $61,500...they rent them, but they call it "leasing". It's a mechanism for douchenozzles to drive something they can't afford.

I call it a car subscription, and it's for people who make poor financial decisions. It's better to buy a car you can afford, pay it off, and own it until it becomes unsustainable to keep it running.

I own a house, and I make payments to a mortgage company every month, and I’m pretty sure it would be illegal for that mortgage company to put a fucking Spider-Man billboard in my yard, facing my front windows.

So... you don't own a house, the bank owns it. Don't give them ideas.

That's not how mortgages work. You own the house, the bank owns the loan.

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

A lot of people think of BMWs as an “aspirational car” that they actually have a chance of owning someday. Mechanically, they’re excellent cars. I’m disappointed that they keep doing things to cheapen themselves. Lately they’ve been acting like they’re owned by a private equity firm.

Eh... I think it's fine if some people want to subscribe to a car. Some people really like cars, and want to have the newest model. They can lease a car, then return it (lightly) used for someone who is price conscious to get a cheaper car with warranty protection.

I buy old, used, cheap cars because I don't give a flying fuck about what I drive. The cheapest I can get my $/km, while having a reliable vehicle, the better. Sub $10K CAD direct buyer sales are great, for me.

I think it's a waste of money, but I've spent $thousands on my hobbies, so who am I to judge someone else for their hobby spending, assuming they can afford it.

Semantics. Try not making a couple of mortgage payments and you'll find out very quickly who actually owns that house.

Ah, the irony of seeing a Kia advert while cruising the autobahn in your brand new shiny BMW. "Hey! I could bought a KIA, saved a shitload of money and avoided adverts? Damn!".

I don't know, I think that a "hobby" should be linked to use or an activity, specifically, not simply ownership. Consumerism for the endorphins isn't really a 'hobby', it's an addiction at best (and I have some personal experience in this area).

If you're renting or leasing cars for a specific use, like racing or camping, I think that's completely defensible; I even think certain vehicles like RVs should probably mainly be rented or leased, to make sense.

But "having the newest car for my ego" isn't a 'hobby' without diluting the meaning to nothingness.

In other countries than the US that distinction actually means a lot more. For instance, some countries will not allow a bank to repossess cars or houses once a simple majority of the loan has been repaid. In the US, you could be on the final 1 cent payment and the bank, from a legal standpoint, can foreclose on the whole thing if you fail to pay it. In realistic terms, it's theirs until the loan is entirely repaid.

Yeah, fair. I was more thinking in terms of a neurodivergent special interest, but desired to "hobby" to be more inclusive of neurotypicals.

I'm no BMW guy but don't the chassis numbers stay the same on the SUVs because they are based on the car chassis? Like a 328i or whatever and an X3 are the same start but one gets a bigger roof and suspension. Like engine options are the same etc

Am I tripping or is the start of this article a transcript of a Louis Rossman video I watched earlier this week?