Just putting this out there, I will never pay for a subscription service in my car. I didn’t do it for the radio, I didn’t do it for onstar, and I won’t do it for anything else. I know I’m not the only one. If a car has a “feature” I have to keep paying for after I bought the car, no it doesn’t.
afaik, even if you don’t pay and never pay, features like onstar are still ‘active’, still have cellular connections enabled, and are still tracking your every move.
And attempting to circumvent them results in a DMCA if you get caught! Wonderful! Fucking clown world we live in.
Correct. The next time I have to buy a car that will be part of my criteria: if I’m paying more than $40k for something that shit doesn’t get to include a subscription.
For the time being I won’t even buy the car. I know there’s going to be a day where that’s not possible. But for now, it’s immediately off any list of be considering.
There’s been an uptick in people interested in the older Ford F-series trucks and C/K Chevs. Barebones dash, heating & A/C system, radio, glove box. No weird electronic options, to Lowjack, nothing. I’m hopeful of some of the Japanese companies releasing new-model vehicles without all of the extra electronic baloney, but that’s a problem for another day.
Squarebodys were selling for insane prices during COVID but not so much now. I have been wanting to unload my burden K10 shortbed project truck since I’m over it, it just sits in my garage, and I bought a different truck (which is actually road worthy!) but it’s not the right time to sell because I’d be probably losing a couple grand on the deal.
Closest thing you’ll get to that is an MX-5. Their stringent weight philosophy doesn’t allow for much electronics. I have a '19 club and it weighs ~2350 lbs. Which is like the weight of the wiring harnesses alone of a Tesla. The MX-5/Miata is about as bare bones as it gets for a newer legal vehicle.
I think that it was BMW or Jaguar that proposed a subscription-based seat heating option? I don’t know where these people get their ideas, it’s just wild.
