Around a decade ago, almost all major automakers decided to pivot to being mobility companies. This was generally regarded as a bad idea. Years later, we’re now seeing the big picture really getting in motion, and man, is it ugly. Subscriptions for in-car features are now everywhere, and in Europe, the new Audi A3 features some of the most egregious examples we’ve seen in a long time.
So, are these subscriptions for anything useful that strictly needs to be supported by Audi on the network side? Perhaps cloud-based integrated dashcam storage, or digital key sharing, or vehicle tracking? Nope. They’re all for stuff you get as standard for life on a Toyota Corolla, most of which even comes standard on the base model. In Audi’s words:
Up to five individual infotainment and comfort functions can be added online via the myAudi app, even after the vehicle has been purchased. In addition to MMI navigation plus including Audi connect services, the A3 and A3 allstreet can be upgraded with the smartphone interface, which integrates iOS and Android smartphones into the MMI system via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Other functions include adaptive cruise assist, high-beam assist, and the ability to expand the standard air conditioning system with two-zone comfort air conditioning. All functions can be booked for one month, six months, one year, three years, or permanently, depending on the customer’s individual needs
Translation: Audi wants customers to reach into their wallets for some incredibly common features, many of which come standard on a base Toyota Corolla. Yeah, because forcing a subscription to use Apple CarPlay worked so well for BMW. It’s worth noting that not all markets have fully fledged subscription greed — British cars will only offer adaptive cruise control and automatic high-beams on subscription — so it’s hard to say what this means for America, but it paints an overarching tale of, to borrow a term from Cory Doctorow, enshittification that we should all push back on.
If all it takes is a subscription to access features like adaptive cruise control and automatic high beams, that means all the hardware necessary to support these features is already installed on the car, which brings up concerns about repairs. In the event that something goes wrong, owners may be stuck paying for physical repairs to systems they don’t want or use.
Oh, and it’s not like owning a PC without an operating system. With any decent assemblage of desktop hardware, you could easily and legally eschew Windows for Linux Mint or FreeBSD if you’re that sort of person, but cars come with embedded systems, and modifying those on today’s connected vehicles is prohibited by end user license agreement chicanery. Add in real-time monitoring and over-the-air updates, and getting around factory-installed digital gates won’t be as simple as say, jailbreaking an iPod Touch with redsn0w.
Then there’s the issue of end-of-life support. Sure, it may be possible to subscribe for now, but what happens when 5G eventually becomes an obsolete standard? For instance, 3G is largely being sunsetted in the UK this year after about 20 years of widespread coverage and has already been phased out by major American carriers. However, technological overlap means that cars depending on 5G might not be truly knackered by the time mobile network coverage gets switched off. It’s worth noting that 5G launched in Britain in 2019, and if 3G’s sunset cycle is anything to go by, it could be on its way out come 2039. With the new A3 launching this year and the post-facelift previous generation car having a four-model-year run, there’s a chance the newest facelifted fourth-generation A3s could be just 11 years old by the time network connectivity shuts down.
Once that happens, will an upgrade path still exist, or will the door be shut on adaptive cruise control and automatic high beams forever? In the reasonably probable event that the latter scenario happens, all purported advantages are lost, and all disadvantages of toting around unnecessary hardware are cemented in concrete.
Every time a manufacturer floats the concept of microtransactions for access to physical or embedded functions, the air reeks of MBAs losing sight of what luxury really means. Luxury is supposed to be a state of great comfort, and by making fairly common hardware-dependent features available on subscription, Audi is making the new A3 slightly less luxurious than the obvious alternative of having those systems come standard since all of the hardware’s installed anyway. Make no mistake, this is a future worth pushing back against because not actually owning every piece of hardware on the second-most expensive purchase you’ll probably ever make is a disgusting thought.
So in the meantime, if you want a small car with luxurious convenience, why not take a good look at a Toyota Corolla? Sure, it might not have Audi-tier interior materials, but it does come with automatic high-beams, adaptive cruise control, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto at no extra cost. Who makes real luxury cars now, huh?
(Photo credits: Audi)
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Ford has done something vaguely like this, eg shipping Crown Victoria Police Interceptors with nearly all the hardware and software for cruise control, including the status light in the instrument cluster, but eliminating the control buttons on the steering wheel and turning the feature off in the software settings. But, in that case, you could just swap the steering wheel to one with buttons and pay the dealer service department to go in and turn it on, and you had to pay them, because Ford did not make that particular access available to independent shops with a subscription
AUDI = All Universally Dead Interfaces (at least while they are playing stupid games like this)
Seriously, this is a reason Tesla owners love their cars so much. Instead of nickel and diming you with subscriptions, Tesla regularly upgrades your car FOR FREE with over the air updates. In the 5 years/100K miles I’ve owned my Model 3 Midrange, Tesla has:
And the funny thing is, those are things that people might be convinced to pay for/subscribe to. Giving me extra functionality over and above that which I paid for? I’m not saying I *would,* but I’d hear the discussion.
Pay monthly to keep a series of 0s flipped to 1s in my ECU? Fuck right off.
I’ll happily stick with my habit of buying used vehicles from 2016 or older for the rest of my life.
The A3 doesn’t even have Audi-tier interior materials
Small, low-rent “luxury cars” built by marques with the reliability track record of Audi have to represent some of the most irrational new-car purchases I have ever seen.
I mean I think it’s pretty good looking, the S3 is proper fast with bolt on’s and a tune, and the RS3 is not to be fucked with, but you can only go so far on brand cache. The newer cabins are nothing to write home about and nobody wants subscriptions. If you pay $40k for a German Corolla, it should friggin come with automatic high beams and dual zone climate control no matter which boxes you tick. There’s zero reason to buy an A3 if it doesn’t come with the same features as a Hyundai.
I know someone with a bit of money who, coincidentally drives an Audi, and I can totally see her just saying OK to all of these features without thinking too much about it or being particularly offended at being asked. Just doesn’t care about money, because she has plenty, or about cars. Not sure if she represents a typical luxury car customer or not.
I can’t state either way if she is the typical customer, but I constantly have to remind myself that I am not the typical customer. Most of the readers/commenters on this site are not the typical customer, for all of automotivedom, not just the luxury space.
My wife is a very typical consumer of “automobiles as appliances.” It makes me take a step back from time to time to remember that what I see, notice and experience about automotive-related things is not what she – and by extension most of the general public – sees, notices, and experiences.
So much of the minutia that we Autopians think about just completely flies under the radar for many others. And as just dandy as that is, that makes it our place to have to shout from the rooftops about why this subscription BS is so bad.
Does she have an A3 or a bigger Audi? Because the A3 stickers at $35,800, which is the price of a Camry XLE, I could see buyers at that level being a lot more sensitive to subscription upcharges than buyers or leasees of, say, a $107,000 e-tron GT
Ironically, that Camry XLE is objectively more luxurious in many way than an A3 and will probably be on the road at least 10 years longer than the Audi ever will be.
A6
If Audi is smart (and extra evil), they’re baking this into the financing offer for those sort of customers. Think they won’t subscribe at $25/mo. extra over their $600 payment? Just extend the term by another 12 months at the same payment.
“Up to five individual infotainment and comfort functions can be added online via the myAudi app, even after the vehicle has been purchased.”
This quote. Like they’re actually GIVING you something. “You can get even more stuff after you buy the car! So cool!” It makes my blood boil.
They also make it sound like “up to five” is a special thing – I can add up to thousands of new “apps” on my phone when I feel like it. And from what I’ve heard in the forums, the myAudi app is hot garbage.
I didn’t even think of that part of it! Very good point. Ugh.
OK Audi what in the actual F?! I have owned 8 or 9 (lost count) VAG/Audi cars since 2002 and if they start with this bullshit in the USA I’m done. It seems like every exec in the VW group has lost their ability to see the past mistakes of other car companies (and their own) and they repeat the same dumb shit that is easily avoidable. I mean, VW could have seen Honda’s epic fail on removing physical controls from their infotainment and avoided the mess, but no – they soldiered forward with their garbage infotainment in the ID line and put it into the Golf and THE REFRESHED FOR 2024 ATLAS. Meanwhile they are frantically fixing the lack of volume buttons and illuminated controls for some vehicles. WTF is that? And Audi – come on, didn’t you see the shitstorm BMW raised with these subscriptions? I can’t understand it.
Side rant: what is up with the login on Autopian? I keep getting errors from the code they send me to log in? I had to create a new account to post this!
I recently realized those codes are case-sensitive. Which is a facepalm.
Strange – I tried that too and they didn’t work for me either way. Seems like the site login function was broken.
Ironically, the Corolla will still be on the road when 9G comes out while the Audi will have been put to rest by its fifth owner before 5G is done.
My 2018 Fiesta ST has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay built in and I got it brand new OUT THE DOOR for under $20k! The point of a luxury car is that it’s supposed to just have all this cool crap. This nonsense of having the capability already built into the car and having you carry it around being useless unless you pay extra is nonsense. The only exception I make is Sirius XM and that’s because it’s ad free so the continuously provided content has to be paid for somehow.
It’s so very much akin to hotel chains. The cheaper chains like Hampton Inn and such will usually have WiFi available for free, but virtually every high end hotel I would go to wants you to pay for WiFi.
My wife is in the market for another car, and yesterday she showed me an Audi Q5. My response was quite direct, that she would be far better served looking at Toyota and Honda products. We’re buying used and planning to run it for another 8-10 years, and there’s no way on God’s green earth where I’ll have her drive an out of warranty German vehicle.
Traveled out to meet family in NYC a little while back, we stayed in a “luxury” hotel. We had some leftovers after a dinner out and the hotel fridge was full to bursting with expensive beverages that we’d have to pay for if we opened. The counter above it was also covered in non-complementary “luxury” goods, so much so that neither was usable. I tried telling them that they should call room service to take it all away, but they didn’t want to bother. We threw away some really tasty food that night to stop stuff we weren’t going to drink from going bad.
I’ve removed things from a fridge and put them in a drawer, then put them back when we leave.
But then I encountered a place where the items in the fridge were on some sort of sensor and if you removed it from the fridge for more than 1 minute you would be charged. You better believe I cause a scene at the front desk. The room advertised an in-room fridge but it was unusable. Eventually I bought some cans of soda and just started swapping them out for cold ones in the fridge when I wanted something cold.
That was in response to someone like young asshole me: I would pop the caps off clear sodas with the edge of furniture and a well-aimed hit of a shoe without damaging the cap, drink most of it, fill the empty space with water, and pop the cap back on to return it to the fridge. I figured some low-pay guy just went around counting heads in the fridge, anyway, before moving on to the next room. Sorry, whoever followed me and got a drink from the fridge in those Italian hotels in 1997!
Dear Audi, you are cordially invited to “snort my taint” (Ken White aka Popehat)
Car companies treat aftermarket software that breaks subscriptions like its cold blooded murder, and the give consumers the middle finger when their built in software and OTA updates bricks cars and causes a terrible ownership experience. Don’t buy these cars, and if you do, hack em and enable everything.
Subscriptions for car functionality is heinous crap, obviously. But will that audi even last long enough to see 5G get sunsetted? The Toyota will for sure, but those Audi’s are going to break in stupid and expensive ways long before that.
It’s going to end up looking like the smartphone app stores: lots and lots of “freemium” apps that are free to try, then require microtransactions and/or subs to get the premium part. I mean, Mercedes already calls its infotainment system MBUX, which sounds dangerously similar to virtual currency you can buy with real money. Premium ambient light color loot boxes, anyone?
All of these suck. But locking High-beam assist behind a paywall when the car is fully-able to do so otherwise, is just a plain old a-hole maneuver. That’s ultimately a safety feature for not only the driver, but everyone around them that prefers their retinas not be burned to a crisp. If some unfortunate pedestrian meets the business-end of an A3 because they were blinded by the power of sun lumens Audi high beams, thus disoriented to location and steps into the street unknowingly. The car being fully able of migrating said situation, however did not due to blood money demands. One could gather Audi might be a bit liable, and possibly legally exposed here.
Is this becoming Toyotopian?
-mostly snide, but it sure feels like we’ve gotten far away from the rusty Jeeps, niche Smarts, and volcano-lair beaters
Did you miss the rusty jeep article like yesterday?
Nope. Even paused as I wrote above comment thinking of that—but, what’s the frequency now?
as I mentioned, just being snarky.
bored waiting for a fire drill before I can get back to work up on the roof
It’s a news story and the Toyota Corolla is an easily identified and understood model. If you’re sharing this article with, for example, a relative that is thinking about an Audi – and you should – they will immediately understand the point being made.
There is room for mutant Smarts, important consumer advice, and wild rants about Citroen taillights on the same website.
HACK THE PLANET!
All software should be free. Not $0 necessarily, but free to inspect and modify.
Automatic high beam assist and CarPlay came standard on my fucking Hyundai. My wife’s 2015 CRV has dual zone climate control. Imagine paying a premium for/accepting the depreciation on a luxury car to get nickel and dimed into shit that’s standard on a lot of economy cars.
Hot take: most of Ze Germans are pretty fucked. VW is currently a festering turd of mediocre, tech crazed vehicles and Audi doesn’t have anything left that’s best in its class right now. Their designs are about as exciting as room temperature oatmeal to boot. Outside of the S and RS models they have nothing.
Mercedes went down this stupid rabbit hole of making their cars into rolling, electric tablets built for #socialmedia too. Who wants this junk? All of it will be sitting on buy here pay here lots in 3-4 years with all sorts of features completely bugged out and dashboards lit up like Christmas trees.
I grew up around Audis and have driven many of them. They’ve always had a special place in my heart. But today? I can’t even begin to imagine choosing to buy a new one. Especially a goddamn A3. It’s a JETTA. Imagine paying goddamn 40 grand plus for a front wheel drive econobox in a bow tie, having to pay a subscription fee for your goddamn CarPlay and automatic high beams, then opening the hood and realizing you have to deal with Satan’s own engine on top of all this shit.
Damn the EA888 to hell. Don’t buy any of this crapola.
Your “It’s a JETTA” comment made me think of one of my favorite car-related movie lines at all time: “Sir, it’s a Boxster.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6nTQOoPjWs (see around 0:20 seconds)
Can’t upvote this one enough times.
I’m imagining it and thinking “I’m a dumbass. I’m a fool. I’m an idiot. I’m a big dummy for being a sucker to Audi, etc. I’m in hell and I’m gonna drive this POS over a cliff”
All hypothetical of course, but that’s how I’M imagining it ha ha
BOYCOTT THIS BS!
I just watched a video where a Youtuber grabbed an OBD tool and added adaptive cruise to their car. The hardware was all there, and the tool allowed the system to activate it. Which makes sense. These (fee for basic functions) subscriptions cannot be allowed to survive. We must kill them with fire.
Aging Wheels and his Polestar 2 just did this. It will void a warranty I’m sure, but saving 3-5k on a “plus package” for entirely included hardware to function when the warranty is already up is an absolute win. Automakers love to pretend their software is soooo robust and unbreakable, but Automakers cannot do software the way software companies and hackers can. They can implement it, but it will be broken, period.
Wouldn’t carmakers be required to prove that the modification caused a given problem to deny warranty coverage under Magnuson-Moss? I could see them being able to deny coverage for adaptive cruise that the car owner activated without payment, even if there’s a manufacturer’s defect, but saying that such a modification of code caused a problem with software controls of the transmission or even infotainment or factory-enabled heated seats would be a stretch.
Just le no.
I’m an MBA and I don’t know what luxury means, but I would have set the program up like so:
Subscription features are only offered on leases. They are marketed as discounts from the published lease rate, not as additional subscriptions. Thus if you don’t want Car Play (as I wouldn’t), you can take $19 off the monthly rate or whatever it costs. This feels like customization and gives the customer the illusion of “getting a deal”, even if the end result is exactly the same.
At the end of the lease term, all features are turned on, permanently. This avoids pretty much all the issues noted in the column for second and third owners, and boosts the residuals as well.
If you buy the car outright, either new or at the end of the lease, the features are turned on.
Audi still gets most of their money without the bad press, because most people lease them and most will probably opt to subscribe if the features are opt-out rather than opt-in.
An MBA that looked 3 years out…. I’ll be damned. lol
My pay isn’t based on stock options that vest next quarter lol.
I too am an MBA who questions his understanding of what luxury means! I like your plan better than Audi’s, well done.
Apparently “permanent” subscription is available. I’m willing to bet that doesn’t survive sale or transfer of the car.
The automotive equivalent of paying a $40/night “resort fee” at an $800/night hotel.
Your mistake was thinking that Audi gives a damn about the poor working-class sucker who buys this car used after 5G has gone away.
This raises a question I hadn’t thought of before. If the equipment is already installed, and you opt not to subscribe to it, and it fails, who is on the hook for repairs? Yes the consumer owns the car, but no the consumer does not have access to that equipment.
If it causes the owner to fail an inspection or have any part in root cause of an accident, where does the culpability fall? Maybe I’m overthinking it, but this subscription for car features is just so asinine I can’t think straight over it.
I have a sneaking suspicion this will inevitably end in a very lengthy and publicized lawsuit in the next 5 or so years