The New Audi A3 Is Amess With In-Car Subscriptions [Update]
www.motor1.com
The 2025 Audi A3 looks sharper and comes with more tech, but you will have to pay a subscription for some basic in-car features.

So far there’s subscriptions for cruise control, adaptive beams, various navigation options, apple/google integration and my favorite, dual-zone climate.

  • Docus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    814·
    10 months ago

    I am ok with a charge for things that require the manufacturer to run a server. But only if that charge is related to the actual cost , and that cost is unavoidable. Regarding that last point: my Garmin satnav lets me use my own mobile data to get live traffic information. Car makers don’t give you that option.

    • DeathbringerThoctar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      183·
      10 months ago

      Car makers don’t give you that option.

      Except they do if you have Android Auto. Literally none of that has any bearing whatsoever on subscriptions for cruise control though.

      • Docus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        10 months ago

        According to the article, apple car play and android auto also require a subscription. So no, they don’t give you the choice.

        • DeathbringerThoctar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          10 months ago

          Subscription to a cell carrier maybe? I’ve used Android Auto in particular a bunch. It connects to my phone and uses Google maps, which is non subscription. Admittedly it’s been a bit, I suppose Google could have crippled it since I last used it, but I have my doubts. My mother uses it regularly and I guarantee she’d be throwing a fit if she needed to pay to do so.

          • Docus@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            10 months ago

            Nope. Read the first line of the article. Apple CarPlay won’t work unless you pay Audi a subscription fee. I’m not surprised, I had an A3 a few years ago and that already had subscriptions built in. But they came with a 3 year license and Audi UK would extend that for a year at a time, free of charge as they had not worked out how to charge for it. They have worked it out now.