BMW backs down from its paid subscription service

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Good news because I wasn’t going to pay $80 for it after the first year mainly because I don’t use it that much. When I do use it, it is nice.

 

there is a difference though. bmw carplay is wireless and i think they are one of the very few with that. for example carplay in mb are all wired. so general thinking (before today) was that ppl were paying for carplay in bmw because of the wireless setup

but this is definitely good news, make them more competitive. on the other hand i do read about people having trouble with wireless carplay setup

 

Nice! because I was not planning on extending my subscription next year, even though I do like this feature a lot.

 

Glad bmw realized how stupid charging for this was when you can get it for free in econoboxes

 

BMW is coming around and owning their mistakes... It was a bold move to try to charge a fee for this. Too quickly it became an obvious nuisance and potentially one reason not to consider buying their cars.

CarPlay on a BMW has been a funny dance since 2016. I know this from searching for a SUV for my parents and was exploring options that had CarPlay available. Trust me, they were hard to find!!
You had to pay for it as a premium option (which would ensure the correct display is in the vehicle) when it is built. It depending on vehicle it could be a $300, $500, or $800 option which is absurd for BMW to have the nerve to charge you for this up front. The lack of true carplay standardization left BMW with a growing glut of used cars with no way of activating Carplay (non standard display). It devalued vehicles faster than the models which had it. Starting in 2018, most BMW had the right info display screen to handle car play and they tested the subscription waters.

BMW nailed it in their explanation... an improved ownership experience. Unfortunately, this was a quick fix and not going to save BMW's image and reputation of being costly to maintain past the initial 3 year warranty (1-2K per 10k miles). Yeah, it is where dealers try to recoup their $$ in servicing when the OEM gets their wholesale cost of the new car paid for plus a profit premium.

The real story is the glut of BMW cars without car play has hurt resale on the pre-owned market. BMW dealers want to be able to turn over preowned and certified cars on their lot faster and no car play meant it was off to WholeSale auction pricing if they couldnt sell it. No way I can see BMW confessing to mass market that they fumbled the ball on CarPlay at the owners expense and it backfired on their ability to sell used BMWs, especially the ones without CarPlay.

To me, CarPlay helps me extend my ownership experience and be happier with it. It is nice to have your phone enhancing your car experience. Bring it on with Google Maps, Waze, and more!

 

I got apple play in one of our BMWs, and I found it completely redundant and much inferior to the native i-Drive system.

 

The native iDrive system is still one of the best and has little learning curve (manually and voice) and you can hit the ground running with it. iDrive has the advantage of being tied into your heads up display feedback. Not many car companies have a polished nav system like BMW has. Carplay may get you to your destinations faster with using recent history in google maps or apple maps or address book. It's all there. Whatever is easier to use so might as well get the best of both worlds. Waze + iDrive

 

Apple play just has such cheap looking interface, makes the whole infotainment system feel like a cheap Camry.

I've had every generation of the iDrive, and the original iDrive in my 2005 745 was horrible - it was only good for mounting a Garmin unit onto the idrive screen. From Gen 2 and up iDrive is nothing but awesome, and only getting better and better. It's so good that in fact I don't even want to consider any other car brand, especially Lexus.

 

factory systems are so much better now imho. both bmw and mb nav systems are easier to use and quite accurate. our mb has carplay as well but i find ourselves using the factory system more often

 

any of them with wireless carplay?

 

I have to agree, I still use Waze but it can be hard to follow sometimes. The BMW nav is one of the better ones out there and the HUD makes it very easy to follow.

 

I drove an X7 yesterday with a guy Ive dealt with before and who actually sold some friends of mine some BMWs. He hadnt heard about the change in free CarPlay, his response: "thank God". He said customers were always so pissed when they found out they had to pay for CarPlay, one guy was writing letters to Apple trying to get them to deny BMW use of CarPlay because of it, etc.

BTW, BMWs system is excellent, especially the HUD. I love CarPlay but if I had a BMW I might use that. Point is, manufacturers have to compete with Apple in this infotainment arena, which is only good for consumers.

 

that works?

anyway, i just don't care for subscription services for cars, but i guess it's inevitable and hey now that i lease i'm already there.

 

It does have its purposes, for example; I use ACP daily for Waze as a substitute for radar detector. The fans of google maps also prefer to use it over I-drive. I use it primarily for Waze/Spotify, for everything else I prefer I-drive which is great with Heads up Display.