Mazda angers owners by making them pay for popular feature

[zippy2020]

Interestingly, 3 yrs ago our friends and I were test-driving cars, and the Mazda 3 was one of them. No reviews by anyone, no car literature, nor the salespeople ever mentioned there was a limited trial feature on the car.

Mazda angers owners by making them pay for popular feature
TheStreet 08Aug2024
Mazda forcing owners to subscription service

(excerpted) Like it or not, subscriptions are the new norm for everything we like. Anything and everything you can think of can be made better with a subscription.

... However, not everything needs to be a subscription, especially things related to the cars people drive to work and school every day.

... Mazda's subscription dilemma
In 2021, Japanese automaker Mazda (MZDAF) made a sneaky move and removed remote start functionality from its key fobs. Instead of packaging them physically with the car, Mazda introduced its Mazda Connected Services smartphone app, through which owners can control their Mazda's climate control, start their vehicles remotely, and check up on their vehicles' status.

These functions are available to owners through a $10 per-month subscription. However, Mazda gave owners a three-year free trial to try out these functions before they committed to the subscription, which may have been a bad call from the start.

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[CardsFan]

Old news, and they are all doing it. DW's 2020 Lexus had the same thing. After 3 years you could pay $16/month for 4 subscriptions, including navigation, remote start, their equivalent of OnStar, and something else. Since she never used the remote start (except once just to try it), and CarPlay gives here all map functionality, we just said no. Turns out they actually turned the maps program back on.

Got a friend with a newer truck (GMC, I think), and they charged him to upgrade the maps in his Nav system.

Last year I bought a Mazda CX-50. They did not even try to sell the Nav upgrade, just recommended CarPlay. I was told about the subscription starting in 3 years, but they said they did not know the price yet. No problem. Don't need it.

 

[Surewhitey]

That's nothing to worry about for me. I have a 2012 Toyota Sienna with remote start and use it 2-3 times annually. If $40-60 per use, no thanks.

I like Mazdas for handling & reliability. Not remote start.

 

[braumeister]

BMW tried a monthly subscription charge for heated seats a couple of years ago. That didn't go over well either.

 

[Diogenes]

Empathizing with folks who are frustrated by this, I nevertheless have to ask: what's the point of these various features? Do they improve the ownership experience? Do they advance a feeling of confidence and of driver unity with the machine?

I am still trying to understand transistorized ignition, high-pressure time-varying pumps that squirt fuel into combustion chambers, and the whole idea of using closed-loop control theory to apply to engine management. This is not a joke. My "automotive technology" ambit is stuck at around 1975. My current daily-driver, built in 1991, feels like a wonder-wagon of magical complexity and sophistication. It doesn't even have a distributor!

 

[Qs Laptop]

Empathizing with folks who are frustrated by this, I nevertheless have to ask: what's the point of these various features? Do they improve the ownership experience? Do they advance a feeling of confidence and of driver unity with the machine?

The point is convenience and safety. Yes, they do improve ownership experience.

I'm in Minnesota and remote start is a godsend in the winter. I suppose for those in Arizona or Texas remote start would be great in the summer. You press a button on your key fob from the comfort of your heated home (or air conditioned home) and your vehicle starts. You can then let it idle while the engine warms up, filling the cabin with heated air (or air conditioned air.) When you climb into the vehicle 5 minutes later it's a much more tolerable experience than if you were to go outside, climb in and start it.

 

[Al18]

Remote start will lower your gas mileage - guaranteed.

 

[Midpack]

The modern day equivalent to 'nickel and diming us to death.' I resist all subscriptions as much as possible, but there are more and more that are very hard to avoid.

 

[Diogenes]

The point is convenience and safety. Yes, they do improve ownership experience.

I'm in Minnesota and remote start is a godsend in the winter. I suppose for those in Arizona or Texas remote start would be great in the summer. You press a button on your key fob from the comfort of your heated home (or air conditioned home) and your vehicle starts. You can then let it idle while the engine warms up, filling the cabin with heated air (or air conditioned air.) When you climb into the vehicle 5 minutes later it's a much more tolerable experience than if you were to go outside, climb in and start it.

One supposes that what you describe is inherent in the overall decision process of where to live, and how to live. Other than brief felicitous periods, I've not had cars with functional HVAC systems, so the very idea of being able to drive in shirt-sleeves on a winter day, or to not sweat profusely in the summer, feels like an exotic privilege.

Not to meander too far off-topic, but I get a sense that such personal calculations of convenience vs. cost, account for much of why so many folks need $XYZ budget in retirement. This isn't to judge (let alone to condemn!) them, but to account, for why budgets happen to be, what they are.

 

[Dtail]

Would love to see cars in Florida with cooling seats.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Would love to see cars in Florida with cooling seats.

Cooling seats is an option on many vehicles. It's basically a fan that blows air though the perforated holes in the seat back and seat bottom. It's not really cold air but it's air at same temperature as the cabin air. My wife's car has it and it's useful on hot, sticky days.

 

[Texas Proud]

To me this is like Sirius or OnStar... things the car can do but does not really affect the real functionality of the car...

I would never use an app anyhow... and probably not use remote start... my sister has a car that can park itself and the other day I was driving her someplace and asked about it... she did not even know she had it...

Now, the BMW example for heated seat or anything else is just stupid...

 

[Qs Laptop]

One supposes that what you describe is inherent in the overall decision process of where to live, and how to live. Other than brief felicitous periods, I've not had cars with functional HVAC systems, so the very idea of being able to drive in shirt-sleeves on a winter day, or to not sweat profusely in the summer, feels like an exotic privilege.

The decision of where to live was made and then the decision on whether or not to get remote start was made. I doubt one could buy a vehicle nowadays without AC, unless it's the lowest price vehicle in a manufacturers lineup. Remote start is usually part of an options package and likely would add only 1% or 2% to the sticker price.

 

[braumeister]

My car (bought new this year) has both heated and cooled seats. I've never used the heated option and likely never will. OTOH, the cooling option can be wonderful on a very hot day.
However, the best option, that I also had on my previous car, is the heated steering wheel. On a cold day that is simply fantastic.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Would love to see cars in Florida with cooling seats.

I have one. It is nice. : )

 

[Chuckanut]

Subscription services are not a great way to LBYM, in my opinion. They are not an Investment in whatever. They are an expense. Choose wisely.

 

[Scrapr]

My last 2 Volvos have the subscription for remote start & such. I use it all the time. The first one I only had for a couple years and it was still under subscription when I traded it in. My latest just went off last Fall. I tried to quit for a couple months but Dear Leader bought it as a Christmas present. She missed it. Coming out of ballgames we turn it on w/2 out in the 9th. Finishing up at restaurants I turn it on. I had the steering wheel heater on this morning. It's August! I'm spoiled

I do use Google maps instead of Volvo maps because I think it is slightly better

 

[Gumby]

I just start my car after I get in it. Easy. No fee.

 

[RetiredHappy]

It reminds me of our friends' car. They have a screen with a map but do not use the Nav system. Instead they run it off their phone, but not hooked to the car. It is annoying because the driver often gets irritated with his wife for not helping with directions as he couldn't see the screen. We use Android Auto on ours to display onto our car's display. So I finally asked them as to why they were not using the Nav system in their car. The husband said It's problematic and doesn't work because they refuse to pay like $150 a month for all the features in the car. He said their car couldn't display maps like ours. So, our friends with their fancy brand car has far fewer usable features than our less expensive Japanese car.

 

[FlaGator]

Since the Mazda capability and no-charge period was disclosed, I have -0- sympathy for the complaints on /reddit-whine-because-I-can-about mazda.

My 2019 Honda Passport has line-of-sight remote start and I use it a couple of times/week in summer and winter when trying to be considerate for a companion. Yes, 35 degree mornings are tough on Floridians However, wouldn't pay a fee to do that from my phone.

"Connected services" give one options, and I do pay for HondaLink solely for crash notification. My rationale is I live alone, prefer to travel by car, and friends and family are often a couple of hours away. $89/yr. for that.

Map updates are a little different. I like to be able to pull up a map to get a broader perspective on my location as well as directions when traffic delays (like one gets with CarPlay/Google Maps) aren't a concern. My free updates have expired and I'll likely refresh every 2 years as I did with my last Honda.

 

[Jerry1]

Just another reason to keep my current vehicles as long as possible. Ugh, I like a new car but I'm not going to be taken advantage of.

 

[Diogenes]

Just another reason to keep my current vehicles as long as possible. Ugh, I like a new car but I'm not going to be taken advantage of.

Exactly. Modernity, for all of its manifest boons, has also its weaknesses and drawbacks. This is why there is occasional merit in the "old school" approach. The point isn't to petulantly flash the middle-finger to the 21st century (thought in a puerile sense, that's fun too), but to selectively accept or reject, what "simplifies" our lives, at the cost of independence, self-affirmation and the like.

 

[Alan]

If remote start becomes a subscription service on my car I wouldn’t pay for it but I sure do like it during cold and frosty/snowy weather. With my ICE cars I would go out, start the engine, and come back into the house and do stuff while the ice and snow melts off the windscreen and wipers. (Or I would use ice scrapers and de-icer spray if I wasn’t at home)

With my EV I can set the car to heat up remotely from the app, but I’m not even sure if I could do it without the app since the moment I exit the car everything turns off. Sitting in my EV waiting for it heat up and melt the ice is much faster than in my ICE vehicles because the heat is instant, no radiator water to heat up, so if remote heating became a subscription then really it’s not such a big deal.

 

[Midpack]

Exactly. Modernity, for all of its manifest boons, has also its weaknesses and drawbacks. This is why there is occasional merit in the "old school" approach. The point isn't to petulantly flash the middle-finger to the 21st century (thought in a puerile sense, that's fun too), but to selectively accept or reject, what "simplifies" our lives, at the cost of independence, self-affirmation and the like.

That only works for so long, but fun while it lasts…

I don’t disagree, but many of my peers resist all change as long as possible, only to find eventually the new tech is actually very useful. My Mom & Dad thought the internet was “stupid” for many years, finally couldn’t imagine life without the internet for the last 10+ years of their lives.

 

[Music Lover]

Remote start will lower your gas mileage - guaranteed.

Of course it will but I'm more than willing to pay a few extra cents for comfort.