BMW is no stranger to offering features on a subscription basis, and the scope of these add-ons has controversially continued to grow. Motor1 reports BMW has made M Adaptive Suspension available as a subscription on some models, despite the hardware being present as standard. It appears BMW also quietly introduced this subscription late last year in Australia.
It’s available for purchase via the ConnectedDrive store. You get a one-month free trial, though after that it’ll cost $29 a month. You can also pay $290 to have it for a year or $449 for three years.
This means you no longer need to pay for it as part of the upfront cost of buying your BMW, with there now being an option to pay for it monthly or annually. Alternatively, BMW will charge you a one-time fee of $639 to have unlimited access to it. Your BMW must have the necessary hardware to support it, as paying the subscription or total fee merely unlocks the software so you can use it.
Once it’s activated, you can switch between Comfort and Sport modes for the electronically controlled shock absorbers, with electromagnetically controlled valves adjusting the damping forces. While M Adaptive Suspension is included as standard on many of BMW’s performance models, it’s available in a package on others. On the base 3 Series and 4 Series it’s one of the features included in the $1462 M Sport Package Pro, while it’s added in the same package on cars like the X3 for a higher premium of $2308.
BMW’s ConnectedDrive store also offers many other paid features, including a welcome light animation for a one-time payment of $80.84, alongside parking assistant professional and remote engine start, both for $29 a month. You can also pay a one-time $259 for high-beam assistant, $220 for interior engine sounds, $450 for “Apple CarPlay Preparation”, and $115 per year for real-time traffic information.
BMW courted controversy in 2022 for charging for heated seats as part of a subscription . This has since been dropped from the local ConnectedDrive store. Speaking with media in Munich the following year, BMW board member for sales and marketing Peter Niota told Autocar the brand is focusing on “functions on demand” software features such as “driving assistance and parking assistance” with its subscription plans.
“What we don’t do any more – and that is a very well-known example – is offer seat heating by this way,” Mr Niota said in comments reported by Autocar. “It’s either in or out. We offer it by the factory and you either have it or you don’t have it.
“We thought that we would provide an extra service to the customer by offering the chance to activate that later, but the user acceptance isn’t that high. People feel that they paid double – which was actually not true, but perception is reality, I always say. So that was the reason we stopped that.
” MORE: BMW offering heated seat subscriptions in Australia MORE: Tesla may follow BMW with controversial subscription.
