I miss when you didn't need a cell connection for remote start, like my fob can lock and unlock my car from the third floor of my building why can't I just have a button on my remote that does the same as unlocking my doors.

Although, the roadside kinda makes $60 a year worth it just for the peace of mind, gotta atleast give em that.

If it makes you feel slightly better I pay about $70/year for AAA so thats about half of the cost there since it comes with Roadside assistance.

Tesla's run on Linux and have already been jailbroken, the future is now.

Kia's just suck in general AFAIK. My friend has a 2010 Kia Sorento and he has some "device" on top of the positive (?) terminal of his battery. The terminal ring is a bit loose so it doesn't make proper contact with the battery terminal and he has to hold it against it so that he can start his car.

I thought he was bullshitting me at first because he's not a car guy and told me before that when his car was fucking up that it was the transmission, but it was the coil packs. Nope, there's a big black box on the top of the battery and he said that only Kia can service it, and it'll cost like $800 to fix.

To find a car and control it remotely will need a server. That's why it's not free.

it looks like only way is to somehow imitate their API and change those links in the car. I think it would be cool to selfhost such server.

The care package with roadside assistance seems reasonable, though your insurance usually already cover road assistance. The plus package is insane though, they charge that much just to enable remote start via their app?

I really hope my '01 4Runner lasts forever

Time to begin the era of the DYI automobile. Buy a number of ~30v, high amperage batteries, an electric motor, jury rig the thing to a drivetrain and presto!

They also made them easy to steal!

Just buy used and modify yourself with the tech you want. Send a message that this shit is unacceptable and we are willing to live in a less technologically enhanced world if it means no subscriptions. We keep buying it, they will continue to think this is how you “extract profit” from consumers.

I bought Ioniq 5. No subs no bullshit and EV (no frozen shit like in a non tropical countries).

Love this car.

I'm trying to reduce my car dependency and go car-free eventually but If I had to buy one more car it would be a pre-1995 Toyota pickup.

I just Googled and the 2024 Telluride has an MSRP of ~$55,000 in my area, used 2023 models are about ~$45,000.

Looking at an auto loan calculator, that's between $700 and $900 per month with a 96 month 9% auto loan.

Point is, if you can afford the car you're probably not worrying about the subscription except on principle. If you can afford the car and have principle concerns you'd probably buy a different car.

What happens when the car becomes too old and they decide to drop that version of the API the car is talking with? Huh? That's another problem with these with "critical service but it can only go through us", when they change their mind you get fucked.