[SteveAus]

I Love my car. Love the way it drives. Love the power. Love its versatility. Love the Colour of the paintwork. Love the colour of the seats.

What I really do not love is the way BMW want to continually gouge you for money to maintain things like Connected Drive after your warranty period has ended (yes, my car came with only 3 years warranty! WTF!!). I had downloaded the recent software upgrade, but had not had time to install it due a death in the family and surgery in hospital. However, when I went to install the software, I was informed that my Connected Drive subscription was inactive.

My car is only three years old, but BMW now want another $200 per year to maintain Connected Drive...therefore no software upgrades, no information on tyre temps and pressures while parked, no map updates, etc, etc, etc.

Having paid almost $120,000 for the car in the first place, surely BMW can afford to continue this service for the vehicle life. After all, this is one of the things that appealed to many buyers in the first place, which may have tempted the original purchase. This also helps in resale value down the track.

BMW blanket sends updates to thousands of vehicles at a time all over the world. It is hardly an imposition on a company of this size to continue to service its clientele in this way.

I have bought new Beemers since the 1990's and I normally keep my vehicles for around 7 years (low mileage driver), but I will now definitely be looking at other manufacturers in the future, as this kind of "Big Company" gouging really gives me the shits!