Mercedes Acceleration Boost

[spooksman]

Interesting piece on Acceleration Boost on Mercedes EVs...

Expensive Cars Have DLC Now, And It's Taking The Piss

Mercedes are charging $1200 a year for an 'Acceleration Increase'

kotaku.com

$1,200 a year!

 

[GlynG]

The manufacturers will undoubtedly celebrate their strategy in the short term - and the brand-new purchaser probably won't mind too much to unlock the full potential - but as the car ages, is sold a few times and people who couldn't afford that type of car new but wants one will not be up for additional payments - and some bright sparks will develop a cheat to unlock for free or a onetime payment, similar to Hannshow selling a cable to activate the full sound system in Tesla base models. Seat heaters though would be an easy peasy hack - just fit the number of relays to number of seats and switches, make a simple new loom to wire to power - job done and just a few quid.

What bothers me more though is paying for something that doesn't work at all - like Tesla's FSD - you get a sort of adaptive cruise control, summon doesn't even move the car an inch - just wobbles the steering wheels side to side then shuts down, wipers are indeed fully auto - but activate whenever they feel like irrespective of the weather and the latest option to dazzle oncoming drivers at night all fully automatic.

I adore my 3P but wish things would show signs of improvement after paying a lot for something that works less well now than back in 2020.

 

[GRiLLA]

Seems like a tough thing to sell, it's not really especially fast with the boost and not especially slow without, increase from 6s to 5s 0-60. I trialed Acceleration Boost on my LR Model 3, and didn't really like it, but it would seem more reasonable to go from 'fast' 4.4 secs to 'nuts' 3.9s Not worth the money to me but at least it would have been a life of the car purchase.

 

[Durzel]

I think it's pretty egregious to lock that sort of thing behind a subscription. Not particularly surprising though, as manufacturers look for substitute revenue streams for EVs that are going to be giving them less in terms of servicing revenue, etc.

 

[Jason71]

What bothers me more though is paying for something that doesn't work at all - like Tesla's FSD - you get a sort of adaptive cruise control, summon doesn't even move the car an inch - just wobbles the steering wheels side to side then shuts down, wipers are indeed fully auto - but activate whenever they feel like irrespective of the weather and the latest option to dazzle oncoming drivers at night all fully automatic.

I adore my 3P but wish things would show signs of improvement after paying a lot for something that works less well now than back in 2020.

what surprises me is that anyone who has driven the UK roads ever believed ( with enough conviction to spend £7K) that it would work with the hardware in the current cars and within any sort of timescale in which they still own that car with its non transferable FSD purchase.
Sorry if anyone reading this thinks I am being harsh. DM me and I will give you a great deal on a bridge to make it up to you.

 

[DeejUK]

I boldly predict that this thread will descend into "I think FSD is great/I think FSD is a con" and "I think subscription unlocks to enable features are fine/I think subscription unlocks to enable features are morally repugnant" combined with a lot of "I don't know what you're on about, you're clearly wrong" on both sides.

Interesting observation that other manufacturers are starting to do this, and I expect it'll be commonplace in a few years.

 

[HenryT]

Interesting piece on Acceleration Boost on Mercedes EVs...

Expensive Cars Have DLC Now, And It's Taking The Piss

Mercedes are charging $1200 a year for an 'Acceleration Increase'

kotaku.com

$1,200 a year!

I wonder how much a month they will be charging for the 'fart option'?

 

[Zilla91]

The only wild thing about this is the fact you have to pay annually for it, otherwise I see nothing outrageous about this

 

[Jason71]

I boldly predict that this thread will descend into "I think FSD is great/I think FSD is a con" and "I think subscription unlocks to enable features are fine/I think subscription unlocks to enable features are morally repugnant" combined with a lot of "I don't know what you're on about, you're clearly wrong" on both sides.

Interesting observation that other manufacturers are starting to do this, and I expect it'll be commonplace in a few years.

I think its the monthly subscription to hardware that is new ish here.
I know you can subscribe monthly to FSD but it is additional software you are paying for and its evolving ( allegedly) we we are all used to being offered software subscription to by now so it feels less wrong
its the subscription to a hardware feature like heating seats in the BMW and now performance in the Merc that people are struggling to adjust to.
I mean if you least a car you are litterally paying monthly for hardware but somehow this just feels different and wrong.

 

[MrBadger]

Interesting observation that other manufacturers are starting to do this, and I expect it'll be commonplace in a few years.

It already is if you are on a finance deal.

Many people pay monthly for their car so adding paying an recurring option to the manufacturer is little different to paying a finance company. It’s just this time is an option that you can stop and manufacturer gets the possibility of income amortised over a longer period. It also possibly means that a customer can get a better car than perhaps that we’re entitled to with company or salary sacrifice or that they could initially afford.

Tesla did it with premium connectivity and offer it as an option for EAP/FSD in some regions.

It’s not for me, but as long as both purchase options are available then it may make things seem more appealing.

 

[init6]

I wonder how much a month they will be charging for the 'fart option'?

One's Mercedes does not 'fart'

 

[Durzel]

$1500 is the price I'd expect it to be for a one-off purchase. If it's going to be a subscription it ought to be priced the same way FSD is in the States, i.e. a reasonable amount. $100 seems more appropriate.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Last time I had a company car, all options had to be paid for whilst I had the car. Over 3 years something like acceleration boost as a result would be £1500/36 = £42 a month, I imagine that’s say 5% of the lease price. EAP would be £120, FSD would be nearly £250 a month! It was rare to pick any options as a result as the monthly soon climbed

If the manufacturer took a 5 view on payback and offered flexibility to turn on/off then it would probably be both better value especially to the initial car owner and they might actually sell more “months”

I think that’s where Merc have gone wrong is it neither offers much flexibility or seemingly any real value. £120 a month for a bit more go..

 

[Jason71]

Last time I had a company car, all options had to be paid for whilst I had the car. Over 3 years something like acceleration boost as a result would be £1500/36 = £42 a month, I imagine that’s say 5% of the lease price. EAP would be £120, FSD would be nearly £250 a month! It was rare to pick any options as a result as the monthly soon climbed

If the manufacturer took a 5 view on payback and offered flexibility to turn on/off then it would probably be both better value especially to the initial car owner and they might actually sell more “months”

I think that’s where Merc have gone wrong is it neither offers much flexibility or seemingly any real value. £120 a month for a bit more go..

Could they make it Pay as you go? You pay per second spent on full throttle

 

[Durzel]

Could they make it Pay as you go? You pay per second spent on full throttle

Could be like the old school VTEC where you have a slight delay while your payment goes through then whooooosh!

 

[SageBrush]

Not particularly surprising though, as manufacturers look for substitute revenue streams for EVs that are going to be giving them less in terms of servicing revenue, etc.

The software revenue goes to the manufacturers, while the shrinking service revenue hits the dealerships and benefits the manufacturers if it reduces warranty costs.

 

[Morpheus84]

I just don’t think that the UK roads warrant this kind of addition! I was recently in the USA for four weeks and driving there is completely different. The roads are open, straight and driving can be pretty fun in a fast car. I am due to collect a model Y next week and I would potentially pay £1500 for the acceleration boost as a one off novel purchase. I would not however pay monthly for it. The only benefit I see is that it is not tied to the car as the one off purchase currently is. Depending on the cost of the monthly payment, this could work out cheaper in the long run depending how long you own the car. If I were TESLA, I would do it very differently and charge in the region of £20 a month for self driving, £20 a month for acceleration boost and £15 a month for premium connectivity. With those prices, so many more people would opt in and it would also mean that research and development would be easier because more people would have the additions and the software could be made better faster and in more countries.

 

[GlynG]

I just don’t think that the UK roads warrant this kind of addition! I was recently in the USA for four weeks and driving there is completely different. The roads are open, straight and driving can be pretty fun in a fast car. I am due to collect a model Y next week and I would potentially pay £1500 for the acceleration boost as a one off novel purchase. I would not however pay monthly for it. The only benefit I see is that it is not tied to the car as the one off purchase currently is. Depending on the cost of the monthly payment, this could work out cheaper in the long run depending how long you own the car. If I were TESLA, I would do it very differently and charge in the region of £20 a month for self driving, £20 a month for acceleration boost and £15 a month for premium connectivity. With those prices, so many more people would opt in and it would also mean that research and development would be easier because more people would have the additions and the software could be made better faster and in more countries.

The problem however with monthly payments is that people would pick and choose which months they wanted that particular feature - so that would diminish the profit for Tesla. Tesla are pretty quick cars in all flavours - so having an acceleration boost would just be a short-lived thrill, probably paid for once or twice. Different matter for FSD - after the first month no one would pay because it just doesn't work with any reliability - even the summon feature is completely useless. Mine used to inch forwards and backwards - handy when i reversed into a tight spot - did my shopping and on return to the car inch it forward for access to the boot - not used it for a long time but did just yesterday at Tesco's - trolley by my side - told it to move forward - It illuminated the lights, turned the steering to the left and right - then completely stopped doing anything.
However, if Tesla were only getting paid when they made something that works perhaps that would focus their attention. Paying for something monthly could be acceptable if that trading arrangement was reciprocal - so having bought a car with FSD all the time it's not working I get paid by Tesla £20 per month, plus £10 per month for my auto main beam not working safely, £10 per month for my utter rubbish wipers and £10 per month for having to reboot the car after screw up updates - and with the latest cars with USS removal and no current Tesla vision replacing the sensors another £10 per month until its fixed and working as good as the USS has done for years.

 

[Jason71]

I boldly predict that this thread will descend into "I think FSD is great/I think FSD is a con" and "I think subscription unlocks to enable features are fine/I think subscription unlocks to enable features are morally repugnant" combined with a lot of "I don't know what you're on about, you're clearly wrong" on both sides.

Two days. Four likes. No downvotes and no rebutal.
Vox Populi, Vox De.

 

[gaswalla]

Give this some time, and it will easily be hacked by folks who gain the functionality without paying. Mercedes does not have a software team like tesla that will be nimble and able to defeat hackers quickly and over the air