Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get 2,000+ tool plans, full site access, and more.

User Tag List

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: Mercedes in-car subscriptions for increased performance - photos

  1. #1
    Jon
    Jon is online now Jon has agreed the Seller's Terms of Service
    Administrator
    Supporting Member
    Jon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Colorado, USA
    Posts
    25,446
    Thanks
    7,925
    Thanked 38,618 Times in 11,284 Posts

    Mercedes in-car subscriptions for increased performance - photos

    Mercedes started offering a $1,200 annual subscription fee to owners of some of its electric vehicles, for increasing acceleration.

    An electric Mercedes is far from the top of my automotive wishlist, but this sales tactic caught my eye.

    Mercedes did recently drop down the price, but this type of automotive sales model, where the buyer pays for upgrades like increased torque or heated steering wheels, may be here to stay.






    More: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/mercede...-subscription/

    Previously:

    1954 Mercedes-Benz Blue Wonder racecar transporter - photos
    Mercedes-AMG G-Wagen 6x6 - photo
    1989 Mercedes-Benz 6x6 expedition truck - photos
    Mercedes-Benz C-Class station wagon and trailer - photo
    1960 Mercedes-Benz 300 Messwagen measuring car - photos
    Mercedes-Benz road-rail Unimog - GIF
    1939 Mercedes-Benz T80 land speed record car - photos
    1966 Mercedes Unimog car hauler - photo and video
    Dropping a Mercedes-Benz SUV from a helicopter - GIF and video
    Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG fullsize pedal car - GIF
    Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van/bus - photos

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Jon For This Useful Post:

    nova_robotics (Jun 10, 2023)

  3. #2
    WmRMeyers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    883
    Thanks
    402
    Thanked 366 Times in 252 Posts

    WmRMeyers's Tools
    Not in any car I'll ever own.

    2000 Tool Plans

  4. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to WmRMeyers For This Useful Post:

    Frank S (Jun 10, 2023), Inner (Jun 10, 2023)

  5. #3
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2022
    Location
    Midwest US
    Posts
    247
    Thanks
    173
    Thanked 142 Times in 95 Posts

    ductape's Tools
    Mercedes is attempting to profit from the subscription thing and could do well with it. A significant number of their customers may be willing to make monthly payments for a one second increase in acceleration from 0-60/0-100 while spending most of their driving time sitting in traffic.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to ductape For This Useful Post:

    uv8452 (Dec 15, 2023)

  7. #4
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,120
    Thanks
    9,978
    Thanked 1,133 Times in 609 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    Lots of manufacturers are trying this nonsense. BMW and Mercedes are probably the worst offenders and can both **** right off. Capacitive screens for commonly needed features can **** right off too.

  8. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to nova_robotics For This Useful Post:

    bruce.desertrat (Jun 11, 2023), Frank S (Jun 10, 2023), uv8452 (Dec 15, 2023)

  9. #5
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,178
    Thanks
    1,974
    Thanked 8,766 Times in 4,195 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    If I had my way every vehicle that comes into my shop filled with plastic and unneeded gadgets would mysteriously catch fire I'd let my ins premiums go through the roof just to get the garbage off the highways Most vehicles that come into my shop are 10 years old or older and by that age all of the plastic and electronics have deteriorated. You can't remove anyhting and expect it to hold together long enough to re assemble all of the copper in the wiring will be burnt stiff, black and brittle. The connectors will crumble when touched and forget even trying to reinstall them. A simple 1 hour job may take all day because of having to replace miles of wire.
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to Frank S For This Useful Post:

    uv8452 (Dec 15, 2023)

  11. #6
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,120
    Thanks
    9,978
    Thanked 1,133 Times in 609 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank S View Post
    If I had my way every vehicle that comes into my shop filled with plastic and unneeded gadgets
    That's nothing. In car cheap doo-dads are one thing. Major engine components which used to be stamped steel or cast aluminum are now made of plastic. Duck your head under some of the newer cars in a parking lot. The number of OIL PANS which are made of plastic on modern cars, even very expensive modern cars, is astounding. Valve covers, weird plastic covers with face seals because they're under pressure with antifreeze, intake manifolds... these have been used for a long time. They're awful and always warp and fail, but they've been with us for 15 years. But oil pans?? That just blows my mind. Just imagine these cars sitting there cooking in rush hour traffic in 120 degree heat with the air conditioning on. Old cast aluminum oil pans had fins in them to keep the oil temp down. What do these new PLASTIC pans do to the oil temperature?

    Edit: Just had a thought. Maybe keeping the oil temp high was intentional to bump up the fuel economy numbers. Anybody have a new Toyota that takes 0W16 oil?

  12. #7
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,178
    Thanks
    1,974
    Thanked 8,766 Times in 4,195 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by nova_robotics View Post
    That's nothing. intake manifolds... these have been used for a long time. They're awful and always warp and fail, but they've been with us for 15 years. But oil pans?? That just blows my mind. Just imagine these cars sitting there cooking in rush hour traffic in 120 degree heat with the air conditioning on. Old cast aluminum oil pans had fins in them to keep the oil temp down. What do these new PLASTIC pans do to the oil temperature?

    Edit: Just had a thought. Maybe keeping the oil temp high was intentional to bump up the fuel economy numbers. Anybody have a new Toyota that takes 0W16 oil?
    In my opinion and most everyone else who lives out in the country. There are 3 very dangerous things installed on every pickup made in the past 20 to 30 odd years
    plastic headlights mounted in plastic grills wires that are at least 3 gages undersized and air bags.
    Air bags will go off for no reason when using the truck in the fields or on the ranches most guys demand the dealer remove the fuses before they will drive a new one off the lot Many of them now refuse to buy a new diesel pickup even though they need the extra torque to pull their stock trailers, because if any water gets in the fuel system it costs as much as $15,000 to get their truck running again.
    I have a 10 year old Bowtie in the shop right now that the head lights have been held on with zip ties for the past 7 years
    When it rains out here some of the county roads turn into mud bogs for a day or two the electrical connectors for the computer controlled transmissions are barely water tight when new but once the rats or mice dine on the soybean and peanut based insulation on the wires or leave their urine on the connectors the next time you have to drive through the mud your truck will go into limp mode if it doesn't fail completely.
    I have 2 guys who have told me it would almost be worth them buying a brand new truck then bringing it to me to armor it against plastic and faulty wiring I think I could give them a 70% plastic free truck for 150K per copy critical components only not any of the interior cabin stuff.
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

  13. #8
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,120
    Thanks
    9,978
    Thanked 1,133 Times in 609 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank S View Post
    When it rains out here some of the county roads turn into mud bogs for a day or two the electrical connectors for the computer controlled transmissions are barely water tight when new but once the rats or mice dine on the soybean and peanut based insulation on the wires or leave their urine on the connectors the next time you have to drive through the mud your truck will go into limp mode if it doesn't fail completely.
    Ugh. Don't even get me started on that. I just went through that transmission thing with my girlfriend's car. Gear selector sensor which measures the rotation of a shaft that goes into the side of the transmission case. Thing would crap out when it got wet, then the car would go into limp home mode. It would only drive around in "Sport" mode for a few weeks, then the sensor would die completely. Went through that least three times. Siliconed the crap out of it the last time and it's lasted about a year now, but still...

    Now my car won't start because the immobilizer got wet and locked out the ignition and starter. You can't bypass it because it controls EVERYTHING in the car (seriously, you can't even close the doors if the immobilizer is disconnected) and it has a pair of data wires to the ECU that can't be jumpered. That car has, get this, infrared motion sensors built into the ceiling from the factory to detect if there's movement in the car when the car is locked. Gonna be a nightmare.

  14. #9
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,178
    Thanks
    1,974
    Thanked 8,766 Times in 4,195 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by nova_robotics View Post
    Ugh. Don't even get me started on that. I just went through that transmission thing with my girlfriend's car. Gear selector sensor which measures the rotation of a shaft that goes into the side of the transmission case. Thing would crap out when it got wet, then the car would go into limp home mode. It would only drive around in "Sport" mode for a few weeks, then the sensor would die completely. Went through that least three times. Siliconed the crap out of it the last time and it's lasted about a year now, but still...

    Now my car won't start because the immobilizer got wet and locked out the ignition and starter. You can't bypass it because it controls EVERYTHING in the car (seriously, you can't even close the doors if the immobilizer is disconnected) and it has a pair of data wires to the ECU that can't be jumpered. That car has, get this, infrared motion sensors built into the ceiling from the factory to detect if there's movement in the car when the car is locked. Gonna be a nightmare.
    Remember the ill conceived cash for clunkers program. I told everyone the program would have been great if they had offered cash for the newer cars so you could buy an older more reliable one preferably pre OBDI
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

  15. #10
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,120
    Thanks
    9,978
    Thanked 1,133 Times in 609 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    Cash for Clunkers wiped out perfectly serviceable automobiles for every young person, student or low income family that needed a car to get to work. It was disastrous. The used car market still hasn't recovered. I've posted a bunch of Regular Car Reviews videos on here before. I'm a big fan of their channel. They did a really good video on the subject a few years ago.

    Last edited by nova_robotics; Jun 10, 2023 at 10:50 PM.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •