Disclaimer - I've been in the automotive industry since 2008, have built platform technology for car makers, and dealerships, and currently own several BMWs. Here is my opinion on all this, and I have already replied on several other forums on it as well. When you buy a vehicle, you buy what's listed on your Monroney sticker for that vehicle. Period. That's it. You pay for every feature, accessory, and function listed. If it isn't listed, you didn't pay for it. Period. Your argument is that if BMW spent the EXTRA costs to install a dozen different features, then you should be entitled to all of them -- at no extra cost, just because they are already built in. For example, my BMW 530i M Sport did not have XM activated in it. Later, I find when I travel my Pandora goes in and out due to telco connectivity, so went back to the dealer to activate XM. Because BMW did not sell it to me with the service activated, they had to reload an updated the software OS in my car, and then activate it. Their cost to me: $285. Then I pay for my annual subscription to XM. BMW has a LOT of extras built into all their vehicles. Right or wrong, it's one of the numerous reasons they are the quality they are, and priced higher than most other vehicles. One final example is their engine block and performance capacity is 100% but engineered to use only about 80% on each model sold. This is why you can remove limiters and tune chips to push their performance and capacity another 15-20% (without material component changes at all). Normal vehicles are engineered and built to do what they are sold for. You want to upgrade performance, go to a pro shop and or yourself, and start changing out parts. BMW gives you a "greater than you pay for" exchange on every vehicle. So, now someone got smart at BMW. They are saying "hey, we just realized, we have been giving all this stuff away for some time now, why don't we start charging for it." Let's say you buy a trim level in Florida without heated seats as who in God's name needs that here. But winter gets freezing ass cold one year, and your wife is harping on you for being a penny-pincher and buying a lower trim without that feature (and more). But what if I could tell her "hey babe, check it out, we now have heated seats" and she goes "whuuuut?" and for a few extra bucks for 3 months during the colder season I turn them on. Her butt is happy, and so am I. Then I do turn off after that. That's what this is "intended" to solve. If my salesperson told me when I buy a BMW that "your choice to take the higher trim model that is $5,000 more isn't really necessary to just get those heated seats Sir - you can just turn them on for a few months when cold" would be great. Would save me a lot of cash, and give me power of choice as a consumer. This is how this is all supposed to work. I think it's smart. You get what you pay for, and if you have the ability to get more, then you should pay for it -- without having to trade in the vehicle and get a higher trim level that includes whatever it is you're after. Maybe how they are marketing and selling this sucks, but the economics make sense, and I see no reason why you would be entitled to get anything for free on a vehicle. You get what you pay for, and if it's on the sticker, it's yours.