[hoffspot]

I've been a Toyota Tacoma guy for the last 22 years (and counting). Three Tacomas and I have a son that we're deciding on a vehicle for in the coming year. This is how you take someone with massive brand affinity, someone who would even likely pass that brand affinity to the next generation, and push them to look at other options. Charging monthly for a service that isn't cloud enabled? If this is true, Toyota, you are literally dead to me.

[lotsofpulp]

FYI, remote start is a pretty easy aftermarket add on, especially for Toyotas.

[cced]

I think OP, much like myself, is one for principles.

To me this says “we’re looking for additional revenue streams and have found a way to lock previously available functionality behind some XaaS where X is artificially paywalled”.

If this is the path they are going down then there’s no reason to suspect they will stop with that.

Sure, there are aftermarket options, but the issue (that I have, at least) is that the taste is now sour.

I was looking at a hybrid Rav4, but this makes me look elsewhere.

Imagine your garage door opener operating on this model: you have 5 free uses remaining this month, want some light? Simple IAP. What recurring value is Toyota providing by charging you per month for a fob to car signal transmission?

[lotsofpulp]

Absolutely none, but car makers have been ripping off people on navigation systems and other add ons for a very long time.

I do not mind taking a philosophical stand, but in this case, my preference would be to still go for Toyota due to their reliability and modifiability, and not get any fancy add on like remote start.

[throwthere]

Well this and the 2022 dropping the v8 for an unproven v6 twin turbo.