What New Car Feature Would You Pay to Have Removed?

Photo: BMW

BMW has taken on a lot of criticism as of late for doubling down on the decision to put certain features of its new cars under a subscription model. Some of the newest cars to wear the blue-and-white roundel will come with equipment that owners will have to pay additional fees to use. And yet it could be the other way around, and BMW should pay prospective buyers — via rebates or discounts — to go without features that some folks will never use. Or to take it further, there are features some of us hate so much, we would actually pay BMW or your carmaker of choice to get rid of these features — since automakers are keen on charging buyers after the fact. What are these features?

What new piece of equipment or car feature would you gladly pay to have removed?

Historically, sunroofs and moonroofs have always been one of the things enthusiasts would rather not have. The so-called sunroof delete is sought after for the weight savings, and maybe to avoid the frustration later in a car’s life of brittle plastics. In a way, removing the now-standard automatic transmission of a new car could also count. There are probably more than a few drivers who’d pay for the removal of the the auto in any car, and “regress” back to a stick-shift.

But these features don’t have to be about performance. They can be about anything in a new model. Maybe you can’t stand Apple CarPlay because you still rock a Nexus 4 or a Nokia N9. Good for you. Or you don’t need Android Auto because you are firmly behind Apple’s walled-garden? Gut the infotainment. I’ll pay for less clutter, less screens.

Maybe you don’t need more than one infotainment screen, or you’d rather not listen to a car’s faux exhaust through your speakers. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s something you dislike so much, you’d be happy to play along with this new silly trend towards subscription, which I’m afraid may not be a trend but a lasting business model in the eyes of the industry. At the very least, if they’re gonna charge us for things we don’t want, maybe they can also charge us to get rid of the things we really hate.