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Forget Netflix, Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription
(www.autoexpress.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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Enshittification
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What is enshittification?
The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source
The lifecycle of Big Internet
We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.
Embrace, extend and extinguish
We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.
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+1 to this. $5k is BS, Especially if we're talking USD, but this also sounds like classic VW making a simple repair a massive job, replacing unnecessary parts, charging exorbitant prices and throwing away perfectly good components that end up in landfill, and best part is in the end it probably wasn't even what they diagnosed to actually be the cause of the problem, dealerships love to fix symptoms, not causes. A good independent Euro specialist would have loved that job.
I had the VW dealer quote me $6,000 for a new turbo when the actually problem is probably a clogged catalytic converter.
Also they told me I put in the wrong turbo but it’s literally the same part number and manufacturer as the one I pulled out.
The price was $4-5,000 in Canadian dollars, so probably a bit over USD $3,000. And this came from my local mechanic, who sourced it from Volkswagen but also called around to scrapyards to see about just buying a sensor.
It's not like he had anything to gain. He actually recommended that we sell the car, and he knew that he would be losing business because my wife's new car is electric and he doesn't service those.
That makes a bit more sense, but buying direct from VW is where you spend all that money.
I got the same turbo from the same company that built my stock one for $900 Freedom Bucks. They’ve gone up in price a bit due to inflation and tariffs but are still a ton cheaper than “official” parts.
If you help me get Canadian asylum I’d be happy to swap it out for you.