• BMW now offers adaptive suspension for 25 Euros or about $27.50 per month.
  • The automaker does offer a lifetime price of just 460 euros or about $505.
  • A spokesperson said it’s not a subscription service, and owners can test it for free for a month.

BMW seemingly isn’t giving up on subscription services despite the bad press in the past. Even though it won’t call it that, it’s basically admitted to selling cars fitted with the adaptive M suspension hardware but keeping it software-locked until the owner pays a fee to use it.

Back in August of 2022, BMW believed that customers would simply get used to the idea of subscription-based features. A year later it walked back a plan to make heated seats a subscription-based service due to the intense backlash. Now, a keen-eyed Redditor spotted this new one related to adaptive suspension.

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On the r/Cars page, they show a Slovakian ad for Adaptive M Suspension starting at 25 euros per month. Buyers can pay 460 euros to keep it forever. What’s going on here? BMW models that have the adaptive M suspension as an optional feature actually come with it no matter what. It’s just not enabled.

BMW Charges Monthly Fee For Pre-Installed Adaptive Suspension – But Don’t Call It A Subscription

Speaking to Motor1, a BMW spokesperson said: “Adaptive Suspension is available through the Connected Drive store in the US, but a subscription isn’t ‘required.’ It’s still available as a factory option, but through the store, it can be added to certain cars that weren’t optioned that way originally. Customers can try it out for a month at no charge, and if they like it they can opt for a monthly or yearly subscription if they wish or simply buy it outright for a one-time $500 charge.

“To be clear, a monthly subscription isn’t ‘required to use the feature.”

This means that owners of certain BMW models have the M Adaptive suspension fitted to their cars even if they didn’t check the box at the time of purchase. Could that same car have cost less had BMW not installed this expensive system? Maybe. Then again, they at least have the option of testing it for free for a month before opting to sign up or buy it outright, which we guess for some customers may turn out to be a good thing.