Lol you can get an automatic start for cheaper.

majortom1981

What an excellent idea, next will be the A/c version, next it will standard on any new Cadillac.

Hexum

The rest of the world thinks American spend money on anything and everything. This is one of those products that makes them look like they could be right.

macmovieman

$1695 will buy you a LOT of scarves and gloves that do the same thing.

zarchitect

andysx: also the GSM part has been in the webasto catalog for quite some time... maybe they started offering it in the US in the western an eastern states... no doubt that the northern states and canada all got their fair share of this system;-)

the last car talk had a nice segment about block heaters and alaska: alaska has malls for block heater systems... and this system is a block heater an cabin heater all in one... but i think electricity must be very cheap in alaska... and it's much cleaner/efficent to have the work done by a central power plant than thousands of smal gasoline/diesel driven small engines...

smokeonit

Gotta agree with SMOKEONIT, my 1992 Nissan 200SX came with a cabin pre-heater fitted by nissan, I even have the old manual laying about somewhere.

The technology doesn't look to have moved on much, my old system (which I ripped out) primed itself from the fuel line, it needed to be used at least once a month to keep it working right (IIRC the manual stated this, risk of explosion or something).

Aside from the voice/remote/SMS activation I'm not sure whats new about this technology? Mine had a timer :)

AndySX

HEXUM: a/c's don't run on fuel like heaters, they need a running engine since they're belt driven or electricity as in hybrids that try to avoid wasting fuel running a/c's while idling... the toyota prius for example has a system that is electric driven... packing huge batteries on top of the batteries for the hybrid drive makes no sense... thus making it impractical to run a/c's before one gets to the car...

but there are remotely operated a/c's, but those start the main engine in order to run the a/c, thus wasting enormous amounts of gasoline/diesel...

heater systems are very fuel efficient since they burn fuel in their own little setup. they consume like 5% of what an idling motor would consume!

smokeonit

MACMOVIEMAN: webasto is a german company. and as i wrote before this product has been on the market for quite some time...

in fact, most new diesels have heater systems built in and an add on to activate them by remote or GSM cell technology is much cheaper to install than cars that have no heater system @ all... diesels need heaters since the diesel emits much less heat than gasoline driven motors thus making it impossible for modern diesels to heat the cabin fast on their own... webasto is one of the biggest manufacturers of heater systems and car roof systems for convertibles... all the new metal 2/3 piece roof systems are almost exclusively built by webasto or under license by webasto germany...

smokeonit

Does this mean my car now has its own cell phone account specifically for starting it in the cold? That sounds more wasteful than the product cost itself.

That being said- I want. My remote car starter sucks and I hate the cold.

homerjay

and this webasto heater system is not new! it's been around for years... in the EU @ least...

smokeonit

BTW, she loves it especially since it has been freezing here in MN. High today of 7. WOO HOO!

TerryinSt.Paul

@majortom1981: @homerjay:
I bought my wife her third remote starter for christmas (the other two cars have been sold so please don't ask how can a car have three starters). Installed and guaranteed for life from BB for $200. It has a 1250 foot range and I try to start it from as far away as I can. I can't even see the car at that distance.
I also can't see anyone spending $1700 on this either.

TerryinSt.Paul

@TerryinSt.Paul: yeah remote starters are a person's best friend in some climates, but I really like the idea of using a gas powered cabin heater, since it uses less fuel than idling car. Gas is also a nice alternative to electrical cabin heaters since you don't have to plug it in, though for me I usually already plug in the block heater and battery blanket, so what's one more cord...

Fierock

@homerjay: "Does this mean my car now has its own cell phone account specifically for starting it in the cold?"

Is that so hard to believe? The Kindle has a built-in cellphone account and it costs only $400 with no subscription fee.

Pender

@zarchitect: In that case I hope you don't waste money heating your home either, since you could just wear a scarf and gloves for less money.

I can totally imagine buying this if I lived in a cold area and didn't have a garage. Climbing into a really cold car and then sitting at three red lights before getting to a stretch of road that lets your engine warm up is a special kind of hell.

On the other hand, it's hard to see how it's really worth the money when compared to a remote starter. Sure, it's more gas-efficient, but you'd have to use it an awful lot before the gas savings totaled the difference in price, which is probably around $1500.

Pender

@Pender: Wait, so I haven't really been following the Kindle. It uses the cell connection regularly and there's no subscription? How does the carrier make any money?

homerjay

i think webasto has a deal with a GSM a provider in the country it sells the unit...

smokeonit

@homerjay: Well, you can browse the online store and buy (and download) e-books and other digital assets via the built-in "whispernet" cell phone connection, so yes.

How do they make money? Well the thing costs $400. If you assume $200 is in hardware and $100 in profit margin and/or covering R&D expenses, that leaves $100 to cover the cell phone connection in perpetuity. That comes to somewhere around $10 per year from Amazon to the carrier, which doesn't seem that unrealistic for a device that demands only a few KB per month and won't compete with the cell phone carriers' primary product, which is voice and data.

Short answer: custom contracts with the carriers.

Pender

maybe some of you don't understand the effect this will have on emissions if this was implemented into all cars.

cold starts produce the biggest amounts of hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide

nevergod