It might not be quite as bad as it sounds. The only features you’ll never have access to in the basic tier (Standard Connectivity) are satellite maps and live traffic visualizations. Media streaming, web browsing and Caraoke are still available — you’ll just need to be connected to WiFi to use them. You This suggests that you could reclaim most of the functionality by using your phone’s data, although the typical caps on hotspot usage make it unlikely that you’ll rely on your phone get through a Grand Tour episode.

We’ve asked Tesla if it can comment.

You could see this coming. Tesla sent word of the tier changes in June of last year, and it started displaying its own data caps in September. The company is clearly concerned about mounting data costs, and it wants drivers to shoulder some of that burden. This isn’t a horrendous burden for many of Tesla’s customers. If you bought a luxury EV, you can probably spare $120 per year to have music and satellite data during your commute. Still, this could be rough for some buyers. No-charge access to data features has been a mainstay of Tesla for years, and now customers will have to accept that some perks will sit behind a paywall.

This unsurprisingly doesn’t include the WiFi hotspot service, since that requires an LTE connection (AT&T in the US). All the same, Ford is eager to rub this in the nose of competitors. GM’s OnStar can cost up to $15 per month, and your trial only lasts three months. Toyota charges $8 per month with a similar trial period. While free FordPass service isn’t a huge savings in the context of the car, it could add up if you intend to keep a car for several years or more.

A move like this is likely easy to justify. What Ford loses in subscription revenue it might gain by spurring more customers to buy higher trim levels with FordPass Connect. There’s also the simple matter of matching drivers’ evolving expectations. When it’s increasingly common to manage your car through a phone app, charging extra for the functionality may seem arbitrary.

Not all is rosy for Toyota’s technological plans, though. The company has tucked in word that it will “pause” its plans to install Dedicated Short-Range Communications tech in its US vehicles starting in 2021. It wants “greater automotive industry commitment” for the connected car system, but it also expects government support to preserve the needed 5.9GHz frequencies. Don’t expect Toyotas to talk to each other for a while, then.