My work fleet Volvo V90 hybrid also has it, the remote start is useful, also alerts when left unlocked etc, the Volvo app is much improved with lots of useful functionality / info.
this is not a mazda thing its got to the stage even if you want a car you cannot refuse the tracking collection of the data that is being used against customers of these vehiclesIts a e-sim provided by mazda, but I dont expect its going to be around forever for free. See :
Mazda Connected Services Discontinued: What It Means for Owners - Cherish Your Car
Mazda’s Connected Services have given owners remote access to their vehicles, offering features like remote start, lock/unlock, and vehicle status updates through a smartphone app. However, some owners have found that these features are no longer working, with Mazda discontinuing certain...www.cherishyourcar.com
The wife's Seat MII has almost the same deal, you pay for a dongle that gives you access when its new, and buried in the small print is the fact it comes with x years subscription as part of that, but they reserve the right to shut it down in future when it suits them and all the data goes through them that they can sell onto a data broker.
Yes you can, you dont get telemetrics on the SEAT unless you explicitly sign up for the extra telemetrics package and insert the hardware dongle in a plug that enables it, I remember going through this at the dealership when we picked it up new. You can have it without and use it normally as a non connected car if you so wish. Or unplug the dongle and it stops sending data immediately till you plug it back in. Its just that its so damn handy to have that my wife is happy to make the trade off in privacy for its functionality.
Ive got one of them for the forklift as the remote control for when I'm home alone and want to use the personel basket to reach something.That's what the bit of string is for...
