Apple/Google Pay FTW.
Valid concerns OP. Answering your question.. not really, no.
The car is a breeze to work on. Parts are a little pricy I guess, but you should very rarely need them. Aside from me breaking things at the drag strip or whatever. Car has been reliable even as I push power...
So, sorta. The problem comes from reading the encrypted data. The ecu you clone to doesn't even have to go to Russia, only the source ECU. Femto are the only ones that can read the data from the encrypted memory area on the ECU. Once they read it, they can send the file back to who ever is...
Lots of people seem unaware on how important this is. https://rbttuning.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RBTTUNING/pages/12058758/8-Speed+ZF+-+Custom+Options#Shiftmap-Editor:-Setup-hints
If you don't drag race, maybe not that important to you.. but high quality shift maps and launch/two-step is real...
The factory TCM has maps just like the factory ECU does. This is a big deal.
You know how shifts feel different in sport vs normal? This lets us have complete control, I'm sure there will be experiments with two-step/launch control as well.
Everything is a knock-off, everything sucks, life is a hilarious joke, we all become worm food eventually. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Where'd you get the idea I have a degree in engineering?
LOL. My aim has always been shit.
Magna Steyr also manufactures the Z4, so they're both knock-offs, in the same vein that Foxconn manufactures the iPhone (well, Foxconn and others).