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I absolutely cannot stand Subaru's infotainment system. It's actually the primary reason I'll never get another one.
I'm still driving a 2016 Mazda, so sorry if this is a dumb question, but with these new cars are the infotainment systems integral with the car's functioning?
I've always thought of the head units as replaceable but seems like they are more integrated nowadays. Especially with EVs
Pretty much yeah since rearview cameras are a legal requirement now
Most vehicles will have these kind of screens
I'd be curious about what kinds of modifications people have been able to do with these. I imagine most people would want to avoid bricking their $50k car by pulling apart their dashboard and fucking with the internals, but someone somewhere has had to have been unhappy enough with the hardware/software on these things to make an attempt at switching it out, even if in part.
Owning something that expensive and not being able to modify it to the way I like (and cutting out the manufacturer from data harvesting/control over the system) is a personal kind of hell.
Ugh I hate rearview cameras. They're nice for people who can't turn due to limited mobility but I prefer to be facing the direction I'm going and do the "turn and put hand on the other head rest" move. It would be fine, but some car manufacturers have decided rear sightlines don't matter at all now "because you have the camera" so they take that option from me and make reversing more dangerous.
I've got a 2013 Mazda 3 and it was very easy to replace the radio, but my understanding is that way more stuff goes through it in modern cars, especially if they have touchscreen controls for some things.
Looking for a new car and have been looking at Subaru. So I'm genuinely interested in what specific thing bother you about the infotainment system.
Got a 2023 Outback in February. The processing power is nowhere near what it needs to run smoothly. Once the car is started it is best to just not touch any buttons for the first several seconds to let it catch up. It is like dropping back two phone generators and watching it struggle to keep up with a newer OS. The transmission must run off a processor two generations further back because the time difference between my big ape foot stomping on the loud pedal and anything meaningful happening is measured in countable seconds.
The transmission must run off a processor two generations further back because the time difference between my big ape foot stomping on the loud pedal and anything meaningful happening is measured in countable seconds.
Does your Subaru have a CVT? It's a belt drive transmission and when I had an (older) Subaru it was one of the first CVT units, and felt a bit laggy when you asked it to do anything with alacrity.
Yep, my first. I was expecting the lag of the CVT and can feel it engage. There is a noticeable lag between the pedal being moved to one spot and the CVT beginning to work. So it is GoFaster = (TransmissioncComputeTime + CVTEngage) when each is about one full second. Two seconds sounds and feels unsafe when coming from a 2004 WRX.
Oh, and if you change your mind and move your foot during the two seconds, the timer resets.
My Buick had the same delay with the transmission. It took a lot of getting used to, and was one reason I went with a high performance car afterwards. I'm super happy with her Kia K5 now.
They are notoriously bad. And they don't get fixed. Got my Subaru and
- The radio defaults to SiriusXM every time I turn on the car, even though I do not pay for it and do not want to.
- Android Auto and Apple Car Play would cut out regularly
- Eventually the entire system would just randomly crash and reboot frequently throughout a trip.
- Found out there was a TSB out on the radio for frequent issues, and had to get it warrantied.
- Even with the new radio, I have occasional issues with Apple Car Play freezing
- I can't have both an android and iPhone connected at the same time, because I won't be able to use Android Auto, I'm forced into Car Play
And on the new cars Subaru made the screen narrow and tall. This effectively reduced the amount of screen space for Android Auto/car play in comparison with prior years.
Add to that the entire display is now needed for HVAC, heated seats, etc and do you really want to depend on a glitchy computer that frequently crashes?
- I can't have both an android and iPhone connected at the same time, because I won't be able to use Android Auto, I'm forced into Car Play
Just got a new work truck, a Ford, with android auto and car play. This morning was the first time I plugged an iPhone and android in at the same time. I had plugged in the android first and a quick look I wasn't able to switch to the iPhone without unplugging the android. I never plugged the android back in so idk if it prefers one over the other or just whatever is plugged in first. Could that be the same issue?
My mom's Highlander does the same thing so I think this is just a thing.
Others have already responded to you with many of the same complaints I was going to bring up so I'll just highlight a few things:
- First off, I have a 2019 Subaru Impreza so not the latest generation
- There used to be this issue where, upon turning the car on, you couldn't interact with the infotainment system for a good 10 seconds which includes volume adjustments. Let's say you had the volume set to 20 (max 35) when you last drove, well it's going to be blaring as soon as you start up the car again, but you won't be able to do anything about it for a good 10 seconds. Luckily this issue has gotten better (I believe with a firmware update from the dealership after I complained), but it's still not fixed completely.
- Recently I took my car in for work and they needed to keep it overnight, so they let me borrow a brand new 2024 Outback Touring. This was great cause I got to test a brand new car "for free," and what I learned is that they now put all HVAC stuff (seat warming, climate control, etc.) on this screen that has poor touch sensitivity. It's obnoxious. Also the system itself is only marginally better than my 5 year old car, which is to say it's still incredibly clunky and slow. They've made improvements, no doubt, but it's built from the same trash.