Mildly Infuriating

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.

They are notoriously bad. And they don't get fixed. Got my Subaru and

1. 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.
2. Android Auto and Apple Car Play would cut out regularly
3. Eventually the entire system would just randomly crash and reboot frequently throughout a trip.
4. Found out there was a TSB out on the radio for frequent issues, and had to get it warrantied.
5. Even with the new radio, I have occasional issues with Apple Car Play freezing
6. 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?

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.

Pretty much yeah since rearview cameras are a legal requirement now

Most vehicles will have these kind of screens

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.