There's a new software update for the infotainment unit that is supposed to reduce the lag time and improve CarPlay

 

going to have to look for that, thanks!

 

I haven't gotten around to it yet. Update 980

 

dumb question as I en an update when i got home, how do I update for 980?

 

We just bought a brand new '24 Limited 6 weeks ago. We've been driving a 2015 Premium now for 9 years.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the infotainment system. I don't really have any. I'm not that particular though. I'll start the car and before I start pushing buttons I give it a minute to warm up so to speak. Let the whole thing get its bearings. Android auto has been working flawlessly.

One thing I noticed right away though is how easily the new Outback turns. Requires very little input to the steering wheel, could almost turn with one finger. Our 2015 requires much more driver input to make a turn. That might have something to do with the AT tires on the older car.

All in all we love it. It's all the extra fluff and electronics that I'm not too crazy about, but that goes with most new cars nowadays. I will say when it comes to new fluff that I am digging the adaptive cruise control and the memory seat functions (yeah, I know that's not all that new). Our older car doesn't have that and I can't imagine buying a new car going forward that doesn't have those options. Use them everyday and love it.


We purposely bought a Limited without the optional package that has the moon roof and the the eye detection nanny system thing so I was very happy to find it was part of a package I could decline. That is just stuff I have no use for and wouldn't want them included if they were free. (I live in Phoenix and both cars I've had with a sunroof over the years have eventually dry rotted the seals and leaked water or quit functioning and cost a fortune to fix). When I bought my Honda Accord in 2016 new, I chose the sport model over the more common LX simply because it didn't have a moonroof. Plus it looked much better with the (useless) dual exhaust and sexy 19-in wheels/55 series tires, lol.

At its core , the OB is a fantastic utilitarian vehicle. Positioned somewhere between a car and a truck. Unfortunately it has fallen prey to the gadgetry of today. Not unlike most cars.

 

Very spot on comments. I like alot of the features too, memory seat, auto dimming mirrors. Here in Colorado on the Western slope I have to "dress" all of the door and sunroof seals due to summer heat and winter cold.
thanks for your input!

 

My 2020 Touring XT does not have that lag in the infotainment screen. My parents made a point to me when I bought it from them in March about it having gotten "every update" at the dealer. I would think a 2024 wouldn't need an update, but sounds like yours does. My screen is up and running when I back out of the garage, put it in "D" and the rear camera view stops.

 

The infotainment is not one of Subaru's strong suits, honestly a weak area for pretty much every car manufacturer. That being said, there are ways to adapt to the system and lower the frustration level. Believe me, I've been there before.

I currently have a dashcam installed on my car, and it's set to start up 5 seconds after the ignition is on. Once the dashcam starts, the infotainment should just about clear the legal message and put me on the main screen. Once I see the main screen I usually wait another 5-10 seconds before plugging in my phone and perform any functions I need eg. adjust climate control, adjust media options, etc. While I'm performing these functions I'm not doing them as fast as I can like I would on a phone, I'm deliberately slowing down my inputs to give time for the infotainment to process my requests. If you try to send too many commands at once, not only will it not perform them correctly, it will likely crash the system forcing you to reboot it and waiting even longer to process the command you wanted. And yes, it has happened to me before. Feels weird that slowing down will save you time but that's what I've noticed when dealing with infotainment systems in general.

I know it's difficult to know what is considered "normal" when all you have are first impressions, but there are a couple things you can try to rule out a defective infotainment system.
1. There is a system update for the infotainment released not too long ago. You can either get it updated at the dealer(under warranty) or update it yourself (if you're comfortable), there's a thread here with the files required and instructions.
2. Consider performing a factory reset. Settings -> General -> Factory Data Reset. Note this will wipe out any radio/sat favorites, profile settings, phone pairings, seat/mirror settings, etc. Sometimes the system might have some corrupt data slowing it down, performing a factory reset can clear it out and start with a fresh system.

As for the OEM tires, I threw those out very early. I suspect my tires were just defective from the start as it kept pulling the car slightly to the right while driving on highways. I swapped them for Nokian WRG4, which not only solved the pulling issue, the noise level dropped dramatically.

Since you're in Colorado, the WRG4 might not be the best choice as it's just an all weather tire and not a fully dedicated winter tire. For dedicated winters, I believe some on the forum were using Bridgestone Blizzak, Nokian Hakkapelitta to name a couple and by no means the only ones. Honestly you can't go wrong with top brand winter tires. Just be sure to pick one that suits the driving conditions you will be in your area. All these top brands tend to focus on a particular area as there's no such thing as a perfect tire, just a tire that works best in a particular condition.

 

The infotainment is not one of Subaru's strong suits, honestly a weak area for pretty much every car manufacturer. That being said, there are ways to adapt to the system and lower the frustration level. Believe me, I've been there before.

I currently have a dashcam installed on my car, and it's set to start up 5 seconds after the ignition is on. Once the dashcam starts, the infotainment should just about clear the legal message and put me on the main screen. Once I see the main screen I usually wait another 5-10 seconds before plugging in my phone and perform any functions I need eg. adjust climate control, adjust media options, etc. While I'm performing these functions I'm not doing them as fast as I can like I would on a phone, I'm deliberately slowing down my inputs to give time for the infotainment to process my requests. If you try to send too many commands at once, not only will it not perform them correctly, it will likely crash the system forcing you to reboot it and waiting even longer to process the command you wanted. And yes, it has happened to me before. Feels weird that slowing down will save you time but that's what I've noticed when dealing with infotainment systems in general.

I know it's difficult to know what is considered "normal" when all you have are first impressions, but there are a couple things you can try to rule out a defective infotainment system.
1. There is a system update for the infotainment released not too long ago. You can either get it updated at the dealer(under warranty) or update it yourself (if you're comfortable), there's a thread here with the files required and instructions.
2. Consider performing a factory reset. Settings -> General -> Factory Data Reset. Note this will wipe out any radio/sat favorites, profile settings, phone pairings, seat/mirror settings, etc. Sometimes the system might have some corrupt data slowing it down, performing a factory reset can clear it out and start with a fresh system.

As for the OEM tires, I threw those out very early. I suspect my tires were just defective from the start as it kept pulling the car slightly to the right while driving on highways. I swapped them for Nokian WRG4, which not only solved the pulling issue, the noise level dropped dramatically.

Since you're in Colorado, the WRG4 might not be the best choice as it's just an all weather tire and not a fully dedicated winter tire. For dedicated winters, I believe some on the forum were using Bridgestone Blizzak, Nokian Hakkapelitta to name a couple and by no means the only ones. Honestly you can't go wrong with top brand winter tires. Just be sure to pick one that suits the driving conditions you will be in your area. All these top brands tend to focus on a particular area as there's no such thing as a perfect tire, just a tire that works best in a particular condition.

Many thanks for your comments. On the OEM tires, hell no in snow ice, (state patrol trained government driver here in hazardous conditions) where we live here on the western slope, 15 min west of Glenwood springs and 45 from Aspen we get all types of winter weather. We can have heavy snow at our house, drive down the hill and it will be ice and snow,then get on I-70 and its a mix in the canyon. So we run snow tires from October to about April.

Many Thanks!

 

Let's not forget steering responsive headlights. That's pretty damn cool. Hope they still work 9 years from now and don't get stuck in the full left or right position lol.

 

The infotainment system was very responsive with my '23 Onyx XT and the lag become more and more obvious after SW update. Many times I was already driving, with 30 seconds warm up, and it still didn't respond to my touch for disabling the SS.

 

I put Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires on my 14 Subie Impreza and my 21 Honda Ridgeline pickup. Absolutely love them, much quieter than stock tires, unbelievable in wet weather (like it's not even wet), steering is much more positive (feels like a much more responsive car) and is 3 peak rated for some moderate snow use. I will put them on my 24 Outback when the time comes. 30,000 miles on my Impreza and they look almost brand new. I think they may cost me about 1 mpg but the wet weather confidence is sooo worth it. It did well in our minor snow events (Alabama after all) with good cornering, accelerating and stopping.

 

dumb question as I en an update when i got home, how do I update for 980?

Take a look here:

New software update came out today

Hope this works - looks odd before posting it though.