Subaru radio hate thread

[Perihelion]

I understand this, but my solution (may not be for everyone) in these cases is to navigate thru my library on my phone. Google Play FTW

[blitzpa9]

I am always comparing the BRZ cabin to my wife's 2014 Forester. I only really care about a usb charger and aux cable. The BRZ Limited had way beyond my basic requirements since I use my phone for navigation and audio playback. Bluetooth connects automatically 90% of the time. Sometimes I have to switch to FM then back to BT to get it out of a weird state but I am happy with how it syncs with my phone.

Like everyone else I'm annoyed with the touchscreen design and responsiveness. The audio menu could easily be improved with a software or firmware update I imagine. As minor as it may be I use the next track action all the time when I'm on a radio app or shuffled playlist and the Forester controls are 10x better. You have the steering wheel toggle and a giant physical button. It's way easier to focus on the road operating the Forester. In the BRZ I have to plant my thumb or palm in a way to support my finger so I can accurately hit the small target area on the screen. It takes ~3s of attention compared to .1s to click the toggle in the Forester. For now I've been using the buttons on the phone since it's easier to do without looking. I think if they could just draw the buttons larger on the Audio touchscreen menu it would resolve my biggest issues with the device.

I think the voice commands are underrated. They do allow you to do things that would take many steps on the touchscreen. I always have good luck with Siri and voice commands though. Saying Handsfree, Call <contact> <number> works when I need to make a handsfree call. I also like that you can change audio source and do things with navigation via voice. I need to explore it a little more but the voice recognition is much better than the Forester in my experience.

I don't love the stock unit but I definitely don't hate it. If I wanted something with every little cabin comfort I would've bought a luxury car or SUV.

[daily driven brz]

No one has mentioned the usb music player also sucks.

I got a low profile usb drive and put 2 folders and about 200 tracks in each folder. I set it to random folder but every time the car starts it will resume where I left off but the next song ALWAYS goes to the first file in the folder. And despite having a couple hundred tracks it always seems to prefer the top 20 tracks.

[Chee-Hu]

I never really thought about the stock radio that much. I guess having subscribed to satellite radio makes you not want to touch it besides the volume control. I don't recline all the way back when driving, so reaching for the knob isn't an issue. All in all I thought it's a decent HU. Then again, I'm not really into having a good sound system as long as it works LOL!

[sdemo]

^ I'm not sure what you listen to on SiriusXM, but I haven't found a single [music] channel worth listening to.

The ONLY way I listen to music in my car is Pandora One streaming via Bluetooth. Radio sucks (PHX channel options), Sat sucks, iPod/USB is SLOW, and CD... who the hell has CDs?

[WolfpackS2k]

Originally Posted by Perihelion

I understand this, but my solution (may not be for everyone) in these cases is to navigate thru my library on my phone. Google Play FTW

Well naturally I can do that on my phone. But I'm talking about my iPod (I think I specifically said that). When it is connected to the car via the USB cable you cannot navigate it with the hand wheel. So no, your comment does not apply; you can only use the stereo.

[Shizuma]

Yeah, the radio is awful, honestly it's the worst car radio I have ever used, honestly I have a hard time even coming up with a single positive thing about the radio, maybe that it has a physical volume knob? Really that's about it, it pretty much universally sucks on all levels, the blue tooth is crap, volume is pitiful, navigation awful, hand free voice control is worthless, crappy ass touch screen, no physical buttons for the things I would actually want physical buttons for......

[Perihelion]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Well naturally I can do that on my phone. But I'm talking about my iPod (I think I specifically said that). When it is connected to the car via the USB cable you cannot navigate it with the hand wheel. So no, your comment does not apply; you can only use the stereo.

I think your problem is that you use Apple products

Also, you're not the only person on the thread, so no I was not talking directly to you.

[ihaskrayon]

I like listening to the radio every so often, but I hate that it keeps switching between HD and standard. It gets annoying when the quality cuts between a song I like

[sdemo]

Originally Posted by ihaskrayon

I like listening to the radio every so often, but I hate that it keeps switching between HD and standard. It gets annoying when the quality cuts between a song I like

This is a problem inherent to HD radio and not necessarily our HU. My previous Kenwood HU would do the same thing. Was doubly as annoying when the Standard / HD stations weren't synced up, so the song would skip back / forth ~20s at a time.

[PMok]

Originally Posted by BigFatFlip

Yes, so if I don't feel dumb enough tapping at my screen over and over, I can yell at it over and over instead...

LOL how many times has this happened to you?

BRZ Navi: Voice command please.
You: (whatever command you want)
BRZ Navi: Please repeat.
You: (whatever command you want, but louder)
BRZ Navi: Please repeat.
You: (whatever command you want, but slower)
BRZ Navi: Please repeat.
You: (whatever command you want, louder and slower)
BRZ Navi: Please repeat.
You: (whatever command you want, shouting now)
BRZ Navi: Please repeat.
You: CANCEL!
BRZ Navi: Cancelled.

Originally Posted by thill

It wasn't a cost thing. They wanted a true sports car feel and that means no buttons all over the wheel. I get the reasoning. But they should have added more buttons on the head unit, or much larger icons that are responsive, to compensate.


I don't think the radio is a huge gripe, but it could be better.

F1 steering wheels have tons of buttons all over it and the drivers seem to have no problem focusing on driving and still using them. But I agree bigger icons or more real buttons to compensate for the fact that it's impossible to press those tiny touchscreen selections when you're bouncing all over the place.

[jduffy]

2 funny. I love the radio. I paid for the sat. People comment all the time how great it sounds. I guess if you can't figure it out, it sounds bad.

[tomkozski]

Originally Posted by nalc

Will the GPS still have traffic once I let the Satellite radio subscription (3 months free or whatever) expire?

Per the owner's manual for the nav system, real time traffic data is derived from the FM radio, using RDS. Owner's manual calls it the Traffic Message Channel (TMC). So even without a XM subscription, traffic should still continue to work.

[Be-Are-Zee]

Originally Posted by jduffy

2 funny. I love the radio. I paid for the sat. People comment all the time how great it sounds. I guess if you can't figure it out, it sounds bad.

Not to be rude but what people? Deaf people? People who like books on tape?...because music sounds terrible...no matter what settings you use.