If you’re someone who wants something that's just easy to use without frills, Subaru's infotainment system will appeal to you. That said, it is smoother and quicker to respond than Subaru's smaller screens. Subaru requires you to make a couple screen taps to turn those on, and the screen's slow response frustrates at times. One thing lost with this screen are physical switches/controls for the heated/cooled seats. It's not as useful (particularly the audio controls when it's delegated to the bottom screen) as Ram's more content-heavy 12-inch screen, but Subaru does take advantage of the extra real estate.
You can run two apps at once, essentially allowing you to put AppleCarPlay or Android Auto in the top spot and a native Starlink app in the other. It dominates the dash, and the top screen is deleted. The 11.6-inch vertical screen found in most versions of the Legacy and Outback is different in a few ways (base trims get a pair of 7.0-inch displays stacked on top of each other that don't look anywhere nearly as elegant). It takes forever, but Subaru fixed this in the Legacy and Outback by allowing you to use the massive touchscreen to configure it.
The worst part about it in the Forester is that you have to set up the Driver Monitoring System up there. It doesn’t add much to the experience, but it doesn’t hurt it either. You can get useful off-road information, media descriptions and driver assistance systems status on the screen. Toggling through modes with the color screen is done via the “INFO” button on the steering wheel, which just isn’t very intuitive considering the screen’s location in the center by the windshield. If you get a Subaru without it, a more basic readout is placed in the same spot that displays a clock, climate info and trip information. For example, only the top trim Crosstrek and Impreza get this color screen, while all but the lower Forester and Ascent trims have it. Subaru puts this second screen in a number of models ( Impreza, WRX, Crosstrek, Forester and Ascent), but it depends on the trim you select. Now, back to the second screen we mentioned earlier. You can keep your hands warm and switch the radio station at the same time, which is always a nice convenience. The best part of the screen is its ability to take presses and swipes made with winter gloves. It’s nowhere near smartphone standards, but then again, many infotainment systems haven’t caught up to those speeds yet. On others, you really need to put some pressure behind your touch. On some occasions, a light touch or swipe will do. Even the smartphone connection experience is affected by the screen’s lack of response. Swiping across screens and scrolling through menus is always accompanied by a touch of lag. You’ll get to where you want to go, but it takes a beat longer than most.
Our biggest gripe about the screen is its general sluggishness. Subaru is still using wired CarPlay and Android Auto, as most non-luxury brands do, so you’ll need to bring a plug along to connect. Features like navigation, in-car WiFi, basic voice commands, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are all accounted for.
It doesn’t come off as especially professional or classy, but it gets the job done and makes picking them apart from each other easy. Subaru uses a bright variation of colors for its various app tiles. The lack of apps and extra gizmos means there isn’t much to customize, though. The Impreza, Crosstrek and Ascent offer up a similar experience as this Forester does.Īll your essential app tiles like Radio, Map and Settings can be found in the customizable home screen.
We’ll note that both the Subaru Outback and Legacy have newer, larger screens available that we'll also go over later in this review.
You couldn’t ask for a more basic layout and software experience on this screen, and while that’s not the case for the upper second screen, most of your core vehicle functions are handled on the lower one. The best aspect of the 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system in our Forester is its simplicity. Subaru isn’t top of mind when we start talking about the best infotainment systems, and after using the Starlink system in our long-term 2019 Subaru Forester for months, we still think Subaru is mid-pack.