Another anecdote, but this is exactly how I chose my last car. I went to CarMax, filtered by CarPlay integration, and then chose from what was available. In fact, the lack of CarPlay integration is one of the main reasons I didn't consider a Tesla at the time.

From basic things like a snappy interface and keeping my podcasts in sync, to suggesting the destination based on the recent maps search I did from my phone on the way to the car, the attention to detail makes it a better experience. I don't particularly get any joy out of driving. I just want to get to my destination safely and quickly, and CarPlay makes the process less taxing.

Cabin usability and ergonomics are a huge selling point. CarPlay & HUDs are just one piece of that, but it a critical piece of the overall usability experience.

Getting into a car that has a pre-CarPlay infotainment system feels like stepping back decades in time even though the car may only be a few years old. Slow, unresponsive, buggy, and just extremely unpleasant and unnatural to use.

IMO, cars that predate screen-based infotainment systems have aged far better than pre-CarPlay systems. OEMs are just disastrously bad and behind the times at building a quality infotainment system. Mirroring the smartphone that everyone already has is a fantastic solution.

It's a very good thing that CarPlay shifts so much of the responsibility out of the car and into the smartphone, something that is much more easily and frequently upgraded.

It's in my top 3 criteria along with reliability and energy efficiency. Performance is probably dead last for me, assuming some reasonable floor (i.e. I can safely merge onto the highway).

It's something I'm going to interact with on a near daily basis, so it's important that it doesn't piss me off.

I didn’t buy my Audi for the HUD (or other UI) but I’m unlikely to buy another one after:

1. The Android based entertainment system regularly crashes. 2. The non-android based digital center cluster is designed so poorly as to have the date in two to three places and fuel levels hidden by default. 3. Safety systems that will needlessly engage the brakes because it believes that driving past the backed up left turn lane on a gently curving road is an imminent head on collision.

I’ve learned to work around these issues for the most part. Disabling all the wireless hardware reduces, but does not eliminate entertainment crashes. I memorized the steering wheel dial flicks to get the fuel gauge to display. I turn off the safety features.

Most of the car is very nice. The software stack is honestly something Audi should have outsourced to a competent development team elsewhere in the automotive industry.

Me. Just about any car is fine as far as performance goes. All I really care about are the creature comforts in the cabin and the infotainment system (or whatever they call it now) is a big part of that.

It was definitely a factor for us, especially as more cars move to all Software interfaces. A laggy or unintuitive system ranges from annoying everyday to dangerous.

After buying a RAM, I carefully consider software quality.

Sometimes the GPS azimuth data gets out of sync, which is annoying. However, the dealbreaker is that the transmission has some software bug where it overheats if you drive for more than an hour or so in certain circumstances. (Turning it off and waiting five minutes reboots it enough to get it to do whatever it needs to do to cool itself off.)

Sometimes we get a dreaded error message like this on the dashboard: "Drive to destination without switching into reverse or turning off. The vehicle might not turn back on.", which means the drivetrain computer cannot talk to the transmission, and it is stuck in a random gear.

Also, there was a safety recall software update. Applying it broke the state machine transitions for the push button ignition switch. (If you see a Ram owner accidentally re-start their engine after parking, this is why.)

Other Fiats (or whatever they renamed themselves to) are apparently on the same drivetrain software platform and have similar problems. All of the above things happened in warranty and none are fixable, from what we can gather.

It also had a bug where sometimes the cruise control wouldn't disengage unless you stood on the brake pedal while forcing the shift knob past an interlock and into neutral. They fixed that with the software update that broke the ignition switch.

We're eagerly awaiting the day when we can upgrade to an EV pickup truck from another company.

The GMC we had before the Ram was even worse. It was even more likely to strand itself, and the ABS / traction control liked to unexpectedly engage. Also, we had many mechanical issues. Like RAM, we had difficulty getting GMC to honor the warranty (with < 100 miles on the odometer).

Anyway, if the radio is buggy, don't buy the car.

The only reason I’m considering upgrading my 2011 Audi to a newer one is the technology. The car itself is great but it’s got crappy stop start features, crappy audio/infotainment tech, bad A/C etc.

Speaking as somebody who doesn't care at all about cars, the primary things that would drive my car purchase would be:

- Cost (per unit distance in fuel, maintenance, etc)

- Comfort (which includes integration with other software, ie Carplay)

I don't care about "performance"; I don't even know what that means, and frankly I don't care. The car needs to get from my house to some other point on the map and back cheaply and comfortably.

Well, I'd say there's a difference between HUD and infotainment. I might be influenced in a car decision by the actual HUD and its useful features (for example: the blind spot cameras on some new cars), but the infotainment screen between the driver and passenger is almost always just an annoying barrier between me and having the music/podcasts/whatever + maps from my phone playing in the car.

I'm getting a lot of responses and it seems I can't edit my previous comment. To clarify, I mean who buys cars primarily for their built-in infotainment system that's not Android Auto or Apple CarPlay? If a car has either one, then I don't really care what it comes built-in with because I won't be using it. Beyond that, other factors are necessary too such as MPG as I mentioned.

A good interface helps performance in a way. If I don't have the right information and have to work at it I get slower reflexes.

If you mean the infotainment system or head unit, I think lots of people place a very high value on usability. Depending on much you rely on navigation or use apps for audio, high quality UI goes a long way.

Fortunately if you also want to prioritize performance, mileage, etc., CarPlay makes it a lot easier to tolerate a lackluster factory interface.

I've only test driven a few cars equipped with HUDs, but it's a super cool feature. I can see the value of a car that projects nav directions in addition to the more standard things like current speed. There's even phone apps you can use to simulate a HUD, if you keep your windshield clean.

It was a significant factor for me when I last bought a car.

Not sure, but a car with good physical controls might jump to the top of the list.