After a little over a month, pleased to say I've had fewer and fewer issues as time goes on. Maybe the system needed to build up a cache?...i dunno. But even Android Auto is working smoothly now; at first it wasn't working well, then not at all, but I suspect "user error" when setting it up (it can be finicky, you have to start the car, THEN plug in the cord, THEN plug in the phone or else it may foul up).
I think the overall interface just looks cleaner, even though nothing was really added other than the "door ajar" on-screen alert, as well as audio cutout when fully turning off ESC. Navigation features are also a bit smoother.