aedelred
Shave it. I did when mine started going and the maintenance is super easy. I’d never go back.
I love mine I’ve had it over 2 years. It was a first-gen DIY Framework 13 and I ran into a faulty fan early on. I worked with their tech support and they sent a replacement fan under warranty. Took 5 minutes to put it in and all parts inside have QR codes that take you to the marketplace for replacements and repair instructions.
They do have official Linux support for Ubuntu and Fedora. I can attest to Linux Mint working well on it although I don’t use the fingerprint reader, which I’ve read has some issues on some distros.
As for upgradability, I’ve not needed to yet but you can just order a new motherboard and any other parts off their marketplace and drop it straight in. Should take around 20 minutes or so. I suspect this would take longer on the 16 since it is more complex.
Also, here is a link to the marketplace if you want to browse the parts. I think you could build one from scratch from here, but I think it would cost more that way. https://frame.work/marketplace
It may not be possible with a car that new depending on if the stereo does other things than just audio, but you may want to consider an aftermarket Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. Our car is so old that it’s stereo did nothing but audio so replacing it was easy, but yours might be more difficult. You could always check with a car stereo shop and see if it is possible with your car.
I’m not sure if it will suit your needs, but I love Eqonomize!. I can use it from any of my computers by putting its data file on my NAS.
Edit: forgot the URL… https://eqonomize.github.io/