I don't know why Subaru didn't have a "SYNC" button for the climate control, however my wife doesn't complain driving it by herself with her side of the car cranked! I'm glad it has this, since we used to fight over the climate controls since she insists on having the heat on full and blowing in her face when it's cold, and I can't stand it.
It's not too bad of a system otherwise though, I'm glad you can actually set where the air comes from. My SVX has auto climate, and it has "OFF" "AUTO" (runs A/C) "ECON" (doesn't run A/C) "DEF" (defrost) and "VENT" (just blows the fan, no heat or AC) as well as a "CIRC" button to turn on recurculation. The climate control adjusts the air between the floor and the vents based on the temperature setting, but you can't get heat out the vents. Closest you can get is to turn the fan to HI and put it in Defrost mode.
JDM SVXes had a "mode" button to change the vent mode, however it only came in the JDM (RHD) models, and therefore won't fit in the left hand drive models. It will connect up and work, it'll just be facing the wrong way.