I'm new to zwift this spring, and was flabbergasted about the UI too, I heard they were planning to release a big UI update this spring but the covid rush to zwift pushed those plans back. Since they introduced the meetup feature you can use that to jump to another route without having to exit the program or anything... simply create a meetup with the zwift companion app that starts after you expect to finish your route, I usually just finish the route and set the meetup for 5-10 minutes later, then refill my bottles/hit the can. You only need to invite one friend and they don't have to respond or join the meetup. Apparently you can do 3 routes a day like this but I've only done it to do 2 routes a day. If you're going for the Lutscher badges you can use the meetup trick to save the lead-in climb on the route.

I put zwift on my ipad so I can pull it up if I wanna tinker with kit or bike, it's also handy for checking which routes I've completed, but the website www.zwifthub.com is a better place to keep track of that, they also have elevation profiles of the routes and they list the lead-in distances too.

They've also been working on improving the race experience with the "cone of shame" thing, it's only in the crit city races put on by ZHQ right now but it's a step in the right direction. Anyone with a power meter should use www.zwiftpower.com it will at least filter out a lot of the more obvious cheats from the results but it also excludes everyone that uses a speed sensor + dumb trainer so it's not terribly useful for a lot of users. There's a lot of cheats and I also think a lot of people that don't care to setup their trainers properly.

Zwift is worth it for me, it's a lot cheaper than buying winter kit and maintaining a winter bike. I will still ride outside in the winter but it won't be my primary winter activity anymore. I'd bet zwifting is probably cheaper just based on tire wear for me.