Porsche PCCM Plus for the 996 and 986

Porsche PCCM Plus › PCCM Plus for 996 & 986

PCCM Plus comes in two versions, and this is the one for the earlier water-cooled cars: the 911 (996) and the Boxster (986). The two generations shared a dashboard architecture, so they share a unit — the fascia and the harness are built for that era’s console rather than adapted to it. ACR Automobile supplies and fits it for £1,799.99, mobile across London and Surrey.

Cars this version covers

• 911 (996) — 1998 to 2005: Carrera, Carrera 4, Targa, Turbo, GT3, GT2
• Boxster (986) — 1997 to 2004: Boxster and Boxster S

The 997 and 987 take the other PCCM Plus version, and air-cooled cars — 911 up to 993, plus the 924, 944, 968 and 928 — take the single-DIN PCCM. If you are unsure which side of the line your car falls on, send us a photo of the centre console.

What your car came with

Most 996s and 986s left the factory with a Becker CDR-220 or a Porsche CDR-23 or CDR-24 — a single-slot CD radio in a double-DIN aperture. Better-optioned cars had PCM 1, with a small monochrome display and a CD-based navigation drive in the boot. Early 986s can still turn up with a cassette deck.

All of them are past useful. There is no CarPlay, Bluetooth is either absent or a single-pairing afterthought, and navigation depends on a disc that stopped being updated years ago. Meanwhile the interior itself has aged into being period rather than merely dated, which is exactly why cutting an aftermarket screen into it is now a mistake.

What changes

• Apple CarPlay on a 7-inch screen in the original aperture, using the car’s speakers and steering-wheel controls.
• Navigation with 3D maps built into the unit — no phone, no signal, no disc.
• DAB+ digital radio alongside FM and AM, which on a car of this age is a bigger daily improvement than most owners expect.
• Bluetooth hands-free and audio streaming for any phone, Android included.
• USB and AUX inputs with charging for the connected phone.
• A reversing camera input, so a camera can be added and shown on the screen.

Why the Porsche Classic unit on these cars

A tidy 996 is no longer the cheap 911, and good 986s have stopped falling. That changes the sums: the fascia on this unit is styled for a late-nineties Porsche interior, with physical rotaries either side of the screen, so with the screen off the console still reads as standard. Nothing is cut and your original radio comes back to you boxed, so the car can be returned to factory condition whenever you like.

We will also give you the other answer honestly. If your 986 is a £7,000 car you intend to run into the ground, a £300 aftermarket double-DIN will give you CarPlay and we will say so. This unit earns its price when you are keeping the car, when the interior is good, or when you would rather not explain an aftermarket screen to the next owner.

Fitting and price

£1,799.99 supplied and fitted. Genuine Porsche Classic unit, the correct harness, installation and setup — a fixed figure, not a starting point. We come to your home or office; most cars are a single visit of a couple of hours. We pair your phone, tune DAB, and check the steering-wheel controls and any factory amplifier before we leave.

Two things owners commonly add at the same visit, both cheaper than a return trip: a reversing or dash camera through the unit’s camera input, and a speaker upgrade — twenty-five years of British weather rarely leaves original door speakers at their best.

Frequently asked

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