Quote:
Originally Posted by GTA_G20
PCCM +. More Details and pics please
|
I love the PCCM+. I have a Sony XAV-AX5000 in my '01 Boxster and the PCCM+ is way, way nicer. It fits its space appropriately and it sounds terrific. I don't know why the new radio would sound so much nicer than the original radio without any other modifications, but it sure does.
It's a little slower than I'd like (but, I mean, we do play with Boxsters, so this isn't the only thing slower than I'd like!) to boot up and be ready to go, and I still need to get the XM add-on for it. The GPS is pretty cool, but not better than Waze. I do like how configurable it is for displaying different landmarks on the map. For instance, you can tell it to display gas stations, and then you can go through the list of available gas stations and tell it exactly which brands of gas stations you want to display on the map. Like BP but avoid Thornton's? No problem, you can set that right up in the menu.
CarPlay is exactly what you'd expect CarPlay to be.
Radio reception is good and sounds great.
It has the standard Porsche knobs for volume and menu item selection. You can set the button light color to white or amber, which pretty much matches the climate control/gauge color. It looks totally factory and like it belongs there.
Installation couldn't have been easier. The SE is an '04, of course, so it has a MOST adapter to deal with that older cars won't have, but Porsche made that super easy and included a great decoder box. There's pretty much only one way to plug everything in, so you plug it in and it works. As always, it was a little bit of a pain to move the HVAC controls because the wiring harness is always a little bit sticky, but no surprises there. One big disappointment was that the port box, with the USB ports and aux ports, doesn't have a cable long enough to actually sit in a storage bin in the lower console. I routed both a USB cable from the CarPlay port and the external microphone into the storage cubby and stashed the USB port box behind the radio.
Sound quality is great, Siri always hears what I have to say whether the top is up or down, once it's booted up the unit is responsive. It was expensive. I think getting the Sony running in the red car was less than $600 all in, but with the PCCM+ you need the extra couple of trim parts (if you didn't already have a PCM in your car to begin with, and the 996-552-231-12-01C Center support was on backorder and took forever to arrive from Germany) and it's like $1,300 or so, so double what I paid for the setup in the other Boxster. But I think it was worth it. Every control on the thing looks like a Porsche control. It looks like it could have come this way.
All in all, if you feel like the fit and finish, ease of installation, and matching design is worth an extra few hundred bucks, go for it. Next time I get another 996 or 986, I'll be getting another one of these to put in it.
Here's the PCCM+ in the SE:
Here's the Sony installed in the '01:
Here's some of the PCCM+ in action.
Booting up:
Main menu:
