Climate controls conversion?
 

We've all read that our digital 986 climate control units were sourced from the Audi A4. It's also common knowledge that the Audi A4 and VW Passat were versions of the very same car. Could, therefore, a three-knob VW Passat climate control head unit be retrofitted to an early 986? Is this a thing? Does anyone know if it's a plug-and-play swap? If so, what year(s) Passat do I need the climate control head unit from? Why? I simply prefer knobs to pushbuttons and I think the three knobs will give my Boxster's interior more of an early GT3 look

they make a manual climate control for the boxster, but it was used on cars without air conditioning (early euro cars, and the gt3 with deleted air conditioning). as it was manual you needed a new heater unit as well (the one in your car has little motors at each flapper, the one with dials just uses cables). you can find them on ebay in the UK and Europe.

so, it's possible to use oem parts but you have to change more than just the controller. dunno about other VAG parts.