Old sports cars have an unusual problem. Their engines don’t necessarily become obsolete. Their screens do.
A Porsche 911 from 2010 can still feel completely relevant from behind the wheel, right up until you try connecting a modern smartphone to an infotainment system designed when the iPhone 4 was new.
Porsche’s latest Classic Communication Management Plus, or PCCM Plus, is designed specifically to fix that problem without making an older 911 interior look like somebody glued an iPad onto the dashboard.
The new system covers Porsche models built from 2009 to 2016, including the 987.2 Boxster and Cayman, 997.2-generation 911 and the later 981 and 991.1 models.
Porsche estimates that means more than 300,000 cars are potentially compatible. And the specification is thoroughly modern.
There’s a seven-inch high-resolution touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, modern navigation and over-the-air map updates.
Depending on the car’s original equipment, owners can also continue using the multi function steering wheel.
That’s the important part.
Aftermarket infotainment for older performance cars isn’t difficult to find. The problem is integration. A generic screen may provide CarPlay for a fraction of the cost, but it can also look spectacularly out of place inside a carefully designed Porsche cabin.
PCCM Plus is supposed to behave like factory equipment because, essentially, it is.
Porsche has integrated the system with existing vehicle functions, allowing information such as navigation instructions and music tracks to continue appearing in the instrument cluster where supported. Personal vehicle settings are retained too. Porsche Newsroom
There’s even YouTube playback when the car is stationary, subject to local regulations.
Which means a 997-generation 911 can now do something its engineers probably weren’t discussing when they designed the dashboard twenty years ago.
There’s a larger story here than CarPlay.
Modern cars are becoming increasingly difficult to separate from their software. That raises an uncomfortable question about what happens when today’s expensive digital systems become tomorrow’s unsupported electronics.
Porsche’s approach is almost the reverse.
Instead of expecting owners to replace the car because its technology feels old, the manufacturer is building new electronics that fit into the existing machine.
That makes particular sense for a sports car.
A 997.2 doesn’t suddenly become bad because Spotify didn’t exist when Porsche designed its infotainment system. The steering, chassis and flat-six engine don’t care what generation of smartphone is sitting in your pocket.
Updating the weakest part of the ownership experience without changing the rest of the car is a surprisingly elegant solution.
Porsche has already offered PCCM systems for older classics. Extending the concept into cars built as recently as 2016 also tells us something about what the company considers a “classic” now.
Apparently, your 991.1 is old enough to qualify. That may make its owner feel ancient. At least their phone will connect wirelessly.
