Ibanezgod

This week I had the PCM unit taken out and replaced with the Pioneer NEX8100. Also a hardwired V1 which is a huge improvement over the annoying set up on the dash.





Must say i'm very happy with the Pioneer so far. No complaints. It's intuitive and quick to boot and change through modes (huge plus). Also came with an Aux and USB input for direct connect and Apple CarPlay. I didn't have the unit connected to the steering wheel because 1. I didn't get the part 2. I never use steering wheel controls. I may likely replace the steering wheel for a newer version someday anyways.

Work was done at Technik1 in NYC recommended by TT Surgeon and Gus and the team did a very good job. Would recommend. The temperature console was painted in black to similarly match the Pioneer casing to look 997.2ish. BIG improvement over the ugly gray IMO.

stock photo




comparison




Allow you to use nav while you're moving and not in park.



Pros: Quick, AppleCar Play (iphone identical), nav is great and versatile, easy to get to different modes, reads texts, sends you phone notifications, looks great, tons of settings to customize, sound is good, can use a variety of apps including TuneIn radio for all stations anywhere, bluetooth works great, can speak into mic to send texts, more pros to come...

Negatives: No quick mute for navigation you have to go into settings, navigation mutes music, when using carplay notifications can lower music, routes chosen aren't always the best, has to be plugged in for carplay (but maybe this is a good thing)

Bmil951

Thanks for the quick review! I received my 997.1 TT a couple of weeks ago, and the lack of bluetooth connectivity for music, phone etc. is more annoying than I thought it might be. I'm looking into CarPlay units, and I might wait until there are more options to choose from. Do you have Bose? If so, was it complicated to get the new HU to work with the stock system?

On a side note, the dash looks GREAT painted in black! What did they use?

Ibanezgod

Welcome, this is a great mod for anyone with an 07-08. I had tooki in the original set up and I didn't like it, but maybe that was from the way the previous owner just had it set up.

There aren't many options out there that are at this level. I believe Alpine has a great unit as well. But if you like apple than this is the way to go. Even without carplay this unit is great, the nav is easy and bluetooth hook up is even easier. The place i had the work done mounted a hidden mic right above my tach and you can't see it in the background. I'm not sure what type of paint they used, I would have to ask. Yes I do have Bose, place I had the work done said the optical adapter for the bose was $650 itself, that's what really pushed the install price up. I'm not a huge fan of messing with wiring, i'll leave that to the pros with stereo installs on a porsche, on a jeep i'm sure it's easy, with this and optical bose, i'm sure it's gotta be a pain. If you don't have bose i believe the setup is much easier.

Overall very happy and money well spent to enjoy the car again listening to some jams and having state of the art tech.

Bmil951

Ouch, that optical cord is pricey. I'm sure I'll end up doing this sooner or later though, since I plan on having the car for a LONG time. Thanks for the quick response

Ibanezgod

I paid $2400 cash to have this done, I think it was on the high side, but I was impatient to shop around my stereo was driving me nuts and worse, the nav was unusable. So i'm sure you can have it done cheaper somewhere.

robmypro

That looks awesome.

kellymartin612

Its really nice.

Ibanezgod

Thanks! So far it's living up to expectations and using TuneIn Radio gives me 10x better radio reception than standard HD.

TT Surgeon

Glad it worked out!
Gus does great work, very convenient if you work in manhattan. No he's not cheap, but you get what you pay for, as they say.
I'll be bringing my latest one in soon....

Kevin Rohrer

It looks both awesome and just what I need, as PCM is a joke.

Does it handle an iPod (no Bluetooth) that uses the old-fashion large connector?

Ibanezgod

Yes. It has a USB port so you can use any adapter. I don't know how people live with the PCM

Aic9199

Hi Jared, this looks awesomeeeee. Have you tried running the Waze app? I'm also curious if you can run multiple apps, i.e. Waze, Apple Music

Ibanezgod

Thanks Arthur! waze doesn't work with the unit, but all the standard apple apps work. Maps is the main nav with apple car play, but the unit also has a navigation that works a bit easier than Maps. I do wish they would incorporate Waze, possibly in a future software upgrade, but I never looked into it. You can run multiple apps like music and maps. That's not an issue. It's pretty diverse. I can show you sometime at a meet up.