The under dash cabin air filter design in the 991.1 is the dumbest, worst designed element of any car (or any other product) I've ever seen. At 6'4", it's a nightmare to twist and contort my body just to be able to kind of see where the cheap plastic screws are. The foam piece cover is pure junk that never fits snugly over the vents, it sags just below them, the slot where the filter goes is difficult to reach, and the slot has pieces that jut out that don't allow the filter to go in easily...the entire system and components are absolutely **** poorly designed. It's embarrassing that Porsche designed such a cluster ***** like this.

Does anyone ever just leave that flimsy, cheap foam cover off? It serves no purpose. It's so paper thin it wouldn't make a bit of difference on cabin noise. A better, more professional, and well thought out design would be to stuff rags up there.

Rant over.

 

Thank the VW group because it's the same across the whole palette of brands.
You are annoyed with this cabin filter because it's fresh in your memory but wait until you can't remove a simple control arm bolt because it goes against the frame and the service manual tells you to cut it off,install a new bolt from the other side. Wait until you have to remove a multitude of components just to get to the last bolt hidden behind them for a component that should've taken you 1 hour to replace and instead ends up taking 6 hours. Wait until you have to remove major components like the intake,supercharger,Turbo just to replace that cheap,garbage,useless PLASTIC coolant pipe that is leaking. And I can go on...
Engineers care 0% about serviceability and manufacturers care 0% what happens out of warranty.

 

I hate to break it to you, but most cabin air filters are located there. Its not like they are being replaced monthly.

My 1999 Honda CR-V and my 2013 VW Jetta TDI cabin air filters were located in the same general area. The only car that did it right is my 2017 Acura RDX and it can be changed in under a minute.

 

Yeah, it sux.

But to look on the brighter side, the frunk filter is real easy to change.

 

As it should be. The one inside is ridiculous. Hell to change the engine air filter the rear bumper has to come off. WTF?

 

This gave me anxiety.😵‍💫😀

 

Gave me PTSD

 

I bought cabin filter,,not gonna happen unless ur triple jointed. Indy charged me $40 to replace w my own filter(he was smirkin I think) cheaper than a chiropractor.

 

The cabin filter on my 2017 991.2 C2S isn't that difficult to access, and I am past 76 years old. I do that job beginning by kneeling on a pad with the passenger door open, and reaching under the dash. It's nearly the same on my Porsche as on my 2011 Audi S4 and 2013 Audi Allroad. No tools are usually needed to unscrew the plastic retainers. The biggest challenge is seeing as you work. At least Porsche and Audi made opening the door for the filter easy and straight forward... compared to changing that filter in an E36 BMW in which you have to remove a lot more, then crack the filter housing into 3 segments and feed them sequentially into the cavity which is in the center console under the dash and also accessed from the passenger footwell.

Much easier than changing diverter valves... or spark plugs.

 

Not only VW/Porsche but also BMW. Recently had the dealer do a maintenance event on our Z4 and after the AC didn’t work. Took the car back and that same filter was impinging on the air flapper. Out and in and fixed. Real pain (we thought that the AC was down). Given the cost to do it I negotiated an oil change next time.

 

Not any worse than the engine air filter.

 

I’m sure there are plenty of people who would want our problems. I take it none of you have worked in aircraft? Cake.

 

Yup, I have and at just over 6 feet tall, you wished you had some trained mice to get the job done.

Also had to make sure the job was done right...had to fly it the next day.

 

That’s what petite daughters who don’t mind hanging out in their dad’s garage are for. Here’s mine, changing the brake light switch in my C4 Corvette ZR1, where the footwells with the tall side sills are altogether more cramped than a 911. I guess I’ll have to sequence my 991 cabin filter for when she’s next home from grad school…

 

To ram_g -- Thanks for a good laugh. I'm in the opposite situation: my daughter is much taller and larger overall than I am! When she was not even 2 years old, and in a baby stroller, people used to think she was at least 4. She stopped growing at a bit over 5'9" but achieved that earlier than most of her peers.