It’s easy to move the climate controls to the lower position. The wires are long enough, and the mounting points are there already.

One thing to note is that Bluetooth telephone connectivity is fairly useless in a 996. The interior cabin noise from tires and engine is too loud to have a reasonable conversation.

Steve - my car had the climate control located lower and the radio and a cup holder were upper...you will need to move your climate control to a lower position, mine is in the middle lower location, under an open storage area and above the “batwing”, a solid piece (some contain switches) closest to the shift console. I installed a double DIN head unit so that took up the space for the single DIN (standard) radio and I completely removed the cup holder insert (highest location), this allowed perfect fit for a new double DIN unit. Relocating the climate control to a lower location is standard operating procedure, ...depending on your console trim pieces, you may need to get a trim piece that fits around the climate control in the lower location (it is a different size, but they are available cheap). I’ve had all the components out, including the climate control to replace the LCD glass (a simple task for $70), you will just need to disconnect the wiring harnesses and move things around, sounds simple, take your time, do your homework, you will learn some and it is actually kinda fun. The Sony head unit has Apple Car Play which works wired or Bluetooth, has navigation (via the phone)...they sell units with built in navigation like the Garmin units but you only need those if you are using you navigation and are in an area where your phone does not get a signal, so I didn’t buy that; pretty sure the Sony didn’t have it anyway; I think the Sony has a similar model with a CD player, I didn’t buy that one since my phone is the source for my music, when I’m not at home. Even the amplifier was pretty standard once I figured out what I was supposed to do: run source signal from head unit (via rca jacks) to amp, power amp from new location (car battery), connect amp to car speaker wires...some minor mods needed but if you take your time, I can almost guarantee you can do better than the pros...

Glad to hear yours is okay. I had a Motorola bluetooth kit originally, then I had the Kenwood system installed. Neither were great for calls.

I wish I had spoken with you when I still owned my 996! I tried it with the mic on the top of the a-pillar, and also in the center, near the rear view mirror. It sucked in both locations. It was better in my 997, and it’s better in my 991.