Hello everyone,
Quick question folks. I'm looking into buying a Cayenne. I got two quotes from my dealer, one for a car with PCM and another with PCM II.
Whats the difference between the two?

 

all cayennes have PCM2. problem solved.

PCM is the old generation , and is not availible on cayennes.

 

If you're looking into buying new, the 05 Cayenne actually has PCM 3. PCM was the first version, it was in the early 986/996's but never in Cayenne as by the time it came out they were on PCM 2.

 

PTEC, you may be referring to firmware version 3.0 of PCM2

to my knowledge, there is no PCM3.

 

Moogle is correct.
The current PCMII is actually PCM2.5...long story.

PCMIII is in development, prototypes have been built. MY07 introduction (for 998 and 4 door sedan); however there is a possibility it would appear a year earlier in a project car..........

 

If you check the software in a 05 Cayenne optioned with PCM, the software version is 1.0. Call it what ever you want, but I dont think its PCM 2.

 

I believe what you are seeing is PCM2.5 with S/W v 1.0

 

PCM(I) is an outmoted system... it was the original Nav box from Porsche put into service in 1998/1999...

PCMII which went into service in 2002 is the current one... it is more than updates... it uses MOST(a fully optical system, this is why you can't use RF devices with it... all the iPod people knows the pain this can be)

People are confusing the latest firmware updates with PCMIII because the new PCM is DVD-based... wheres the one in 2002-2004s is CD-based... the only difference is the drive and media... the systems are the same otherwize.

 

Here is a pic of PCM (1) in my 99 Boxster (non-MOST system(. It is not the same as the PCM II, which is std in the Cayenne

 

I was under the impression that PCMII was introduced in MY2003, when the infotainment bus went from analog (everything prior to MY03) to MOST (MY03+)

You can use an RF modulator with a MOST based headunit, as the MOST interface has nothing to do with the RF tuner input; it is an analog AUX input which is not available with a Porsche (actually Becker) headunit, CDR or PCM.

PCMII was CD based, PCM2.5 was the same thing except DVD based; however people mistakenly called it PCMII, which as mentioned previously, is a totally different animal.
(Unfortunatley, I have to know stuff like this....................)

 

Itc,
You are correct. It was MY 2003, which means that it (PCM II) hit the market in the fall of 2002 (when I got mine). PCM I was gone at that point, and is no longer supported. PCM II is still supported, and there are software updates that dramatically improve aspects of performance.
Good to hear @ PCM III!
JS