ORIGINAL: Ian W
Does anyone know how / if / when updates will be made available for the PCM3 in Gen-2 cars? I can't get an answer from my OPC, just blank looks! They don't seem to have the slightest clue.
I lobbied Porsche in Stuttgart directly on behalf of PCM 2.1 owners a few years back. The issue is that in terms of sales , PCM isn't always specced as an option and many owners don't use the navigation to any great extent. Others are not prepared to pay for annual updates , or the 350 pound price tag for a european update rather than country specific.
I believe what happens as a result , is that Porsche place an order for the navigation update as a single production run of x thousand copies and then only commission a new run / update once all the stock is sold.
With the warranty situation as it is , I'm surprised Porsche don't offer an "upgrades for life" scheme for the PCM , with an annual charge of say 50 pounds a year and guaranteed updates for life or a fixed pre payment of 150 for three years. Instead , they delay issueing the next revision until the very last moment , when everyone is starting to think about removing the PCM and replacing with aftermarket stuff as the original warranty expires. PCM 2.1 owners had a two year delay for updates , the last being 2009 date stamped , which was in fact 2008 map data ! The same situation exists for the PCM 2.0 owners.
Porsche use Harman Becker to manufacture their PCM units and rely on Navteq to provide the map data , but there is a twist. Porsche spec that the harman becker units in their cars must use a different map system to standard and that the navteq data is recoded to only work on porsche vehilces. As a result you cannot buy map updates from anyone but porsche and they have complete control of when the update is released and how much it costs.
If the updates were genuinely the most up to date map data or discounted for those with a warranty or loyalty scheme I dont think there would be so much of an issue , but 350 pounds for an outdated update every 2-3 years , really isn't customer focussed.
With other parts suppliers , the single supplier agreement gets lifted after the car ceases to be a current model, hence you can buy the sachs clutch direct from the manufacturer rather than pay a premium for the same part in a porsche box. I really dont understand why the navigation CD/ DVD systems dont apply to this process and porsche insist on keeping full control , particularly when they are unwilling or unable to release map updates that owners require.
