my sirius seems to lose signal fairly often. there are a couple of dead spots that are consistent but it seems worse on a clear day than in overcast or at night. any thoughts or similar problems? I bought this car cpo and have just now made an appointment at the dealer for some other nagging problems but am told that sirius was not an option on 06 carreras and that this must be a head unit from a cayenne! anyone else have sirius in 997.1?

 

I had my dealer install the XM module for Cayenne in my 06 C4s. I lose reception when I am in areas that are heavily wooded or with high buildings to the South. The antenna needs a relatively clear view to the South (same with Sirius). The head unit from a Cayenne would be different. The modules that plug into the back seem to be interchangable though.

 

Being in Georgia, I cannot imagine the view of the sky being as big of an issue (unless the antenna is located in a problematic spot.. that had to be added as well as the elecronics to the pcm). For my up here near Seattle, between being so far north, having nearby mountains I"m driving around, lots of tall evergreens and the usual buildings, reception drops occasionally here and there for 20 yards to 50 yards. I've not paid attention to weather affecting the severity of the drop outs. I did think that sat radio was not an option on a factory 997.1

 

that's what I was told by the dealership. I looked at my monroney label today and it was not on there so I guess it was pulled from a different model. they said that some dealers were swapping radio heads form cayennes but in the few cayennes I've driven I don't remember them having anything like the carrera units. the service advisor said that this was not approved by porsche but what I did,nt tell him was that this car was purchased new from his dealership. obviously it could have been done at a later date but I'd really like to know what it could have come out of and curious why it wasn't even an option on a $80K porsche.

 

As to they "Why it wasn't there as an option" I can only speculate that its the way Porsche modifies their designs... in geologic time. I personally am suspicious of a car sold 'new' that had things installed in it that were not factory options, and were not listed on a window sticker as 'dealer installed' for post-factory modifications. Still, its just a radio unit with a special antenna. If you are getting lots of dropout, I'd look at the antenna location, its wiring, and the terrain you are in when you get drop outs.

 

IIRC, it is not a Cayenne "head unit" per 'se (as in the entire PCM if that is what you are referring to), but a module (similar to the CD Changer, OEM phone, etc) that plugs into the MOST ring/loop ...somebody figured out it would work with the 997 and dealers began selling/installing (for around $2K, again, IIRC) ...Porsche caught wind (not wanting to support the unit in the 997) and began requiring a Cayenne VIN number to order ...really about all I remember (personally ordered and installed a Nav-TV Sirius unit and couldn't be happier) - apologies if a load of info you already knew!