The driving mechanics of your vintage 911 may have held up over the years, but the infotainment options are probably a bit lacking. Porsche has an answer for that.
The German brand has announced the new Porsche Classic Radio Navigation System, which is designed to fit anything from the original 1963-era 911 up to the last air-cooled 993 variant of the mid-1990s.
Fitting into the DIN-1 slot, the radio features a 3.5-inch touchscreen and two knobs, packaged in two styles that fit neatly into a vintage Porsche dashboard. So instead of an aftermarket head unit that sticks out like a sore thumb, classic 911 owners can now have access to modern features through a clean, factory-like display.
Obviously, the navigation radio unit offers navigation and, uh, radio. Also included is smartphone Bluetooth connectivity as well as a built-in microphone for voice prompting and a pre-wired lead for SiriusXM. There’s an integrated amplifier as well, which delivers 4X45 watts of power to either aftermarket speakers or the vehicle’s stock sound system by way of an optional adapter.
Delving further into the navigation, its operating concepts are based on the Porsche Communication Management technology that you’ll find in the brand’s modern cars.
“Numerous trial trips were made in the USA and Canada to test country-specific navigation” the automaker said. “Drivers have a choice of arrows and two-dimensional or three-dimensional maps to display the route. The maps are stored on a microSD card with eight gigabytes of memory and are updated regularly.”
Read more: Porsche’s 960 sports car will be a mid-engined, 8-cylinder Ferrari killer
Porsche’s navigation radio unit launched in Europe back in February 2015, and the system is now available in the U.S. and Canada. The design comes via Porsche Classic, a division that focuses solely on maintaining, improving, and refurbishing Porsches of yore.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.