While most American 997s appear to be equipped with Cruise Control, it is less common on European examples. A German 2006 price list shows it as costing €370+VAT. Some people may say that cruise control is not necessary on a sports car, the fact is that we’ve got a daytime 100 kph/62mph speed limit here in the Netherlands, and that having cruise control makes those slow highway cruises much more bearable.
Thankfully, retrofitting Cruise Control to a 997 (or a 987 Boxster/Cayman) is easy, unlike on 996s. On early cable throttle 996s, it is nigh impossible. On later cars, it requires running a cable from the instrument cluster to the engine, and replacing the three-stalk unit with a four-stalk unit.
The 997 on the other hand is pre-wired. All you need is the cruise control stalk plus screws, a short wiring harness, and a new lower steering column cover (some people modify the old one). For some time it was cheaper to buy these parts separately, but I believe that this is no longer the case. The complete retrofit set has parts number 99704490300 and has an MSRP of €353 + tax, which is less than what the option cost back in the day.
Installation requires a long Torx 10 key to take out three Torx screws that hold the lower steering column cover in place. The stalk is attached with two Torx screws, but I used only one, as using the second would have required removal of the steering wheel – I’ll add the second screw when the opportunity arises. The small wiring harness clicks into the cruise control stalk and the wiper stalk. Then it’s simply a question of installing the new column cover and bolting everything back together.
The cruise control then needs to be coded with PIWIS, which should not take more than an hour. The first independent shop that I went to had trouble with coding the DME (ECU), but the second finished the shop within half an hour, including coding out the phone module.
