Looking to buy a copy of VAGCOM soon, & I'm looking for the best place to buy. I know the official stuff is Ross tech but they're state-side, are there any UK distributors - seems to be lots of people selling VCDS but prices seem to range from 70 to 300 for what look like similar packages? Stumbled across this site earlier: http://www.vag-diagnostics.com/contact.html -- I've sent them an email with a few questions but they sell the latest version of a registered cable for 80 with 12 month warranty & support. The cable is also dual purpose which is able to read K wire diagnostic (earlier models) & also can bus interface on the later stuff - Noticed Ross tech sell separate cables for this? Has anyone used the above site or can give me a recommendation to buy genuine VCDS from a Uk supplier? Ta.
aye the ones vag diagnostics are selling are cloned leads with hacked software i have a 10.6 lead just like it and payed a lot less for it than they are selling them for i got mine for 30 to 40 off ebay
Thought it looked to good to be true - they haven't replied to my email either. Thanks for the heads up Had a look on gendan.co.uk & will most likely be ordering from there. Thanks again
Just a heads up for people.. Purchased from Gendan, got Hex + Can interface for 265 delivered next day. From the Ross tech distributors they had the best price & the most buying information on the site with regards to the product & what it came with/offered so went with them in the end. The learning curve begins..
i too am looking for something to look at the Bora and keep an eye on things, is it worth having the full vag com or just buying a code reader? something like the VS450 which i have spotted for a reasonable sum of money on ebay.
Would someone explain to me exactly what this does? Do you just load up the software, plug a cable from the laptop into your car and it says something like 'your turbo charger is broken'? I suspect it is far more complicated than that, seeing as VW want 70 just to plug you into it, but I would love to know what is wrong with my Bora. </blonde> And what is the difference between VAGCOM and a code reader?
The main difference between a code reader & a VAGCOM is the diagnostic ability of the VAGCOM over a code reader. A code reader, is as it says a code reader & will read an OBD fault code usually without any further information & most the time depending on how much you spend on it will only read from a certain control unit like the engine control unit & nothing else. A VAGCOM as the ability to read fault codes from every control unit fitted to a VAG car & also DATA from these control units. It can also be used to code keys, preferences & settings in & out of the control units as well as log data. Reading the data from control units can help you further diagnose the fault that you have for a crude example: if you have a coolant temperature fault, using VAGCOM to look at what exact temperature the ECU is seeing from the coolant temp sensor. If you buy the full version, it's all plug & play. The software is stored in the cable (like a dongle) so it means you can plug it into any laptop, install & read data/codes from any compatible car. Whilst it allows you to read diagnostic trouble codes from the cars control units, it obviously isn't as simple as 'my turbo is faulty' but it will give you a very good indication of where to start further diagnosing the problem, in this case relative to the turbo. Someone with trained eyes should further be able to utilize the VAGCOM to look at the live data, carry out any wiring/secondary tests to 100% find & diagnose the problem. For 70 from a dealer you would like to think you are getting more than 'We've plugged VAGCOM in & you have a turbo fault code' & more like 'We've plugged VAGCOM in, seen you have a turbo fault code & have further diagnosed the problem to be a turbo".
I've been thinking of selling my genuine VAG-COM HEX-USB cable. Around the 150 mark. PM if interested.
Depends what you want to monitor exactly? Personally I would look at the Sealey range or look for a used one as above, they have a lot of readers for various prices. It would just be a case of looking through all of them to find out which one best suited your application of use. Bear in mind, some can surpass the 250 mark as they generally are all OBD compliant so you can use them on more than just VAG cars.
Post was from a year ago. lol Remember if you buy a second hand cable I'm pretty sure you'll have to pay for a license as it's not transferable. (as far as I'm aware)
I know this is an old post but the cheapest way of doing it for basic stuff it is download VCDS-Lite FREE from Ross-tech, then get a 6.95 K line cable from eBay. It will do up to and including mk4 stuff pre-can bus. Pay $99 license from Ross-Tech to unlock various features & code descriptions http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/download/ (need the download for '3rd party or dumb interfaces') Cable: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAG-GROUP...C-CABLE-LEAD-WORK-VCDS-LITE-409-/271036790042
