VAG COM Which & where to buy ?

mattyboy199

mattyboy199

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As above guys i have an S3 BAM 02 any advise or pointers would be great ?

pretty sure my car has can bus which seems to make a difference to software etc.

Matt
 
k-line as far as I know.. I use the K-II usb interface on mine...

<tuffty/>
 
from what i remember reading the bam engine cam with can bus which some software doesnt work with thats all, could be totally wrong
 
Not that I know of... CAN bus came in on the 8P model... The link to the Ross Tech site explains what leads are compatible...

I bought a KII-USB lead as it was 50 quid cheaper and I knew I would be keeping my car a while so didn't see the point in spending the extra... If you think you will stick to VAG cars and need to build in some future proofing then get a HEX-USB+CAN lead.... you can always sell it if you change to another marque of car and get most of your money back...

<tuffty/>

If price is an issue then just get the KII-USB lead
 
i thought these cables were like £20 or similar how can they justify a £200 cost ****** exspensive
 
You pay your money for the license which is held on the official cables, the license lets you have access to all the features of the software. If you want to just buy a cheap ebay cable and run the shareware of the software, it all depends on what you want to use it for! If you just want to keep a check on any fault codes then a cheap cable and shareware software will do you fine. But if you want to do any type of data logging for diagnosys purposes or power graphs and some of the other cool things you'll nedd the full package.
 
Its not the cost of the cable, its the cost of the software development.... as an piracy prevention measure and to make it easier for owners, the cable now includes a dongle which means you can use it on any computer with VAGCOM on it... before you used to have to register the software to the machine it was installed on and limited to using that machine only...

You can buy a £20 lead but you won't be able to use the full version of VAGCOM legally.... you can however buy a license for $99 that will allow you to use an earlier full version of the software with a cheap lead... you are however tied into the machine you register VAGCOM on and you will not be able to have the latest releases of the software...

VAGCOM is (IMO) one of the best investments for a VAG based car if you are a keen enthusiast next to a remap. It will save you much more than that in diagnostics alone....

<tuffty/>
 
tufftybloke said:
VAGCOM is (IMO) one of the best investments for a VAG based car if you are a keen enthusiast next to a remap. It will save you much more than that in diagnostics alone....

<tuffty/>
Click to expand...

I'll second that. It was the first thing I bought for my car and it has saved me a fortune.

Not a day passes by on this forum where someone asks a question that can normally be answered by a quick scan of their car.
 
I have no laptop so VAGCOM isn't a great option for me, since you have both tuffty is the liquid gauge a reasonable replacement?

From reading the blurb it would appear that the Liquid Gauge is real time only, hence no posting of logs, and obviously not quite as capable as the VAGCOM, but it seems to be able to provide power, temps, timing etc plus fault codes and I think some alignment functionality hence a lot of what is helpful. Or is it simply no match and VAGCOM plus a laptop borrowed from a mate would be far better (but obviously not in the fun toy stakes)?
 
tompearson said:
I have no laptop so VAGCOM isn't a great option for me, since you have both tuffty is the liquid gauge a reasonable replacement?

From reading the blurb it would appear that the Liquid Gauge is real time only, hence no posting of logs, and obviously not quite as capable as the VAGCOM, but it seems to be able to provide power, temps, timing etc plus fault codes and I think some alignment functionality hence a lot of what is helpful. Or is it simply no match and VAGCOM plus a laptop borrowed from a mate would be far better (but obviously not in the fun toy stakes)?
Click to expand...

TBH, the liquid is more an extension of the DIS shall we say than a replacement for VAGCOM... While it uses the measuring blocks to derive and display data in graphical form and it can check and clear fault codes, its not as good for more comprehensive diagnostics that VAGCOM would provide such as logging etc...

If I only had the money to get either VAGCOM or Liquid, I would get VAGCOM.... but... don't get me wrong, Liquid is not worse because its not VAGCOM, its been designed and built for a different audience/application. For simple diagnostics and if you aren't doing your own work, Liquid will give you funky gauges and enough diags to let you know you may have a problem... for proper fault finding and DIY, VAGCOM all day long...

Oh yeah... VAGCOM won't tell me I can do 0-60 in 4.8 seconds either ;P

<tuffty/>
 
Just missed out on a cheap 2nd hand liquid gauge on ebay as I forgot to click the confirm bid button - it only went for £80 in the end. I am sorely tempted to get one even at full wack because it give the fault code info plus the fun stuff, especially, as voorhess points out, there are others with VAGCOM offering their services. Not sure if I'd feel a little guilty though knowing that I've dragged them over to look at my car because I spent the money on the funky gauges instead!
 
tompearson said:
Not sure if I'd feel a little guilty though knowing that I've dragged them over to look at my car because I spent the money on the funky gauges instead!
Click to expand...
You have to make sure you agree on a few beers or summat for the trouble,I drove 30 miles to a member who had agreed a few beers for my trouble and there was no mention of them which takes the **** big style as it cost me money yet he had the use of a 300 quid vagcom plus laptop.
 
voorhees said:
You have to make sure you agree on a few beers or summat for the trouble,I drove 30 miles to a member who had agreed a few beers for my trouble and there was no mention of them which takes the **** big style as it cost me money yet he had the use of a 300 quid vagcom plus laptop.
Click to expand...

I hope you told them that they needed an expensive sensor replaced!

I was thinking that even with some compensation I'd feel a little guilty, but if beer is all that people need then that helps my conscience if and when I call for someone for assistance.
 
tompearson said:
I hope you told them that they needed an expensive sensor replaced!

I was thinking that even with some compensation I'd feel a little guilty, but if beer is all that people need then that helps my conscience if and when I call for someone for assistance.
Click to expand...
No,I posted exactly what the vag com had shown :( hopefully I get the call again and say no go to a garage,beer or whatever is the usual line.so annoying being took for a mug.
 
tompearson said:
I hope you told them that they needed an expensive sensor replaced!

I was thinking that even with some compensation I'd feel a little guilty, but if beer is all that people need then that helps my conscience if and when I call for someone for assistance.
Click to expand...

Badger Bill is only a couple of junctions up the M5 from Bristol (J13)...

<tuffty/>
 
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