Looking To Buy VagCom Is It Worth It???

**cyberduderen** · 11-09-2007,09:37 AM

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting Ross-Techs VagCom but was wondering if it is worth the money, I have a 1996 P reg Audi A4 2.6 V6 which only cost me £1200 so $249 for a cable and software seems a little extreme.

What advantages would I have with the genuine registered version over the free version with a cable from ebay or even a CAN Bus VW Audi Trouble Code Reader Scanner U281 and oil reset tool?

I'm thinking this is the correct cable for my car,
KEY- USBDual-K VAG <-> USB Communications Interface

For use with,
Release 704.1
Data Version 20070723

Bearing in mind the age of my car am I right in thinking there's not a great deal I can do with the software or am I wrong?
I would mainly use the software for identifying problems and hopefully repairing the car myself when things go wrong (as they seem to quite frequently)
I'm not very experienced with messing about with cars but would give it a go if it mean't saving money on garage bills.

Thanks in advance

**Col** · 11-09-2007,11:04 AM

The best way of weighing up the decision to buy or not is to consider that you only need to use it once to solve a problem and it will have virtually paid for itself. The added bonus is that you will still have it to solve the next problem!

In my mind, having it is as essential as having a socket set.

**cyberduderen** · 11-09-2007,01:01 PM

Will it tell me any more than the freeware version or a fault code reader though?

**Crasher** · 11-09-2007,02:20 PM

Buy the proper registered version and you will buy the best tool you ever could. The freeware version is not good enough as it is many functions blocked out.

**cbrpaul** · 11-09-2007,03:54 PM

or find someone on here close to you with vagcom ,

and pay them in beer tokens !!!!

**cyberduderen** · 19-09-2007,08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Crasher

Buy the proper registered version and you will buy the best tool you ever could. The freeware version is not good enough as it is many functions blocked out.

what about if I registered it for $99?

**Crasher** · 19-09-2007,12:54 PM

I don't know much about that way, I only use proper cables from a company called Ilexa.

**xenon** · 19-09-2007,03:11 PM

I've been looking at getting vag-com too. There are 3 ways that I can see of getting it.
1) Buy 3rd party cable and use release 409 vag-com software in 'shareware' mode.
2) Buy 3rd party cable and register the software for $99. You will get the full version but I don't believe you will be able to use the latest software (release 704).
3) Buy the cable from Ross-Tech (or UK distributor) which will give you the full product at the latest release.

The can-bus cables are for some cars 2003+, so won't be of any use to you now unless you want to 'future-proof' your purchase.

I think what I'll end up doing is getting a 3rd party cable and trying the software in shareware mode. If I need more out of it I will probably buy the proper kit and flog the 3rd party cable on ebay.

**cyberduderen** · 19-09-2007,08:16 PM

Originally Posted by xenon

I've been looking at getting vag-com too. There are 3 ways that I can see of getting it.
1) Buy 3rd party cable and use release 409 vag-com software in 'shareware' mode.
2) Buy 3rd party cable and register the software for $99. You will get the full version but I don't believe you will be able to use the latest software (release 704).
3) Buy the cable from Ross-Tech (or UK distributor) which will give you the full product at the latest release.

The can-bus cables are for some cars 2003+, so won't be of any use to you now unless you want to 'future-proof' your purchase.

I think what I'll end up doing is getting a 3rd party cable and trying the software in shareware mode. If I need more out of it I will probably buy the proper kit and flog the 3rd party cable on ebay.

I'm thinking of going for option 1 first then maybe onto option 2. $249 seems alot to shell out on an 11 year old car, I'm thinking the features on the new version will be no good for me anyway.

**onzarob** · 19-09-2007,08:36 PM

Originally Posted by cyberduderen

what about if I registered it for $99?

I've just registered the 409.1 version for $99 and using a cheep usb cable. I just read my fault codes and changed my egr setting. Actully I'm sitting in the car as we speak

I decided to go the budget route and ross-tech offers an upgrade path, so if i need more i will go that route.