Best code reader for VW

[Droverunner]

We have two Polos (1.4 petrol 2003 & 2004) in the family and I need code reading ability. One has the engine check lamp on at the moment.

I want something decent for the serious DIYer and have a budget up to £100 or so. Any ideas but prefer not cheap Ebay stuff.

I have seen this website and it looks to have a good range... http://www.gendan.co.uk/category_145.html

I was wondering about their lead and going laptop based with VCDS lite or one of the better handhelds??

Edited by Droverunner on Tuesday 5th August 18:30

[GrahamC230K]

You will not look back if you purchase a Rosstech HEX-USB+CAN lead. Can be bought new for around £230.

It will do everything you will ever likely need and loose very little money if you ever need to sell it.

[Escort3500]

GrahamC230K said:

You will not look back if you purchase a Rosstech HEX-USB+CAN lead. Can be bought new for around £230.

It will do everything you will ever likely need and loose very little money if you ever need to sell it.

^^^ +1. They're an excellent bit of kit. Don't, whatever you do, buy one of the tat efforts peddled on internet auction sites

[ch427]

Gendan sell some nice stuff, laptop based is best if you want good coverage of airbag systems etc but if you cant justify £300 then the £65 vw pro tool looks good.

[Droverunner]

Thanks guys. I already have the software for my BMW on this laptop and it is a bit laggy to use... but in truth has been invaluable. I know it is easy to say if I'd spend £100ish why not go that extra bit to get the full software at £250ish but I'm not 100% sure if I'd get the full value from it so very tempted by the Gendan £65 reader mentioned above as it covers airbag, ABS, climate, service light reset and many other things cheaper readers might not do.

http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VAGT55.html

Then for £130 (or £110 on Ebay) the Foxwell model does all this plus live data and coding if that was useful.

http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FXNT500.html

[ch427]

you will probably never use the coding feature but the electronic parking brake compatibility may come in handy if you do stay with vw for future cars.

[shtu]

Suggestion - for now, buy a £7 ebay bluetooth OBD dongle, and install the free edition of Torque on your phone. This will let you read the fault code. Bit of googling will give you the answer.

Save up the extra £100ish for VCDS. It's a superb tool, and as mentioned will resell for near-as-dammit the price you pay for it.

[Droverunner]

Bluetooth... dongle... phone app??

Hold on a moment I know how to phone people and do a slow text... but the rest is lost on me

[shtu]

Example,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-OBD2-ELM327-V1-5-Blu...

Got an Android phone? Know anyone who does?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....

Sorted with basic code reading abilites for a tenner.

[jc84]

shtu said:

Example,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-OBD2-ELM327-V1-5-Blu...

Got an Android phone? Know anyone who does?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org....

Sorted with basic code reading abilites for a tenner.

Thanks for this! Looks excellent

[ManOpener]

I've got a VGate VS450. Paid about £25 for it. 90% of the time it's worked perfectly, providing proper detailed code information. The remaining 10% of the time I've had to look the codes it produces up on my phone. For the price it's well worth it IMO.

[gregpot2000]

Escort3500 said:

^^^ +1. They're an excellent bit of kit. Don't, whatever you do, buy one of the tat efforts peddled on internet auction sites

shhh I keep it a secret, but I bought a chinese cable from Amazon with a copy of the full VCDS, it cost £40 and it has worked perfectly for nearly a year...

[Soupie69uk]

Do any of these work on Macs?

[shtu]

Soupie69uk said:

Do any of these work on Macs?

Better off buying a cheap\secondhand laptop specifically for the job. Doesn't need to be anything particularly whizzy.

[gregpot2000]

yep, that's what I did, I bought an old windows XP laptop from ebay for 30quid. VCDS probably uses about the same system resources as something like Microsoft word, so it really doesnt have to be anything more than basic

[Droverunner]

Thanks guys for all the ideas. Been busy lately hence delayed reply but made my decision and received the device I chose on Sat. I went for the Foxwell NT500 from Gendan... http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FXNT500.html

Gendan replied quickly to pre-purchase questions and I decided for my own reasons I wanted a compact stand-alone unit and not to go laptop based. Regardless of resale value of VCDS the upfront cost of £263 was just too much at the moment.

I've run scans on both our Polos and sorted the engine fault light on my daughter's, it was a one-off out of range brake switch reading which has cleared OK and not returned. Also found and resolved an issue with one of the aircon motors/flaps. To me the code fault detail seemed quite impressive and explained the fault sufficiently to assist tracing issue.

Only problem initially was that I forgot to download the latest software update (easy to register the unit and do this on the Foxwell website) and until this was done the reader could not connect with the engine systems. Gendan were very quick to respond to my e.mail re this connection issue and point me in the direction of the update process.

So for my needs and budget totally happy.

Edited by Droverunner on Tuesday 19th August 23:46

Edited by Droverunner on Tuesday 19th August 23:47

[s4tronic]

it says in the list of features
Performs special functions such as coding, security access, advanced datastream and more

I wonder if there's list of what coding etc it can actually do on VAG cars?

[Droverunner]

Not that I've seen but ask Gendan if you're interested. They are good at replying to email queries.

[ManOpener]

s4tronic said:

it says in the list of features
Performs special functions such as coding, security access, advanced datastream and more

I wonder if there's list of what coding etc it can actually do on VAG cars?

They're car-specific and you can usually find lists on various forums. For instance, I know with the 1P Leon you can change the electromechanical steering presets to make it feel firmer, enable or disable follow-me-home lights, one touch indicators, automatic window opening/closing from the remote, beep on lock...as well as being able to do stuff like reset the intake manifold flap runners which can stick and cause a CEL and rough idle.

[Droverunner]

I don't think it contains a list of items that can be coded but there is a mass of info that can be gleaned from the 68 page online manual which is many many times more detailed than the short booklet that comes with the unit. http://198.38.89.200/Update/Manual/NT500_English_V...

A lot of it is way in advance of what I'd do with a car and seems to need access to data in or at least taken from the dealer manuals to find your way to the device you want to fiddle with.

Edited by Droverunner on Wednesday 20th August 15:06