Why use vag com?

[Mach 5]

Hi all, I'm new to vag cars. Have always had jap cars until now!

Can someone briefly explain why bag com is needed? You can buy equipment on eBay that reads and resets fault codes for as little as £20. What does vag com do over and above this that makes it worth it's money?

Cheers.

[dixie180]

Be careful what you buy on ebay as there is limits to what the gear can do.The VagCom from RossTech is expensive but its all singing and dancing and can be updated and you can reset everything.


Rob

[Wayne]

A handheld scanner will do most things icluding clearing codes as required.

[Rhyso]

Be careful what you buy on ebay as there is limits to what the gear can do.The VagCom from RossTech is expensive but its all singing and dancing and can be updated and you can reset everything.


Rob

^^^^

Lifetime product support, updates to the latest version.

You can use it to code new modules, clocks etc.  Also you can do live data logging to on the engine.  You can code up certain features, alter parameters etc etc.

A handheld scanner will do most things icluding clearing codes as required.

Can the scanner do ALL of the above? 

Yes VAGCOM is expensive but look at it this way.  Every time you take your car to a garage or VW they charge you to look at it.  Visit 3/4 times and VAGCOM has already paid for itself in diagnostic fees

Also you can earn beer tokens from anyone local to you 

[Wayne]

Can the scanner do ALL of the above? 

Nope, I worded my post a little wrong, the ebay ones will do the basics but Vagcom is still the best bet and as you said it can also earn you money.

I know on my Skoda it was not running right yet the light was not on and no codes were showing on the handheld unit I had, you kindly scanned it at combe and it was showing 3 fault codes.