MP4.2+6.0

I think the answer is in between somewhere. I figure 95-99% of owners have no idea of what scanning a car is, and a good percentage of those are just as likely to think it is a scam as a scan when you whip out a cable and laptop. More than a few will probably (erroneously) think you may damage their car too.

And to add to the fun of who scams whom, just read forums for a while. Seems like a fair percentage of older cars somehow mysteriously have a CEL come on after a couple of days post purchase. As in, someone probably cleared the codes and for ones like SAI that take two driving cycles to appear, bad surprise a few days later. Why technically you also want to look at the readiness codes, which seems like best clue someone just wiped it and then scan itself may be not worth that much. Most of those posts seems to involve used car dealers (or auctioned vehicles) from my passive reads. No surprise.

Clearly one of the best diagnostic tools out there, and the one that can reach deep into modern electrical and electronic systems and spot what can be big (or small) issues. Other standard check besides though test drive and trying every control and switch is a deep look underneath, though without a PPI I can guess a lot of purchases don't really get to that either.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

and laptop hooking up to their cars. I don't trust anyone with Electronic stuff that can modify my car. People who let someone with hooking up may be the one with the problems. I wouldn't. Then again, I have VCDS and I would do it in front of the buyer.

Cheers,

Louis

Doc_A8

The laptop is the issue here, not the scan. I would accept a standard scanner check, but letting someone unknown to me hook their PC up to my car is a no go.

ohsigmachi

Hardly, The VAG505 has done everything I have ever needed it to do in my 6 years of D3 ownership.

Retract e-brake? Check (twice)
Reset Service reminder? Check (5 times)
Track down malfunctioning park assist sensor? Check
Diagnose stuck combi-valve? check
Diagnose faulty HVAC fan motor? check

I have never needed a Rosstech cable, and since my current laptop uses windows 10, I'm not sure I could use successfully it if I had it, and I'd rather not hang on to an obsolete laptop just to use on my car.

Jack88

Windows 10 works fine for VCDS. If you've gotten along fine with the other, that's good. I don't know the limitations of that piece of equipment, though.

05audiman

You're beating a dead horse. Not everyone wants to bother the original settings of the car. Sometimes just finding out what's wrong is enough. In order to justify paying $350, you'll never hear the end of it. Kudos to you though, I actually have one of those in my garage and completely forgot until running across this post. Maybe I'll do my rear pads when it's time to pull the Audi back out.

storka

Basically each to his own.
All depends what you need to or want to do.
As above I have used the clone 15. Ver and works just as well as the real one but no support and developers get ripped off and will probably get fried if connected to the Internet.
If you want to use 505 there will be limitations but if that's what you need so be it.

Jack88

The term 'intellectual property' doesn't mean much to you, eh?

richard-tx

Intellectual property? Ross Tech got his start by reverse engineering the original VAGCOM which is at best a grey area and at worst, outright theft of IP. Ross-Tech says this: "We've invested a large amount of time and expense into reverse-engineering the VAG protocols..." which sounds like a confession to me.

VAG-COM-FAQ-3.5 - Ross-Tech Wiki

So if you want to start down that path, be my guest. It will be a rather one sided conversation as I refuse to get further involved in the IP topic at all.

Finally here is what the TCD website says...

"this is NOT the original RossTech VAG-COM kit... (Even though we encourage you to get the original ..."

Let your conscience by your guide....not mine.

Me? I have both the TCD VCDS and the R-T. Which one gets used depends on the car and the person using it.

Have a happy day!

richard-tx

Support - The longest running bad joke in IT for over 20 years. Some might call it the biggest, longest running, legal scam ever foisted on the gullible masses.

I have to laugh when people talk about a lack of support being a bad thing for a bit of software for a variety of reasons. Firstly, if the software is worth running, it won't need support. I work in a high stakes environment and we are running some software that is at least 14 years old and has never needed support. It just runs. It is critical, but it just does it's thing day in and day out for years. Some have tried to break it, but it just keeps going.

Secondly, calling software support is almost always pointless. They either 1 - record the issue and never resolve it or 2- tell you to upgrade for some ridiculous amount of money which still doesn't fix the problem or 3 - do both.

I cannot count the number of times I have called for support to be told "We don't support that version. You have to upgrade". So we upgrade and the issue is still there and then they record it and never fix it. Call for an update and they say "that will be fixed in the next release." which of course never happens. The product gets discontinued. Why? Because it cost too much to support.

Of all the companies that I have dealt with, there is exactly one that actually fixes bugs or adds requested features in a timely fashion (1-5 days) and it isn't Ross-Tech. I and others have requested some features from R-T over a year ago and we are still waiting. In the end, R-T is no worse or better than anyone else with the one exception mentioned previously.

In general, support is non-existent so just plan on it not being there when, or if you need it.

Have a happy day.