I've been considering buying the vagcom. Has anyone bought theirs from ebay? Im concerned of the location since i see most of the listings are in HONG KONG! I know ross tech is reliable but i dont want to spend over $200 on this. let me know!

 

If your car has CAN then whatever you do dont buy any of those cables on ebay, i have bought two of them now and they have not worked. They do however work with my older a4 that does not have CAN. Your better off saving the doe for the Ross tech system if you have CAN, its worth it.

Hope this helps

 

Funny, I was contemplating last night the same issue.
I said in the past that I have certain reluctance when comes to getting Ebay items that ship from Hong Kong.
However, meantime I purchased an OBD I adapting cable and received it just fine.
Same as you, I don't want to spend 200 on ross tech.

So I was looking into making my own cable since I don't have a laptop, and I don't want to buy a laptop just for VAG purpose.
Already have a 40ft long cat5e cable that reaches perfectly just off the porch where I can park the car. (If you don't have a cable handy, you can buy from CompUSA.com or CablesToGo.com. You can get 75-100 ft for around $ 30)
I'll have to look for a J1962 16-pin male connector around town. Maybe RadioShack carries that.
If I can get it to work, then probably I'll post a "diy" for others to use. Nobody came up with self-made cable write-up as far as I know, although there's one on VWVortex which entails using chemicals, soldering, etc.

 

@ chefro, someone makes a hand held all in one vag-com reader. No laptop required. I do not remember who it is off hand but maybe someone else will. It does cost about the same amount as the Ross-tech setup does.

@ others, I personally have a ebay vag-com cable for my 00 and it works just fine. I bought it from alpha-bid I believe. But I know it will not work with CAN cars and I don't believe any ebay cables will, even if they say they will.

 

Do you guys start the engine before or after you connect the VagCom?

 

It really shouldn't matter. Usually when i'm just checking codes and stuff i'll leave the engine off and keep it in the acc. position.

 

i bought a can usb vagcom cables for my 05 audi a6 with the 1.4 version software(bootleg ) for only 35 cdn works fine just look at the feedback to see if people have bought the same items and are satisfied , no sence in paying for somthing that does the same thing for more money , but you have to make sure you get the right one cause if you have a audi with can they run around 35-100 the for models without can bus you can get then as low as 8-20 bucks .

 

Thanks Jeff. I think actually it costs substantially less than the (licensed +their cable) ross-tech setup. I had a thread some months back regarding a hand-held reader (VAG 4305, or 4505? - I can't recall), in which I posted a link to an EBay one that was doing pretty much everything, except reading blocks as someone pointed out.
I want though to make my own cable. As said, I already have the long cable so I just need the male connector. This makes it for a challenge that just pulls my sleeve, if you know what I mean.
Who knows? it may turn I make a good one that works. It would be right there a receipe for selling a "needed" product on Ebay....lol

 

My A6 is an 01' 2.7t. does it have CAN? and ihave a mac which vagcom does not support correct? I'll have to use my buddys laptop which has windows.

 

ok can some one please explain vag com to me. the way i see it is that your paying basically for a cable that connects your obd to your laptop and the software is free from roos tech ? can some explain this to me and also whats the difference between ross tech ones and the ones on ebay. my car is a 01 a6 2.8 non quat, is it can and what the hell does that mean ?