Can anyone recommend a good VCDS that is not too dear but can do basic and advanced logging while driving, and set preferences for the car dash/CCM etc?

You could use Unit18 in Milton Keynes

What sort of things are you looking to log?

Can anyone recommend a good VCDS that is not too dear but can do basic and advanced logging while driving, and set preferences for the car dash/CCM etc?

I bought a "dumb K-line" USB cable from ebay for ~£13, and then bought the full license to VCDS-lite direct from ross-tech for $99 - about £65, so less than £80 all in. This is totally legitimate and gives you an upgrade path to full-blown VCDS in the future if you need it (ie you buy a CAN vehicle, which the dumb K-line cables can't do).

You can do graphing and adaptation saving using VCDS-lite. It doesn't have "advanced measuring blocks" , "acceleration measurement" or the handy service reset wizard - you have to follow a process setting individual values in the instrument cluster with VCDS-lite - so if those things are important to you then I don't think you have any other option than full VCDS. It is also tied to the computer you buy it for via a license file - if you buy one of the advanced cables with full VCDS the license is in the cable itself. Plus Ross-tech will give you full support if you buy their cable; some of the cables can be problematic to get going if no drivers etc supplied. The one I got worked fine for me, but I do work in SW/HW engineering. But you should be able to work out if your cable + PC works with VCDS-lite shareware version first, and then when you are happy buy the full license. That way your loss if you can't get it going is only £13.

As others will no doubt say be wary of any cable on ebay telling you that you need to keep it disconnected from the internet etc - basically these are pirate versions of the advanced cables + SW - I certainly wouldn't trust my car to a piece of pirate SW. These give Ross-tech no reward for all their hard work in creating such a great piece of SW.

At some point I will do the upgrade to full VCDS (probably when I get a CAN capable car), but at the moment VCDS-lite is enough for me, and works great on my 2005 Superb and my brother's 2000 Golf.

Here is the table comparing full vs lite:

Full vs Lite VCDS

Here is the upgrade deal for lite to full - $249 (£158) - but you might have to pay VAT / duty on that when they ship it to you.

VCDS-lite upgrade deal

I took apart the cable I bought and it was really quite well built, and used an FTDI USB serial chip, which is pretty top-of-the-range (I've designed that part into products before). The cables based on "Prolific" chipsets I think can be a bit more temperamental. These generic dumb cables will all give higher latency (ie slower perfomance) than the proper VCDS cables as those have an intelligent microcontroller inside them which deals with the protocol etc in the connector. With a dumb cable they are basically just converting the electrical signals into RS232 and then into USB via a converter chip, with all the protocol layer happening in the SW on the PC.

Here is the generic dumb k-line cable I bought:

generic dumb k-line USB lead

I bought a "dumb K-line" USB cable from ebay for ~£13, and then bought the full license to VCDS-lite direct from ross-tech for $99 - about £65, so less than £80 all in. This is totally legitimate and gives you an upgrade path to full-blown VCDS in the future if you need it (ie you buy a CAN vehicle, which the dumb K-line cables can't do).

You can do graphing and adaptation saving using VCDS-lite. It doesn't have "advanced measuring blocks" , "acceleration measurement" or the handy service reset wizard - you have to follow a process setting individual values in the instrument cluster with VCDS-lite - so if those things are important to you then I don't think you have any other option than full VCDS. It is also tied to the computer you buy it for via a license file - if you buy one of the advanced cables with full VCDS the license is in the cable itself. Plus Ross-tech will give you full support if you buy their cable; some of the cables can be problematic to get going if no drivers etc supplied. The one I got worked fine for me, but I do work in SW/HW engineering. But you should be able to work out if your cable + PC works with VCDS-lite shareware version first, and then when you are happy buy the full license. That way your loss if you can't get it going is only £13.

As others will no doubt say be wary of any cable on ebay telling you that you need to keep it disconnected from the internet etc - basically these are pirate versions of the advanced cables + SW - I certainly wouldn't trust my car to a piece of pirate SW. These give Ross-tech no reward for all their hard work in creating such a great piece of SW.

At some point I will do the upgrade to full VCDS (probably when I get a CAN capable car), but at the moment VCDS-lite is enough for me, and works great on my 2005 Superb and my brother's 2000 Golf.

Here is the table comparing full vs lite:

Full vs Lite VCDS

Here is the upgrade deal for lite to full - $249 (£158) - but you might have to pay VAT / duty on that when they ship it to you.

VCDS-lite upgrade deal

I took apart the cable I bought and it was really quite well built, and used an FTDI USB serial chip, which is pretty top-of-the-range (I've designed that part into products before). The cables based on "Prolific" chipsets I think can be a bit more temperamental. These generic dumb cables will all give higher latency (ie slower perfomance) than the proper VCDS cables as those have an intelligent microcontroller inside them which deals with the protocol etc in the connector. With a dumb cable they are basically just converting the electrical signals into RS232 and then into USB via a converter chip, with all the protocol layer happening in the SW on the PC.

Here is the generic dumb k-line cable I bought:

generic dumb k-line USB lead

Many thanks for your detailed response

Basically I want to be logging ECU parameters on the fly, like injection quantity, boost pressure, etc. Have decided to do a bit of tuning myself on the 2.5 tdi, developing maps, tweaking bits here and there, for a bit more power, and better fuel economy.

I know, there will be people saying I'm mad. But my background enables me to do this quite effectively myself - plus it's good fun.

I think the cheaper option would be good enough for that. Try it out perhaps. If you are near to Norwich you are welcome to give mine a go and see if it does what you want.

I think the cheaper option would be good enough for that. Try it out perhaps. If you are near to Norwich you are welcome to give mine a go and see if it does what you want.

Cheers mate

I'm quite far from Norwich though

Cheers mate

I'm quite far from Norwich though

Hehe oh yeah, I was on my mobile which doesn't show location... Probably cheaper to buy the cable than drive here in a 2.5!

Can't remember on the non pd engines to be honest but PD engines you can't read fuel data on the fly, injection quantities change to fast for the software to read it. Injector values only show at idle.

Thanks for all the responses. I have been doing more research and have possibly decided to go for full version, as I am keen on good quality data logging, and service reset etc.

Am I right in concluding that if I purchase a full HEX-CAN version CABLE from Ross Tech and downloaded VCDS (not Lite version), that's all I need? There are no additional fees for the actual laptop software - all the licensing is effectively in the CAN box of tricks in the cable itself? That's what it sounds like. Or did I misread?

My brother owns a Seat Ibiza and we are considering getting the full version and splitting costs as we'll both need it.

Pretty spot on.

Once you have the full Ross-Tech interface and licence all further updates are free.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers buddy

If you buy new you will be a registered user and get unlimited hardware, software and application support (assistance with diagnosing, trouble-shooting, repairing, and modifying cars).

Free updates include all major versions - you won't ever have to pay to upgrade the software.

If you buy new you will be a registered user and get unlimited hardware, software and application support (assistance with diagnosing, trouble-shooting, repairing, and modifying cars).

Free updates include all major versions - you won't ever have to pay to upgrade the software.

Beautiful.... that's what I call full service supplier.