Hi, I'm thining of investing in some diagnostics stuff. Is there software/hardware which can utilise my laptop to diagnose engine problems? A PC seems like quite a powerful tool, I've just never heard of software/hardware for one. On the other hand, has anyone got one of the handheld diagnostic thingys which they can recommend? I don't want an expensive professional version, what is out there which is good and under a hundred quid or so? The last time I took my car in and was plugged into a diagnostic machine, I was charged £25. I have seen diagnostic machines for not much more than this.

It all boils down to how much complexity you want, if you want something to simply read fault codes then just buy a cheapo eBay £25 jobbie, but if you want to get a lot more functionality then go for vcds on a pc based computer, this gives you dealer level access to measuring blocks, adaption, login etc etc..

on a felicia you don't need the fully blown version of vcds, you can get away with just using the lite version which is quite a lot cheaper.