As petrol/manual cars decline in popularity, I want to give myself the best chance of keeping my VRS for as long as possible. Hence I wish to fit an OBDII Adaptor so that I can monitor its status as it ages. For the life of me I cannot find the port and would like advice as to who to go to get this done for me, once I buy the adaptor itself. In truth I am getting a bit old for crawling under dashboards and am not sure if this is something my local garage would be willing to do. I have not approached them yet. Any advice from VRS owners would be welome.

Hi John,

Have a look in the owners manual, it’s usually shown on the dash board/ cabin layouts. But in general with VAG cars it’s located on the lower panel area of the dashboard below the headlight switch near the drivers door. It may have a little cover over it or not, I don’t know the exact layout of a mk4.

Also,

Just buy an obd11 or carista or elm327 Bluetooth dongle off the internet, install the relevant app on your phone sync them together and have fun.

The elm327’s usually use Torque as the app. In which case pay the few pennies and get the TorquePro version. Gives you much more useful information and diagnosis options.

Edited 11 October, 202511 Oct by mac11irl

Pink socket right side of steering column

On 11/10/2025 at 18:28, mac11irl said:

Hi John,

Have a look in the owners manual, it’s usually shown on the dash board/ cabin layouts. But in general with VAG cars it’s located on the lower panel area of the dashboard below the headlight switch near the drivers door. It may have a little cover over it or not, I don’t know the exact layout of a mk4.

Also,

Just buy an obd11 or carista or elm327 Bluetooth dongle off the internet, install the relevant app on your phone sync them together and have fun.

The elm327’s usually use Torque as the app. In which case pay the few pennies and get the TorquePro version. Gives you much more useful information and diagnosis options.

The OBDII port on a VRS is usually under the dashboard near the steering column or above the pedals. If you are not comfortable accessing it yourself, most local garages or auto electricians can install the adapter for you, just tell them it is a plug-and-play OBDII device.

1 hour ago, pamaxev said:

The OBDII port on a VRS is usually under the dashboard near the steering column or above the pedals. If you are not comfortable accessing it yourself, most local garages or auto electricians can install the adapter for you, just tell them it is a plug-and-play OBDII device.

Think you quoted me by accident instead of the op