VCDS or OBDeleven?

[msvphoto]

Not that I actually will be ever working on this car... (I have done all my own maintenance and repairs on our rather sizeable "fleet" for decades now and the e-Golf is the first I will not be doing much work on at all myself).

With that preface, I would still like some diagnostic and custom coding capability. I have an old serial port VCDS cable/dongle that I used for years on my Audis, but my current Audis are both from the 1980s which of course have virtually no on board diagnostics. It is unlimited use, but with no CAN Bus it is good only for cars through around 2004. I can trade the old interface/dongle in with Ross Tech for a new 10 Vin adapter and license for $150, but the only car I am likely to use it on for the foreseeable future is the e-Golf. Kinda spendy since I won't actually be working on this car really. OBDeleven looks interesting, but after feeling somewhat let down by Carly for BMW (for the "range extender" 2000 540i Touring) I wanted to get some pros and cons from the forum.

 

[RonDawg]

I have both OBDeleven and Carista. Carista is a bit easier to use IMHO, and seems to more reliably connect to my phone; I could NEVER get OBDeleven to work on my eGolf, but it works with the Alltrack although slow to connect.

Carista has an iOS app which OBDeleven does not. Carista also I believe will connect through a third-party dongle, though I have their official one. But Carista doesn't let you do long coding, only pre-programmed hacks.

Never tried VCDS/RossTech/VAG-COM.

 

[ultim8gamr]

I'll throw my vote in for VCDS. I've been using it since the VAG-COM days on my b5 A4 and it keeps getting better. The long coding helper makes coding a breeze and it sounds like the team has some great support on the Rosstech site.
The only reason I might want to give OBDeleven a try is that it looks like it has an option to enable video in motion on the head unit. Also nice that it's a tiny OBD dongle. I bought into VCDS in the USB HEX-CAN days so lugging the laptop around can be a pain but really coding changes are only done every once in a blue moon when mods are desired.

 

[msvphoto]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I forgot about Carista. Will check that out also.

I am a long time VCDS/VAG Com user. The adapter I have is an ancient "Key Com" which is serial (works well with a good USB to Serial adapter). It has unlimited use (no Vin restriction) with latest VCDS, but it is so old it has no CAN Buss capability which renders it mostly useless for cars later than around 2004. I was leaning towards keeping it, but my current Audis are from the 1980s so it pretty much gathers dust. Maybe a good idea to update it while Ross Tech has the offer out there.

 

[EdWNorris]

I bought a 2017 egolf back in December, just before the end of the year, and I've been struggling to find a way to get information on state of charge and battery temperature. I have the Carista adapter plug into my diagnostic port, and have downloaded Torque Pro, but I have not been able to figure out a way to configure my Android to read those codes. Is it hopeless, or is there some way to procure that information?

I drove a 2013 Chevy Volt for four years, and found that kind of information amazingly instructive. I intend to keep my Golf in optimal shape as long as I can, so I don't want to push the battery any hotter than I have to, and I'd like to have historical data to know what kind of battery and range durability I'm getting.