Hi everyone,

First time Audi owner here and I’ve just acquired a 2016 Japanese import Q5 petrol and do a fair bit of maintenance and repair myself. 

I used a icarsoft on my Jaguar which is a brilliant bit of kit and I’ve seen they do them for Audi but I’ve seen a few posts that have mentioned Carista and I wonder if anyone could recommend either one.

It will be used mostly for simple diagnostics and things like rear pad replacement and coding a new battery if it needs it. 

Many thanks
 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people use vcds and obd11

Autel ap200 or topdon .   Jap import could give issues though. Best ask the companies if ok via the VIN .. 

Thanks for your replies.
 I don’t really want to go down the laptop route so I think it’s going to be Carista or OBD11. 
As I mentioned above the car is a Japanese import and one of the things I’d like to do is to enable the DRL’s if possible, does anyone know if this is possible with Carista or OBD11?
 

I've had good feedback on here for Carly - but at the same time watch out in case you consider them - they have a really, really shabby sales practice, and as part of the check-out process you immediately lose any right to return the scanner or cancel subscription! ( this is even after I had contacted their customer service to ask about what features were included   - and they suggested I could buy it to see if it was what we needed  - obviously knowing full well that if it wasn't suitable for us we'd be stuffed and have to keep it! )

I know you're not going down VCDS route, but with VCDS, it's the same diagnostic kit Audi use, apart from ODIS for removal of component protection, etc. You also get lifetime software updates and can post diagnostic scans to dedicated user's forum if your stumped by an issue. It does battery coding, rear discs, plus a lot more if you're going down coding route.

Carly from what I've read is a generic OBD2 reader, however there's a annual renewal premium, so don't be caught out. I've also heard their customer support is poor.

Thanks again for your replies. 
 

I’ve gone for a Carista with a pro app subscription. 
 

I’ll let you know how it goes once it arrives. 
 

 

Update

 

I bought a Carista with the pro app and found easy to set up and use. 
It also enabled the DLR’s easily but when I tried to enable the Audi Drive Select I got a headlight leveling fault on the dash which went away when I disabled the ADS. 
It was probably something I did wrong so I’ll give it another try at some point. Other than that it does everything else I need.