Hi all, first great forum I have learned alot about my recent acquisition 1997 XK8. I want to get up and running on the SDD/IDS system i have the software and an old laptop, what i really need is which cable should I use i see people talk about Mongoose, VCM
for my car being 1997 I know it will use the IDS software but all the post are confusing on the adapter to go to the car.
should I use the VCM or the Mongoose, also I saw the true mongoose adapters are very expensive.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated and if any one has a adapter for sale i would be interested.
thanks for the help great bunch of people on here

 

Ideally the VCM1, which seems to be priced S/H similar to the DrewTech Mongoose at ~$600.

The cheap Mongoose/Mangoose knockoffs are around 1/10th of that and are OK for diagnostics, but I understand that it's a can of worms if you want to do any serious module flashing, etc. I guess it depends on what you want to achieve.

See this recent thread from sanchez - there are some helpful posts from motorcarman and DonB which will guide you:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...2/#post2856986

 

I had issues with mongoose and eventually got onto a true clone VCM1, have only needed it on odd occasions but it seems to be full function.
There are many pitfalls to purchasing a fully functional VCM unit however, many out there with gutted circuit boards. Check very carefully that they have the full compliment of boards, double decker, double sided from memory.

 

a knockoff mongoose will do everything you need on an x100.

it can’t reflash aj26/27 ecms but there’s no reason to ever do that.