I've been looking into the GAP IID tool recently, and have just discovered that it is just shy of $1000 in my currency (AUD) which is a pretty hefty sum for something that, in my mind, is just a Bluetooth receiver. Is it worth it? What can I exactly do with it?

 

Dude google Land Rover forums gap iid tool 2020 defender forums.

your welcome.

Now do your work, don’t ask us to do anything until you’ve done a seach, read< ACTUAL READS THE RESULTS then you post up specific questions not some blanket dude I don’t know how to search so what do you think?

 

That search query you gave me was really great, thanks. It led me to the GAP IID Summary which clarified what you can alter in the car. Shall be ordering it soon, and I will post questions here if they arise 😃

 

Wait until Black Friday to get one as they always have a great deal for Black Friday.

 

If you have the cash to burn, it is the best code tool out there for the Defender. Do I have one, no, I bought the extended warranty instead and have an inexpensive Bluetooth code reader. If you wanted to activate some features it could prove useful, but then there goes one weekend. That is just about it. The dark side: my service advisor, who is a very cool guy confided to me over lunch, "we have gotten a few dozen cars that people managed to 'brick' playing with it." (Penske is a huge dealer conglomerate and sees thousands of cars a month) If you are tech savvy, then you can make good use of it. If your more liking you tech to be fairly straightforward then it is a death trap for you, not really tech boob user friendly. Really, I would like it simply to do my brakes, battery and a few other things truly simple maintenance items that modern cars seem to have added a layer of computational necessity to accomplish. Still hard to justify the price over the cost of having the JLR guys do it. I am still somewhat surprised that no competition is out there for the GAP, seeing the high price one would think a brand Y would have reared up by now.

 

Has anyone in this forum Bricked their vehicle using the Gap iiD tool?

 

BTW, it is not just Land Rovers that manage to get into trouble with tools like this there is tons of software for other cars that in effect do the same, VAG for Volkswagen another for BMW's and others for Audis and so on. Somebody latches onto the desire to tinker with the software and puts out a product to satisfy the demand. The implementation varies, a lot, in user friendliness. The ability to cause some issue that may or may not be apparent initially is actually huge. Let's face it the main body of software is not perfect by any stretch that is installed by the factory. Monkey with it and you can have unintended consequences, which are frequently found when fiddling with the tuning. Read more car sites and you will find more stories of folks finding the tweek that tunes their car to software death. Don't fiddle if you do not understand what you're dealing with, is the warning. This forum may not be the best place to find where you can go wrong. I mentioned Alan's comment from Penske, since he was voted best service advisor in the USA by JLR. So I suspect he knows of what he speaks. I have two Federal licenses to do engineering on aircraft and their avionics. I had to take 8 tests, pass a practical exam and complete 3 years of work experience. There is a bunch out there I will not touch, I get paid to come up different systems to do the remote sensing systems in aircraft I use in geology. I just leave the car's software alone. I have to drive it every day. If the airplanes sit on the ground for a day or so while I sit on hold with Garmin or Honeywell, so be it. Just not walking to the market so I can display 007 on the screen and screw it up.

If your good with software and understand what your doing, rock on. If not, pay somebody to do it. Going on 3 years now and not felt the need for the GAP, besides, most likely moving on to a different car soon, then I would need and have to learn yet another software suite and buy another tool.

 

Is it worth it? That's very subjective. Only the end user can decide that.

For $650 or so these are some things I can think of.

• Adaptive Cruise Control
• Dynamic Mode
• Global Open
• Free WiFi Hotspot
• On demand eLift/ eLower
• Check codes/clear codes
• Home maintenance like brake flushing can be completed
• View live values of things on your phone. Handy when airing up.
• Park assist
• Advanced Tow package
• TR2
• Leveling for camping
• Other things too.

I am not at all tech savvy. It's very much an idiot proof tool
The only bricking of cars I hear are in threads like this where someone heard it from their neighbor's dog-walker's, stepmother's daughter's boyfriend who works in a garage... yada yada..
Nothing is zero risk but the tool is really very simple to use. YMMV

 

Gavin, great respect for you, but I can give you Alan's phone number. He is the top service rep in the country, a bit more than a dog walker. If he gets bricked cars I believe him. The activations do depend on your trim level. Mine came with pretty much all that, so I really could not see any point except doing the brakes, kind of pricey for a brake job. I flushed my brake fluid without issue, no GAP tool. It would also be nice for batteries, I am on my 4th now. I do have warranty on it, so they keep on buying them. What I truly find interesting that Simon at Powerful, after 4 years has still not found any programming on the GAP that would fix the issue he first pointed out. Battery drain. Short of pulling fuses, he has never found a solution via software. LR has not as well, so the drain is pretty baked in. Kind of if you fix it, you have to screw up something fairly profoundly or they would not let such a blatant defect continue. Like I mentioned, as soon as I find the replacement; new car. I am tired of plugging in both my wife and my car every 7 days. It is official from JLR, if you don't drive it for 5-7 days you need to plug it in. I got that word from Alan just a couple of weeks ago in an email (right after my last battery).

 

Fair enough @Dogpilot You too, tend to speak the truth and usually have plenty of stuff to say that's worth listening to. Respect for you mate. No doubt a top tier bloke and forum member in my mind.

I'm sure Alan knows his onions, it's just that I've yet to see/read a first hand user example, here, on FB groups, or in the FB GAP user groups I frequent, where someone is lamenting their bricked vehicle with the tool. It's all trickle down info. So I'm skeptical to say the least. I have no doubt it's possible but not something that should be a major concern.

The value in GAP IID as I said, is very subjective. Trim level and what you already have will be a factor for sure. Some folks value spoilers and carbon fiber bedazzlement. Value/beauty is in the eye of the beholder as with most things. Some folks like tuning cars. Dynamic mode is great fun. Not a tune but for folks who like that sort of thing, this would be good bang for their buck. Adaptive cruise was a $1200 add on with my build so I passed. Adding it with the tool, from a financial point of view, pays for the tool, twice over. I love, love, love my on demand eLift. Tremendously useful.

As a side note on the brake flush. Without activating service mode with GAP or another comparable device, you can't flush the entire system. I speak from personal experience, having done the flush both with and without activating service mode ie: Incomplete and complete. You can hear the valves opening in the system as you activate service mode. There is a nice diagram in the Brembo brake upgrade thread that I put in my home service thread that illustrates the details.

Anyway, I'm sure most folks can decide for themselves after a modicum of research if the tool is worth it, if it's risky, or if it's not for them.

I'm like an annoying evangelical preacher with this tool. I think it's incredibly great value, I've experienced stellar customer support from the good folks at GAP, and view it as an almost must-have for any Defender enthusiast. Be it someone who likes to tinker with their own vehicle, or like me is a cheap bastard and likes to unlock hidden features. Testify!