XTOOL iOBD2 on-board diagnostic tool

Speedos and in-car fuel economy readings are notoriously inaccurate, but this clever new kit flashes up real-time performance and efficiency data on your phone.

iOBD2 comprises a small white box and a free smartphone app. The box took minutes to fit, as it simply attaches to your car’s On Board Diagnostic (OBDII) port – under the steering wheel in our Kia and in the glovebox of our Peugeot.

Once you’ve downloaded the app to your Apple or Android smartphone, select iOBD2 from your list of WiFi connections. Enter your car’s details, and you get three ways to view live data: Diagnosis, Performance Test and My Dashboard. Diagnosis offers the most info, so can bring up fault codes and tell you what they mean. It found a problem on our car we thought had been rectified.

Performance Test lets you measure acceleration or braking over a set time or distance, while My Dashboard enables you to personalise the data – everything from revs, speed and efficiency
to coolant temperature. However, the displays could be clearer.

At £114, it’s not cheap. Its rival from Garmin, the ecoRoute HD (our Product of the Year 2011), is £99.99, but is for Android only. iOBD 2 works on Android and Apple devices, and is a worthy investment for its functionality.