Will Torq work
with my car?

Here's the honest truth about compatibility — including the caveats.

The short answer: if your car was made after 2001 (UK/EU) or 1996 (US), it almost certainly has an OBD-II port and Torq will connect to it. That covers the vast majority of cars on the road today.

The OBD-II standard (EOBD in Europe) is mandatory for petrol cars from 2001 and diesel cars from 2004 in the UK/EU, and all cars from 1996 in the US. It's a standardised socket under your dashboard (usually near the steering column, driver's side) and Torq connects to it using a small Bluetooth adapter you plug in.

By fuel type

Older cars (2001–2004)

Technically OBD-II compliant, but there's a catch: many cars from this era, especially early diesels and some European petrol cars, respond to fewer standard sensor requests than modern cars. Instead of 20–60 sensors you might get 10–20. The connection will work, you'll get fault codes, and the most important sensors will be there — it's just not the full picture.

It's worth trying. Most 2001–2004 petrol cars are fine. Most diesels from this era are more variable. Early Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Peugeot diesels from 2001–2003 are the most likely to give limited data.

Electric cars

EVs have an OBD-II port and Torq connects to it. What you'll actually see varies significantly by make and model — there's no engine data (no RPM, fuel trims, etc.), but how much EV-specific data is visible depends on whether the manufacturer exposes it through the standard OBD-II interface. Some do, some don't.

What you might see (where the car exposes it): state of charge, pack voltage (200–800V is normal), battery temperature, motor temperature, estimated range, charging status. But here's the honest caveat: many EVs store this data in proprietary manufacturer systems, not the standard OBD-II interface. Torq can only read what the car exposes through standard OBD.

Nissan Leaf (2011–2023): Connects fine, but the deep battery data — cell voltages, health percentage (Hx), battery degradation — is in Nissan's proprietary protocol, not standard OBD-II. For that level of data, a Leaf-specific tool like LeafSpy is the better choice. Torq will show fault codes and whatever standard readings the Leaf exposes.

Generally good EV coverage: Hyundai Ioniq 5/6, Kia EV6, Volkswagen ID.4, BMW i3, Renault Zoe — these tend to expose more data through standard OBD. Limited coverage: early Tesla models (Tesla uses its own system; standard OBD access is very restricted), and Nissan Leaf for deep battery data (see above).

Aldo is aware of EV context and won't flag missing engine data as a fault.

Modified or tuned cars

Torq will connect and read data just fine. But there's something important to do: tell Aldo your car is modified. If you've got a Stage 1 or Stage 2 tune, raised fuel trims are intentional — without that context, Aldo might flag them as a problem when they're not.

In Torq's car profile settings there's a field to note that the car is modified. Once that's set, Aldo adjusts how it interprets unusual readings. Anything that looks intentionally rich, boosted, or out of spec gets treated with more context rather than flagged immediately.

What OBD adapter do you need?

Any standard Bluetooth OBD-II adapter will work. The key things to avoid:

• Ultra-cheap adapters under £5. Most OBD adapters use an internal chip called ELM327 — the cheap clones (often from no-name Amazon sellers) fake this chip and send unreliable data or drop the connection. The £20–25 ones are worth it.
• Adapters labelled "for Android only" — some older Bluetooth adapters use a connection method that doesn't work reliably on Windows. Look for "BLE" (Bluetooth Low Energy) adapters; the VEEPEAK OBDCheck BLE+ is specifically this type.
• Insurance tracking dongles or subscription-service adapters — these are locked to their own apps and won't work with Torq.
• Adapters marketed specifically for 2020+ vehicles using specialist connection protocols — these won't work with Torq. Most modern cars still support standard OBD-II; only some very new models may have reduced data access regardless of which adapter you use.

What Torq can't do

Torq reads live sensor data and active fault codes. That's genuinely useful — but it's worth being clear about the limits, especially if you're thinking of using it for a used car inspection.

• No fault code history. Torq sees codes that are active right now. If a code was stored and cleared before you plugged in, it's invisible. A seller can clear codes before a viewing.
• No DPF soot load. How full the diesel particulate filter is requires manufacturer-specific software — standard OBD-II only shows a fault code after the DPF has already triggered a problem.
• No injector contribution test. Identifying a misfiring cylinder requires switching injectors off one at a time — that's bi-directional control Torq doesn't have. Aldo can point at injectors as the likely cause but can't tell you which one.
• No physical inspection. Aldo can't hear your car, smell it, feel what happens under acceleration, or see worn brake pads. For anything safety-critical, a mechanic with their hands on the car is the call.
• Not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection. If you're buying a used car, use Torq alongside — not instead of — a professional pre-purchase check. The £150 inspection fee is worth it.
• Standard OBD polling is slow. Torq reads data at roughly 1–5 samples per second per sensor. Professional workshop scanners can do 20+ samples per second. Very brief transient faults — a momentary fuel pressure drop, a crankshaft sensor glitch — can happen between samples and not appear. Sustained faults and trends show up clearly; millisecond events may not.

Cars that are a bit tricky

• Early Alfa Romeo diesels (2001–2005): OBD-II connection works, but may only return 10–20 sensors. Fault codes still come through.
• BMW (standard OBD): Standard OBD-II data works fine with Torq — fault codes, engine sensors, fuel trims all come through. Deep BMW-specific functions (adaptations, coding, ISTA diagnostics, gearbox data) are beyond standard OBD-II and need dedicated BMW software like ISTA.
• Peugeot / Citroën / Vauxhall (PSA/Stellantis group): Generally good coverage. Many PSA group cars expose manufacturer-specific fault codes through standard OBD — better than some premium brands.
• Early Tesla: Limited standard OBD-II access. Torq connects but may see very few sensors depending on the model year.
• Pre-2003 Land Rover: Hit or miss. Some return good data, some very little. Worth trying.
• Some 2001–2002 cars (first-gen OBD-II): Connection works but sensor responses can be slow or incomplete. Usually fine, occasionally not.
• Heavily tuned/race cars with aftermarket ECUs: If the ECU doesn't follow the OBD-II standard (some standalone ECUs don't), Torq won't get data.

If you're unsure whether your specific car works, the best thing is to try. The OBD adapter is the only cost involved in finding out, and it'll work with many other apps too.