One more thing, I have zero mechanical experience so far, but I'd like to start getting into it. Do you think this is a reasonable first job for a total beginner, or is it trickier than it looks

@Mustapha You will need to pay for all configuration changes that can't be done with diagnostics commands. This means if you click on a specific module after connecting Vdash and are able to change something that way, it's for free. If you have to use the "advanced configuration" or "language" menu, you have to pay or buy a subscription. Depending on what options you want to change in total, it might be better to buy a FLAT CONFIG subscription which costs 69 Euros for the first year and includes all configuration changes that are possible. Otherwise single configuration changes usually cost between 19 and 99 Euros depending on what you want to change.
Prices