As I sit here waiting

**Rhigour** · 10-11-2011,12:02 PM

OK time to take the wife for her shopping trip, get keys, open garage , hop in , in with key , turn the key, NOTHING ! Total and complete electrical failure. Not only no lights on fascia , no operation of remote locking , not the merest glimmer from anything electrical. Not very good on an 6 month vehicle . So here I am, waiting for VW Recovery (RAC). It makes you think dunnit ! Been driving and owning cars for 50 years, some of the early ones were 20 years old before I changed but in all that time I have never had a car do this to me before, I have had things go wrong and had to limp home , but to end up with a ton and a quarter of defunct metal is a new one for me. It destroys your faith in so called progress. Bring back the Morris Moggie Minor, nothing more recalitrant on that than the electric fuel pump that when it stuck you cured it by whacking it with the handle of a screwdriver. Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

**The PM** · 10-11-2011,12:41 PM

How we have short memories! I think Clarkson got it right on one of his (non-TG) programmes when he was comparing Jap cars and British ones in the early 70s and showed a British car doing its usual thing when the weather was damp - churning over and over without firing whilst the Datsun next door fired up first time and drove off...

I'll live with the (very, very occasional) blip for the reliability of modern cars compared with the old ones and never knowing if you'd make it home... Also not having to rebuild the engines after 50k and far better fuel economy...

**Hughesynights** · 10-11-2011,12:41 PM

Doh!

Have you tried turning it off then on again?

**thebobster** · 10-11-2011,01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Hughesynights

Doh!

Have you tried turning it off then on again?

Do you work in I.T. as well ?

**Brian566** · 10-11-2011,02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Rhigour

OK time to take the wife for her shopping trip, get keys, open garage , hop in , in with key , turn the key, NOTHING ! Total and complete electrical failure. Not only no lights on fascia , no operation of remote locking , not the merest glimmer from anything electrical. Not very good on an 6 month vehicle . So here I am, waiting for VW Recovery (RAC). It makes you think dunnit ! Been driving and owning cars for 50 years, some of the early ones were 20 years old before I changed but in all that time I have never had a car do this to me before, I have had things go wrong and had to limp home , but to end up with a ton and a quarter of defunct metal is a new one for me. It destroys your faith in so called progress. Bring back the Morris Moggie Minor, nothing more recalitrant on that than the electric fuel pump that when it stuck you cured it by whacking it with the handle of a screwdriver. Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

Be verey Interested with Outcome the More I hear I worry if I have made a mistake with this car and gone with Mazda

**Hughesynights** · 10-11-2011,02:14 PM

My mother doesn't like the Stop - Start feature because she "comes from a time when, if your engine stops working, it probably won't start again".

**HHGTTG** · 10-11-2011,02:36 PM

Have you done the obvious and checked the security of the battery connection?

**Rhigour** · 10-11-2011,03:53 PM

Did all that, RAC (VW Assist) came , put tester on battery, nothing in it -flat, plugged his power pack in no interior lights left on but footwell light was on but this was probably because I had this AM been in the car and not shut door fully . Started car and when run for while put tester on live lead , only minimal current drain as you would expect from instruments clock etc . So I am up and running but with fingers crossed. Not at all sure what drained the battery overnight.

**HHGTTG** · 10-11-2011,04:05 PM

As far as I'm aware interior lights and radio (certainly) auto cut-off after pre-determined time to avoid complete battery drain. My car does, I know and so what cauused your battery to flatten, needs to be addressed.

**Keithuk** · 10-11-2011,04:26 PM

I've read about this happening before no instrument lights and won't start appears to be a dead battery. They went away and came back later and all power back and it started as normal. The battery could have collapsed or its a bad connection somewhere you need to get it checked.

So after you run it for a while did it startup on its own battery?