Morning,

I am picking up a used car and then a couple of weeks later going on holiday for a fortnight.

The car is three years old and I don't fancy coming back to the hassle of a dead battery - what are the batteries like on these, anything I should worry about, replace it before I go, or are they generally strong?

Cheers

Go to Maplin and buy one of their small solar panel trickle chargers, they sit on the dash inside the car, cables can be led via the drivers door hinge invisibly to the engine bay where there is a + and - post to clip the crocodile clips onto. Cost of a new battery £100+ cost of solar charger £12. The car’s battery is in the boot, under the powered tailgate so the bonnet terminals are essential to jump start. My car was started on Monday after 7 weeks on the drive under the snow and started first press of the button after disconnecting the panel.
Solar panel is here https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/solar-powered-1...rger-l58bf
Photos of how to place leads - if you don’t want to put the panel on the dash topper then it also sits nicely on the Centre chubby box lid and gets enough daylight via the panoramic roof panel if you have one.







 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Cheers - are the batteries weak?

Well mine are three years old and in October we’re completely dead, jump start and a 40 mile drive recharged it and it has been fine since. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

You can get a similar solar trickle charger from the AA but this has the benefit of a plug to fit OBD port thus avoiding wiring to the engine bay. Mine works fine and alleviates the drain from a hardwired dash cam.

My MY2016 SDV8 (sept 2015) is happy when left on my drive for two weeks. I tend to do long drives and then no drives at all . 2016 RRS 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography Dynamic in Montalcino Red and Stealth Kit