the battery loses its charge to where the car comes to a complete stop. garage cannot figure it out.

If it was me i would get the battery replaced anyway, you can pick them up for 20 pound. If this doesn't work then there may be short circuit on the charging system or elsewhere.

If it's starting without problem it's generally not the battery. When it dies while running it's generally the alternator. I believe your car has an internal VR so I can't point fingers there. The gauges going dead makes me think somethings going out/looseing connection... Check... Battery cables Ground strap Connections to the alternator... Make sure they are all clean and have a smoth mating surface for better contact... My guess is that something is loose... And to have all thoose problems it would have to be a ground or a voltage source from my experience. Only other thing I can figure is something is wrong with your ignition switch, so if you have the means get that checked out. Granted electrical is not my forte, but just humor me. Post back and let us know if you find anything

I agree with Adam, it does sound like you have a loose connection somewhere. Check all your battery connections Adam mentioned and also the one on the back of the starter. Also inspect the cables for signs of internal damage as well.

I think Adam is putting you on the right track cleaning any corrosion and looking for damaged wiring.

replace the battery

I concur with the above repliers - check for a loose connection, loose ground wire or even a bad wire inside the connector itself. Secor Subaru in New London CT followed a problem back to corrosion inside the crimped connector which cause a 1 year old car not to run correctly.

your altenator is going out which is causing to drain the battery. my vehicle was doing the same thing last year and that's what it was if I was you id get that fixed asap because I didn't and my car ended up dying in the middle of a busy street during rush hour let me tell ya you don't want that to happen!!

I have a legacy, and mine did that just the other day, the speedo went down to zero then backup / map system reset etc, my car eventually stopped with no electrics nothing, dead as a door nail. It turned out, the positive connection to the battery had a plastic thing under the connector. the RAC man said it was common for the positive to work its way from connection and he removed the plastic piece underneath and re-connected. Car then started no bother. The only problem I now have, it that I think I have fried my ABS computer :(