The car started giving me trouble two weeks ago. It was sputtering and had no power. It would start, run for less than a minute and then die. Non-VW mechanic had it towed. First day ran fine for him, second day had to push into garage. He found nothing wrong, no codes. Did a 'tune up', replaced gas filter, roter, a few other things. Said it was fine. I got it, drove twenty miles and it died. Sputtered, I took it out of gear and it just died. It won't start at all.

I don't know yet if mechanic checked fuel pump pressure. Or could it be the ECM?

I had it at VW dealer/mechanic the week before it died to get a new key made and programmed. They had to eat the bill because I took it to them three times before the key worked. Could they have messed up and given me a valet key? I have not tried the regular key yet.