There was a thread in the PR forum a while back discussing batteries. What was the consensus best value (NOT cheapest) battery? I don't care what it weighs.

Thanks.

 

Crappy Tire, Walmart or DieHard. They all work pretty well. Call to check on pricing. Walmart's available sizing is somewhat limited and you might not find our size there.

 

 

I believe that WalMart also sells Optima batteries which are quite well renowned amongst car and boat enthusiasts alike. I priced one out for the wife's Civic, and it was in the region of $90. Not bad for a "brand name" battery.

A

 

There have been a few threads on these of late. The general concensus is to go with the Yellow top as the red top ones don't seem to work very well for this car.

 

Do I get the sizing from my manual or is there a list at the store like they do with wiper blades?

 

Places like Sears or Crappy Tire, they'll look it up for you. Walmart should have a reference book. Just make sure you note the terminal placements on your battery first so you don't get them reversed or the cables won't reach. On our car, the terminals are closest to the engine with the positive at the front corner.

 

The red tops don't work very well for our cars because Optima doesn't make a red top 51 series battery! The only Optima battery that fits in our tiny battery tray is a yellow top. The generic battery sizing code is 51D.

I'm a little leary of yellow top batteries. They have terrible warranties for such an expensive battery. The red top warranty is three times as long. The yellow top is a gel cell battery and I'm not convinced that the technology is solid enough. Otherwise, if it was, Optima would be willing to back up their yellow tops like they do their red tops. If you do a search on S2Ki, you'll see that many people have had 51D yellow tops go south pretty quick.

Beside, unless you run a stereo for hours on end, I would think you'd rather have the super reliable cranking power of a red top for our crappy winters, as opposed to the slower, steady drain of a yellow top.

Chris.

 

I'm beginning to think that the Costco Kirkland specials, or the one's Dave mentioned at Canadian Tire look better and better all the time!

A

 

Me too. I thought those Kirklands were pretty good. In fact I seem to remember reading a Consumer Buyer's Guide, and the Kirklands were rated favorably.

Chris.