My Walmart battery has a date code from Dec 2014. Its to the point I get one shot at starting engine, and if it doesn't fire, gotta push start it.

One Winter I didn't get it on Tender, so it went very flat. Probably would still have life life left if wasn't for that incident. But not complaining at 9 years!

I know in the past Honda dealership battery was Panasonic. Went to local dealer, and they only carry Interstate brand. Wanted $175 ($16 of which is core). Costco has Interstate for $92.

Did Honda switch to Interstate, or is this just my local dealership? Parts guy said they'd been exclusively Interstate for all 21 years he's worked there.

In general, for batteries I always recommend Costco Interstate as first choice, Walmart second choice. But for the S, I figured I'd try oem Panasonic. Do other dealers still carry it?

 

I've owned my car for 19 years. Only the OEM that came with the car was Panasonic. To the best of my knowledge and as I recall from 19 years on this forum, dealerships have always sold North American made Honda branded batteries exclusively.

 

My dealer threw me a bone a few years ago and replaced the original one for $105 installed. (They had the old battery)

It is indeed an Interstate battery. They make so many of the branded batteries.

 

yeah they aren't gonna import batteries when they can get ones made here. the prices would be crazy. there's only a few manufacturers for all the brands.

 

So its a Honda branded Interstate?

 

there are like 3 or 4 major battery manufacturers in the us. brookfield and exide make interstate. used to be johnson.

 

Right, but Panasonic isn't one of them. So the questions at hand, what battery do Honda dealers currently sell?

It used to be Panasonic. Is it something else now? What? Is it a rebranded Interstate battery? Was my local dealer just going rogue selling Interstate instead of Honda corp battery?

 

I do know the best car battery I have ever owned was the one that came new in my Scion I bought in 2004. And it was a Panasonic 10 years of harsh MN winters and some winters not driven for months, with no tender. That battery was finally getting a bit weak after 10 years. Never had another that was that good.

But as others said, it makes little since to import batteries and my bet is it is a rebranded Interstate or something similar. I have had a Napa battery in mine for about 5 years now with no issues. Granted, my car sees at most 5000 miles a year and sits on a tender all winter so the battery has a pretty good life in terms of a car battery.

 

Yeah, I mean my Walmart battery gave me 9 years. So a local Costco Interstate or a Walmart are certainly solid choices.

Its just that if I could get a Honda Panasonic, I would. According to old forum posts, that used to be the case. Dealers sold Panasonic replacements. That no longer seems to be the case.

Now just curious what dealerships actually sell. Figure it'd be useful for community to know.

One thing that is confusing, local dealer parts guy says local dealer has been selling Interstate for over 21 years. That contradicts old posts where people bought Panasonic from dealer from dates after that time. So not sure if local dealer went rogue back then, but since then Honda corp now has all dealers follow suit. Or maybe Honda made the switch long ago, and people that reported getting Panasonic simply because dealer still had some old ones on shelf.

At this point I'm going to just get Costco Interstate. But I want to get answer what dealers nationwide are actually selling, so it becomes community knowledge.

 

I tried to get an original Panasonic battery back in 2010. Never once could I find it anywhere.