What car battery would you buy

I trend towards AutoZone for my battery. I've had good luck with them.

Most aftermarket car batteries sold in the U.S. are made by three companies that build them for retailers: Johnson Controls, which supplies more than half of the market; Stryten; and East Penn.

I’m still partial to the Diehard line as I’ve always gotten good longevity from the product. I do not trust the digital devices used to test batteries these days. About a year ago I had an Accord that would not start but every light on the dash came on, relay clicked, etc. After a few attempts it would start. It did this about once a week. AutoZone, Advance, and the Honda dealer said the battery was fine. The dealer wanted $1200 to rotate the torque converter one bolt hole per TSB. We have an old time shop in our village. He tested the battery the old fashioned way, with a load back. It failed miserably at high current draw. It was replaced and the problem in a year has never repeated itself.

...after 5 years. Not bad for an el-cheapo unit that only had a one year warranty. There was an Autozone right across the street when it finally gave up, so I went with a Duralast gold which has a three year warranty. So far so good.

What is the new costco warranty? I haven't bought a battery from them in a number of years now.

Edit, n/m. Apparently 36month prorated as mentioned.

Walmart is 4 yr's free replacement. $10 more for a H7 agm than costco.

I used to shop by battery brand, starting with Die Hard in the late 1960's. Over time, it became apparent to me that quality isn't necessarily brand specific.

We have most of our auto repair work done by the local dealer where we purchased the vehicle. They have an award winning service department and we let them choose the battery. They seem to know which brands are the best at any point in time.

I used to average 4 or 5 years on a battery when I did the replacement myself but the dealer installed brands are lasting 7+ years.

Newer cars have the engine “auto start stop feature” which on many cars can be temporarily disabled. But because the engine is started/stopped frequently, these cars typically have a recommendation to use an AGM battery.

^^Part of my start up cycle -

1) push engine start button
2) push idle start/stop disable button
3) give verbal command to disable forward collision warning - on more than one occasion this garbage has hit the brakes when least expected

The joys of owning a '22 (or newer) MY car.

Yes, I have nightmares about that when using radar cruise.
But, it does provide functionality that I use.
I just need to keep my focus on driving and watching for cars in front of me that are pulling off on an exit, or going around a left curve with a slower car in the right lane.

And I have a 2017 version.

Good luck with Walmart Everstart, just as good and cheaper than other parts stores. They used to have 3 versions - economy, mid range and premium (my definition). There is a difference between the economy and the other 2 - it was much lighter (less lead). I think the only difference between the mid grade and premium is the price and the warranty. Not sure if they still do that. Just replaced my OEM battery in a 2017 SUV with a Walmart Everstart AGM. If your car came with an AGM (most cars now), only replace with an AGM type battery. Even the Walmart AGM battery is expensive. My lead acid in my other car was relatively reasonable.

Check the price on same class of Battery at Autozone vs Costco. Yes interstate isn't wasn't it used to be but last time I checked Costco was $80 cheaper for AGM battery.

someone posted that if Walmart with an auto center, they are given a hard time trying to use the warranty. If no auto center, then like Costco.

I do know the three stooges and Advance Auto gave me a hard time. And for some reason, it's very mysterious on how the warranty transaction works. At Advance Auto I said you can't do math, can you? When asked why I said that? I said well, it's 2009, and I got this battery in 2005, and it has an 84 mo warranty. Does it seem to you that 7 years have gone by? And another guy burst out laughing so I said, what are you laughing about? And it escalated from there. they insisted warranty expired so I went to Sears.

I had thought and online would support it, a warranty claim, goes against the mfg. If a mgr overrides it, it's not warranty at all, the mgr is basically issuing a credit within their allowable discretion.

Interestingly, I have a BMW OE battery that was installed in 2011, still in use today, 2024. This isn't uncommon as my wife's aunt has a 2006 330i and the original battery was replaced in 2018. Prolly all cars today, but at least the E9x BMWs have an intelligent battery sensor where the car follows an algorithm and charges a battery less as it ages, which is why a "registration" should be done to tell the car it has a new battery. Changing from lead acid to AGM is beyond registration and is called "coding." I paid the dealer $250 in 2011 for the OE battery install made by Exide in the USA.

Actually, today? My buddy's 2023 Traverse uses the same 94R battery--likely as mentioned the stop/start feature requires a larger battery than my wife's H6/48. But that's a large battery imho for a small car like my BMW.

Yes, we talk too much about lifetime as a function of the battery and too little about the role the car plays in the matter.

My personal good experience in this line came when I went to Sears to get a replacement battery on my 1987 BMW 325i. The only paperwork I could find for battery in the glove compartment was 10 years old and I was sure that could not possibly be paperwork for the battery currently in the car. But the technician looked at the code for manufacturing date on the battery and affirmed that I had really gotten 10 years out of that battery. This would have been a Sears Diehard that I probably purchased about 1991. At the time I had not ever gotten even four years out of a car battery.

My stinger has this start stop nonsense. The engine itself is a 2.5L turbo I4, battery is specified is an H7 AGM (H8 AGM for the 3.3 v6). Seems like a monster of a battery for such a tiny engine. I wonder just how many amps the motor actually draws to start.

As mentioned earlier, 9/10 times I disable the start stop (unless I forget). So that should help battery life longevity. In addition since the car tends to sit more than driven, I'll put it on the battery tender every so often.

I have been buying batteries at Costco for years. Their batteries seem have stable lifespan lasting about 5 years. The recent one however quitted working after 7 years which surprised me a bit. I then realized I haven't drove a lot since the abrupt of COVID due to WFH a lot.

how many people have replaced a battery on a MY2002 or newer and not "registered" the battery? The process ("coding") is something BMW recommends. The short story is the process is done to alert the DME of the vehicle that a new battery has been installed. This is needed because in some BMW's after MY2002, the DME adjusts the charging rate to the age and charging performance of the battery. Put a new battery in without registration; the DME doesn't know it is new so charges the new battery just like the battery that had been removed.

For the long story, see https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/115-bmw-battery-replac...

Saved close to $100.00 bucks. Three year warranty but should get a couple of years beyond that. The original battery in the car was 7 years old.

Die Hart

is a 9/06 production 2007, so it was an early 2007. I have also some "early" software to do the battery registration, but it won't work with my car. I also have the Rheingold app which I needed to do the ABS pump replacement (BMW states that there is no way to evacuate all the air from the abs pump without doing the automated bleed procedure). I assume this can also do the registration, but it's all in German and I don't speak German, so it's a struggle.

Long story short I believe there are many on the internet who skip the registration process. That would mean the vehicle is not charging the battery to its potential, because it's following an algorithm by which it is being charged like an old battery. Much as I hate to do it, I'll likely take my car to the dealer and to get bang for buck, have them install an AGM. It's < $100 more on a job today that's already over $300. Again, why is a dealer installed battery from 2011, working today in 2024? I'd have to say it's the IBS. Coding is not registration--going from lead acid to AGM is coding. Turning off the DRL is coding. Battery registration is programming. It sounds innocent enough, but when coding, the dealer has the vehicle on a 12V power supply, because there are scenarios that can brick the DME. Power supplies are another topic in themselves. They tend to cost well over $500 because they can supply 70A+ yet the voltage doesn't waver. A cheap supply such as an $80 Walmart, the voltage is not clamped down upon so as the amps go up to 70, the voltage spikes at over 16, effectively frying the electronics. From HS, v=ir.

Me to get around the high cost, I bought an RV power supply over the pandemic when everything was being given away ($125). This is necessarily clean power, because RV appliances are run off of it. I also tested where the car was drawing almost 30A, and the voltage was 13.4v (I think) as designed....

Whew, after all that I need a Rheingold beer! Unfortunately, even though there were five plants around the United States and Rheingold was the leading beer brand in New York State in the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s it sadly died out. But it was my favorite while in college.

There are two major auto battery companies in US: Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls) and Exide. There are also smaller companies like East Penn.

Clarios makes batteries for NAPA, Interstate (Costco), Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, and Walmart, plus many of the auto manufacturers. The Clarios batteries are the same for the same specs, regardless if they put an Interstate label, a NAPA label, etc.

So the Group xyz with abc Cold Start Amps with the Interstate sticker is the same battery as the Walmart battery with the "EverStart" sticker, from the same manufacturing line at Clarios. (Note that Walmart does source some batteries from Exide, so you need to compare specs for like to like comparisons).

Walmart and Costco usually have the best prices for the same battery.

In general, quality and longevity has gone down since COVID.

My batteries from auto zone lasted about 6 years

Interesting thing I learned was that Interstate is a marketing company. They seemed to have built up a good reputation maybe from racing. But they don't make anything. Kind of like when people criticize Rock Auto if some product is late or sold as new but used. Rock doesn't stock any products nor do they ship anything at all. Pretty amazing how successful American cos are when they don't have any assets. Non asset businesses do experience ups and down.

My thinking is Costco is so large, that in buying products from them, they are necessarily products that have been vetted by them. Since I've never had any Costco batteries that outright failed, rather they have simply aged as expected, whether they remove the warranty or not, doesn't really matter that much. It matters to those who did the BOGO, or, had stores that simply gave them batteries for life (I think this one is a training issue where the employee didn't know what they were doing). It's pretty unlikely to need their prorata warranty since only 36 mos. though in the big picture, that's like saying there is no warranty, now that the replacement warranty is gone.

To draw an analogy--if a garden hose has a lifetime warranty, what are the odds of actually using it.

Long ago, I dreamed of Optima batteries because they looked cool. My understanding is that they were made by Johnson Controls, now Clarios. I was influenced by the car forum when I was younger. Today, when one thinks about it, it's not about looking cool, it's about starting the engine. Another topic would be how many cars today use a prop rod to hold the hood open, when they use to have hydraulic struts. That's cheapification. Example, the new Toyota Camry (another topic, Toyota's demise). What a wild world!

In reading the posts on this thread, I wondered when was the last time I had bought a new car battery. I went to my file and found that my last battery purchase was 12/5/17 for an Optima battery I purchased online from Summit Racing.

My current battery is currently 6 years, 8 months and 12 days since I placed the order. The battery was installed the same day the battery was delivered as my prior battery had suddenly died.

When issue developed with OEM Battery on Wife's Ford....
Local Interstate Battery place was convenient, quick, reasonable, and has been in service for 5+ years.... I'd go back for another...

batteries are a complicated issue made so by the marketing people.
There are 4 battery types, FLA, EFB, AGM, and LI. It used to be that EFB were cheaper than AGM. Today, they are close to the same price. The EFB have better resistance to rough roads, so are more suited to off road use, The AGM have longer life expectancy. Both charge similarly and I have not seen a charger that differentiates. The FLB charges different and my Toyota has a setting in Techstream for either specified = AGM/EFB, or non-specified = FLB. Running the wrong battery will affect its life because an FLB on the specified setting will not be kept fully charged - which it wants to be. And an AGM on non-specified will overcharge.
With the battery load placed on the battery by today's cars, most need an AGM. I currently have a NAPA AGM, and it is often undercharged and I don't know if it is the battery or the charge system, so the jury is still out on NAPA batteries. The old Duralast batteries were identical to Toyota OEM batteries and lasted a long time. Since Johnson Controls sold that line to Interstate, I have no idea about their current quality. I had an interstate long ago and it was trash. I also had an everlast and it was trash. Both were FLBs, so I can't comment on either brands today.

A mechanic where we typically take our vehicles for repair recommend Interstate in the past. However, when I am ready to buy again, I will probably read up to see what the latest is.

https://www.jalopnik.com/1927530/costco-battery-deal-warrant...

Costco used to have a 36month free replacement warranty. This is no more. It's all prorated.

Walmart has a 4 yr free replacement.

My car takes an agm H7 or H8, ~$200 at costco, and $180 at walmart.

Doubt there's THAT much difference between the everstart platinum and whatever costco sells.

Note, no love for either company (costco or walmart).

The AutoZone Duralast batteries work for me. The last time I bought was 2021. It had a 24 month free replacement warranty.

I started this thread. Well, it's amazing how much power Costco wields (ex Citi gets a 0% interchange rate for the Costco Visa).

To completely eliminate their replacement battery warranty (I understand it was an open invitation to outright fraud, people posted as such online on what they did, one person said he's gotten multiple free batteries, even though his Costco wasn't supposed to do that [it's not free batteries for life, it's free replacements based on the original purchase date]).

Since I have paid for at least 5 Costco batteries, and I did get a replacement one time when I was not sure if the battery was the issue, I'm still inclined to get it there.

We get a free BJ's membership every year (this year I think they paid us $2 net to join), they too sell an Interstate branded battery, with a free replacement, so maybe I'd try them.

It's funny. My 2006 Toyota product as the classic 24F battery. That once was $79.95. It has skyrocketed in price. Our Enclave which is gone, had a fancier H6 battery, that was expensive but didn't go up a lot.

Lastly, my 2007 BMW has a huge 94R battery, by far the most expensive it was always over $150 even in 2007. It too went up the least of all, and now domestic cars like the Traverse and Tahoe use it, in 2025.

NO more lead acid batteries for me.

AGM in autos and van

Battle Born Lithium in RV for house batteries.

While for years Teslas used a conventional lead battery for their 12 volt low-voltage system, some months before they built the first of my 2 Teslas in 2022 they converted to using a lithium ion battery for the low-voltage system. That means the low-voltage system is charged at about 16 V, which isn't as much more than conventional systems as you might think as I think most vehicle charging systems put their lead batteries up above 14 V during charging which is nearly always active when you're actually using the car.

I believe Tesla made the change because replacing failing lead batteries was one of the primary reasons for service visits on the cars thought they could nearly get rid of it.

With luck I won't be buying a low-voltage system battery any year soon.

Interstate has been OK for me. The original battery the car came with was a joke. 330 CCA vs 550 CCA. Made a huge difference in the winter.

The one that lasts the longest.

until Sears went bye-bye. Maybe you can still get Diehard batteries but now AutoZone is more convenient. We will see how long this new battery lasts.