Group 25 vs Group 34? Costco Still Best?

[joekingcorvette]

You’re running the OE 51R? It’s amazing that that tiny battery costs more than the 25 and 34! Paying the Honda tax, I guess.

I think I’ll stick with Costco. We have the Executive membership and the CC.

Yes it's the 51R and Costco's price was $109.00. The previous battery lasted 5 years and was the same kind and I figured it was good enough. I have the Exec membership and CC too. I like Costco. It's the Honda tax however I don't hardly ever have to pay it because the car has been extremely reliable for having over 125,000 rounds.

 

[gathermewool]

Yes it's the 51R and Costco's price was $109.00. The previous battery lasted 5 years and was the same kind and I figured it was good enough. I have the Exec membership and CC too. I like Costco. It's the Honda tax however I don't hardly ever have to pay it because the car has been extremely reliable for having over 125,000 rounds.

That’s awesome. You’re also correct. With the exception of the crappy mounts, my ‘08 Civic was very reliable and easy to work on. It was a coupe and kits too small for me. I sold it to a family member and it’s still going strong, as far as I know.

 

[dogememe]

Can anyone give me an example of a vehicle that takes a group 34 stock?

That seems logical. Before Costco I used to base my purchase on weight and sometime maker, ie I preferred The Legend batteries from NAPA due to Deka make. I can’t really justify the much higher cost over the Costco battery these days, and the Costco warranty experience was great!

I think the 34 has better specs, but I wasn’t able to checked the 34 on the Costco website, because it only allows you to input your vehicle, not select by group, which is 25 for me. I had to Google elsewhere to get the specs for the 34, and the picture on that site appeared to be different than what’s at Costco.

Anyway, from what I found, the 34 CCA is a lot higher and the RC and weight are also higher than the 25.

Unless you guys can talk me out of it I’m going to give the 34 a try. My only concern is how much the battery cables are affected. If Im reading it right, the 34 is 2” shorter than the 25.

Off the top of my head the older Chrysler town and country and their dodge twins as well as most older jeeps take the 34.

 

[JHZR2]

Can anyone give me an example of a vehicle that takes a group 34 stock?

That seems logical. Before Costco I used to base my purchase on weight and sometime maker, ie I preferred The Legend batteries from NAPA due to Deka make. I can’t really justify the much higher cost over the Costco battery these days, and the Costco warranty experience was great!

I think the 34 has better specs, but I wasn’t able to checked the 34 on the Costco website, because it only allows you to input your vehicle, not select by group, which is 25 for me. I had to Google elsewhere to get the specs for the 34, and the picture on that site appeared to be different than what’s at Costco.

Anyway, from what I found, the 34 CCA is a lot higher and the RC and weight are also higher than the 25.

Unless you guys can talk me out of it I’m going to give the 34 a try. My only concern is how much the battery cables are affected. If Im reading it right, the 34 is 2” shorter than the 25.

You’ll have to Google to figure out what else takes it. My recollection is that a group 34 battery fits the ubiquitous group 78 size, but with top terminals. Some actually have both. But you need to look at specs to verify. Lots of GM products run the group 78.

If it fits, and your cables reach, and it clamps down, I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Especially if it’s heavier and has better cca. But only you know if it will actually fit properly.

 

[gathermewool]

Off the top of my head the older Chrysler town and country and their dodge twins as well as most older jeeps take the 34.

That worked! I entered 2010 T&C and the 34 popped right up

34: 1000/800/105 (CA/CCA/RC)
25: 690/550/100 (CA/CCA/RC)

 

[gathermewool]

You’ll have to Google to figure out what else takes it. My recollection is that a group 34 battery fits the ubiquitous group 78 size, but with top terminals. Some actually have both. But you need to look at specs to verify. Lots of GM products run the group 78.

If it fits, and your cables reach, and it clamps down, I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Especially if it’s heavier and has better cca. But only you know if it will actually fit properly.

I’m going to go with the Group 34 then. I don’t think an inch of height diff will matter. Length and width are good.

 

[gathermewool]

Success! The 34 fit perfectly, though I did have to bottom out the tie down bolts. In the future I’ll jury rig a spacer. Most importantly, the battery cables are fine.

Not bad for a $10 upgrade. It was only $10, because I realized I had an old 51R in the basement from my previous Civic to prevent a core charge.

One anomaly is that this new battery with an 11/22 sticker on it only registered 80% state of health with my meter, the same as all of the batteries I checked there last year.

One question: do I now have a 2 year warranty since the old battery used up one of the three year replacement warranty or am I back to a full three years since I was refunded the purchase of the old battery, then bought a battery as a separate transaction?

See the attached photos of the previous battery reading and new battery. The difference in resistance is interesting.

I hooked up my NOCO Genius 5. It immediately went to green.

 

[CarLuver]

Success! The 34 fit perfectly, though I did have to bottom out the tie down bolts. In the future I’ll jury rig a spacer. Most importantly, the battery cables are fine.

Not bad for a $10 upgrade. It was only $10, because I realized I had an old 51R in the basement from my previous Civic to prevent a core charge.

One anomaly is that this new battery with an 11/22 sticker on it only registered 80% state of health with my meter, the same as all of the batteries I checked there last year.

One question: do I now have a 2 year warranty since the old battery used up one of the three year replacement warranty or am I back to a full three years since I was refunded the purchase of the old battery, then bought a battery as a separate transaction?

See the attached photos of the previous battery reading and new battery. The difference in resistance is interesting.

I hooked up my NOCO Genius 5. It immediately went to green.

you have a new warranty. basically they refunded your previous purchase and you bought a new battery. if the previous battery was less expensive you would have to pay the differrence .

in my years as a costco member, i have figured out they don't exchange, only refund and rebuy

 

[silversport]

interesting the different batteries for different areas...when I bought my last few batteries for cars I help take care of, both the Everstart Maxx and Interstate from Costco were Johnson Controls/Clarios...I always went with whomever had the best price then between those two...

Bill