If you cannot get Varta get Deka/East Penn
Interstate or Diehard
- Thread starter loneryder
- Start date
Why would you seek out Varta? Aren't they the same JCI crap for more money?
Napa battery only has 18 month replacement.
It's under the passenger seat and is vented.
Sam’s Club is now having their semiannual $20 off sale for Duracell car batteries. The AGM seem to be excluded. Sale ends September 28. The group 35 battery is now only $84 and I am going to pick one up for my Kubota diesel tractor. It takes the same battery as the Toyota Corolla.
I'd rather have a battery that doesn't need replaced than a great warranty.
The East Penns in the cars, truck, & van have been both-good warranty, and don’t fail. Most importantly they DON‘T LEAK A DROP!! After the $150 JC made Autocraft Gold stripped all the paint off the front subframe & cradle of the xB, and left it on the driveway as a big stain-never again!
These days you cannot depend on any brand using a given manufacturer for 7 years. And even the manufacturers get bought (JCI).
At this point East Penn is manufactured in USA and sold under several brands.
Odessey and Northstar may be better batteries but at 2X the cost.
You need to go in or call your local Costco. On-line and in-store are different.
I think their batteries are about $85, which ain't bad.
Their battery finder provided by Interstate is lousy. Said no battery for my MB but I saw it on their shelf. I talked to the tire and battery dept today and gave him the battery number to see if it was in stock. He kept wanting to know what vehicle I had. I told him they didn’t list a battery for my vehicle. He then admitted the finder didn’t have a lot of vehicles especially MB’s. But they have plenty of my battery in stock.
I'd buy the heaviest freshest battery available, of the choices available.
HOw a battery is treated, has far more effect on its longevity, than who made the battery and who stickered it and sold it.
Keep it cool, and truly fully charged, is Ideal.
Any specific vehicle and specific driver habits, can and will have far more effect on battery longevity, than who made it, or stickered it.
The specific vehicle's voltage regulation, and how much heatsoaking of the battery occurs when engine is on, and after engine shutdown, will have much bigger effects on battery longevity, than who made, or stickered the battery.
If one gets a freshly made battery, there is less chance it has partially sulfated sitting on a shelf, and lost some capacity, and takes a bit longer to reach full charge, or to reach high states of charge should that be attempted.
Older off the shelf batteries, can work well, but they need some loving, not just drop it in and if it starts, all is well. 'Loving' might be an intentional deeper cycle to 50 to 60% charged, followed immediately by 10 to 20 amps per 100Ah of capacity, bringing the battery to 14.6ish volts(@77f) and held there (14.6v) until amps taper to very low levels or stop tapering. This can require many hours, for amps to taper to very low numbers( less than 0.5 amps, or to stop tapering.
The heavier battery in the same size casing, is likely to have slightly thicker less porous/ fragile plates, and slightly lower CCA, but with age/use would likely lose its remaining capacity and CCA slower, all other factors being similar, even though they never are.
Defects aside, the battery treated right, will not require any warranty service.
An odyssey or Northstar treated like crap, will not last any longer than a 50$ wally world special.
I'd hate to be a battery retailer with today's ever more entitled consumer.
What other product can the consumer intentionally destroy, or destroy through ignorance, and then petulantly demand a new one under warranty?
HOw a battery is treated, has far more effect on its longevity, than who made the battery and who stickered it and sold it.
Keep it cool, and truly fully charged, is Ideal.
Any specific vehicle and specific driver habits, can and will have far more effect on battery longevity, than who made it, or stickered it.
The specific vehicle's voltage regulation, and how much heatsoaking of the battery occurs when engine is on, and after engine shutdown, will have much bigger effects on battery longevity, than who made, or stickered the battery.
If one gets a freshly made battery, there is less chance it has partially sulfated sitting on a shelf, and lost some capacity, and takes a bit longer to reach full charge, or to reach high states of charge should that be attempted.
Older off the shelf batteries, can work well, but they need some loving, not just drop it in and if it starts, all is well. 'Loving' might be an intentional deeper cycle to 50 to 60% charged, followed immediately by 10 to 20 amps per 100Ah of capacity, bringing the battery to 14.6ish volts(@77f) and held there (14.6v) until amps taper to very low levels or stop tapering. This can require many hours, for amps to taper to very low numbers( less than 0.5 amps, or to stop tapering.
The heavier battery in the same size casing, is likely to have slightly thicker less porous/ fragile plates, and slightly lower CCA, but with age/use would likely lose its remaining capacity and CCA slower, all other factors being similar, even though they never are.
Defects aside, the battery treated right, will not require any warranty service.
An odyssey or Northstar treated like crap, will not last any longer than a 50$ wally world special.
I'd hate to be a battery retailer with today's ever more entitled consumer.
What other product can the consumer intentionally destroy, or destroy through ignorance, and then petulantly demand a new one under warranty?
I might actually go for the Diehard. It sounds like you're going to get more than the 3 year warranty out of the batteries either way, so you might as well go as far as you can. If that extra $40 gets you an extra year or more, it will be worth it.
The Interstate batteries at Costco are rumored to not be the same construction as the actual Interstate batteries. If you parked your car outside and it was going to see harsh winters and daily driving, I would point you towards the Costco Interstate because you might get it to break down under warranty. I'm gambling on this in my DD with a Costco Interstate.
Varta is OEM for MB and are made in Germany, they've owned JCI since 2002.
It's possible that JCI makes crap under their own name, but I doubt VERY much that Varta would lend its name to underperforming batteries
they have to protect their name and reputation, they have too much to lose.
Mercedes batteries are made by EPM products in Baltimore, Md. and are made in the US. They are very good batteries...they just charge too much for them. Many carmakers put in a 12-24 month battery at the factory. MB is the only auto maker that puts good batteries. My 2008 ML battery lasted 12 yrs. When I didn't drive the truck much, I kept it on a tender.
Agreed. I've always taken care of my batteries as much as possible. I've turned off the auto headlights before I shut the car off. Kept them on tenders when not driven every day etc. My current ML has the auto headlights that you can't turn off. The battery is 6 yrs old and spent most of it's life in SW FL. Don't think I have any complaints there.
Costco's Interstate batteries are the same as the ones that Interstate sells (per the Interstate owner). The agreement is that Costco has to handle all warranty claims with no support from Interstate.
I just did it myself as well, the battery is super easy to change on this car so it was less than 5 mins out and about the same time to reinstall it. While I was at Costco someone came in and asked how long the wait was, they said 1.5 hr! Plus I got to pick out the battery...check out that date code! Took the core in with me so I only had to make one trip.
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