Best deal on a new battery, now?

[surfstar]

Costco used to have great prices, especially for the CCA ratings and warranty given on their Kirkland batteries.
They now stock Interstates that have gotten much worse reviews, from what I've found.

Just looking for a good price on a decent battery, again.
For wife's 2012 Mazda 2.

I think Advance Auto with TRT41 coupon, might be the best deal? Their gold is a 3yr warranty, I believe.

Any other options/recommendations?

Thanks

 

[bbhero]

Surfstar do you have a batteries plus bulbs around you ?? They have the Duracell batteries made by East Penn. They have a 3 yr warranty on them and the group 24 costs $114 and the group 35 cost $119 before tax. Pretty good prices for very good batteries made here in the US.

 

[nwjones18]

Advance with the TRT41 or Walmart with the $49 valuepower battery if they have it in the size you want are the cheapest batteries that I know of.. I rarely have a battery fail in under 3 years so I quit buying on warranty myself. I just get whatever's cheapest.

 

[Chris142]

Do you have a battery mart? I paid $112 for a deka intimadator agm from them

 

[901Memphis]

Advance with coupon code is one of the best values.

Walmart value power batteries are solid and like $48

 

[surfstar]

No local Battery Mart or Batteries Plus

I'm guessing Advance is the best deal I'll be able to find (the coupon really seals the deal for them vs other auto stores)

$134 (gold)
-40 coupon

plus $20 speedperks for future purchase...

Gold is the only one in stock in size 35, the cheaper ones are 26R - researching differences now...

 

[bbhero]

Yeah I don't think you will be able to beat that price.. one minor thing to think about here is if a group 35 is called for but a group 24 can fit I would go with the larger group 24. A fair amount more reserve capacity and the same or more CCA is a better battery I think.

 

[bubbatime]

Walmart MAXX three year warranty. Good battery, good warranty, good price, plus 24 hour availability to swap it out nationwide, should it go bad. Ford dealership Motorcraft batteries are also a good value in basically the same price.

 

[steveh]

Check the date codes on the Advance Auto batteries they tried giving me a battery that was 15 months old. I told them I don't want one that old. So they checked all of the dates and the newest one was 4 months old. Many of the batteries in that store were over a year old.

 

[surfstar]

I will pop the hood and see if the 24F could fit - also, SoCal climate, so I guess I don't really need higher CCA.
A larger battery with lower CCA may perform/last just as long, right?

Gets the price down another $30 if we go that route too (1yr free replacement battery).

 

[edwardh1]

Originally Posted By: steveh
Check the date codes on the Advance Auto batteries they tried giving me a battery that was 15 months old. I told them I don't want one that old. So they checked all of the dates and the newest one was 4 months old. Many of the batteries in that store were over a year old.


they must not sell many batteries.
walmart here has same month or most recent month batteries

 

[bbhero]

Yep. You don't need a ton of CCA when it barely gets below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. So lower CCA obviously is not an issue. But having 115 to 120 minutes of reserve capacity vs 90 minutes is a very good characteristic to have in a battery. If your alternator or belt were to fail that extra reserve capacity might be just enough difference to make it somewhere to get help, get to where you were going to begin with, and to a place where you could replace the alternator or belt if either were to fail.

 

[wkcars]

Home depot has exides $90, check on the website for nearby store availability, not sure if they still have those %10 movers coupon around or not

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Exide-Extreme..._-204852597-_-N

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: wkcars
Home depot has exides $90, check on the website for nearby store availability, not sure if they still have those %10 movers coupon around or not

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Exide-Extreme..._-204852597-_-N


I tried to buy one of those once, but all the batteries in the store were really old.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Walmart value power batteries are solid and like $48


They haven't been selling these batteries long enough to refer to them as solid.

 

[Oregoonian]

Are you a Costco member????

My experience is they have the best batteries (Johnson Controls) and best warranty.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Walmart value power batteries are solid and like $48


They haven't been selling these batteries long enough to refer to them as solid.


Mine's 16 months old and already out of warranty, doing fine.

Made by johnson controls, who had a bargain line at AA 5-6 years ago, and likely used the same formula.

So how long do you need to vet this battery? By the time we've established they're a value, WM will yank the price back up.

 

[JHZR2]

What reviews? Cca isn't everything. I'd rather have more lead...

 

[R18Civic]

Picked up one at Wal-Mart last week with a 2 year warranty for a little over $100 after the core charge refund.

 

[surfstar]

Looks like a 24F won't fit - at least not well enough that I'd like. If I could fit the 24F, the walmart value spec was great for this little car/engine. Since I'm sticking with the 35 size, I think the AAP gold is a good price. Under $100 and sourced locally (walmart is 30+ min away).
OEM battery lasted 5+ years, and is just now getting a bit slow/long to crank. Can't complain about that.


JHZR2 - this http://consumerpete.com/reviews/kirkland-car-battery-any-good plus some random auto forum posts, made me think that Costco is no longer the great deal for batteries anymore. I used them in the past and loved the Kirkland ones - spec's of a high end battery, at mid-tier price and unbeatable warranty. Guess it was too good to last (i.e. not lose money!)