My 2005 Buick Century needs a battery. I shopped online and it seems the prices vary according to cranking amps. Does anyone know how much many cold cranking amps I need for this vehicle? Can anyone tell me what is meant by “Group Size 78” or “Group Size 75”?
Any comment will be appreciated.
Did you not put your vehicle info in your search ? Even Walmart has a site that will list the batteries your vehicle takes . And places like Auto Zone even will change some for you .
Generally you want to get the most CCAs you can get in a battery. There’s not a set number, necessarily.
For what it’s worth, I generally get the EverStart batteries from Walmart for my vehicles, with the 3 year warranty. Their prices are very competitive, and as a bonus, if the battery goes bad early, you can return/trade it in at any Walmart. If you have your receipt, of course.
Essentially Group Size is refers to the physical size of battery that can fit in the area under the hood/in the trunk.
That’s in your owners manual. Personally, I prefer the most CCA I can get in my vehicle’s Group Size. For your car, Rock Auto is showing Group 78 with a range of 690-775. I would go with a 775. They also had an 825 CCA, though that was significantly more expensive (236 vs 158 for the cheapest 775). I would probably stick with 775.
Yes, I put my car info into Auto Zone’s search box.I just wanted some opinions from the Car Talk community to help me with my choice.
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The group size indicates the physical size of the battery and the location of the battery posts.
Tester
Another important stat:
reserve capacity is how long this battery can supply power without being replenished by the alternator before the battery goes dead.
When I buy batteries, I get the same group size and get at least 700 CCA, no more than 800.
I’ve bought batteries twice, so I’m no expert. Both times I bought the highest- capacity battery that would fit (I measured the spot myself). I bought the first at AutoZone, got an 8 year warranty; it lasted 13. I bought the second at Walmart, 7 years ago; it works about as well as new.
According to Carquest this car needs at least a 600cca battery and group 78 is the right size, group 75 was used on earlier models.
The specifications call for a 600 CCA group 78 battery.
This is much more than needed, 40 years ago we had 400 cubic inch engines started with 500 CCA batteries.
The CCA is not a indication of quality, the cheap batteries have the same rating as the quality batteries.
Ho do you identify what is a high quality battery? By reputation? I guess Interstate would win for that. By recent tests From what I have read recently, Walmart’s top line beat most other top lines and are lower in price.
I don’t know why battery brand names are so important to people when the majority of batteries made in this country are made by only 2 companies. Abour 10 years ago I picked up a 6 volt battery for a 50 Chrysler at a store that most of the trucking companies in our area bought batteries from. The counter man asked me if I wanted a Willard or a Viking.
I asked him what the difference was. He said “You don’t understand, this is your battery” pointing to the battery in front of him, " I just haven’t put a lable on it yet."
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The warranty is as important as which brand is on the battery, the same brand may offer several different warranties from the cheapest option on up.
+1
While it no longer exists, there used to be a small battery manufacturing company near my school, and you could buy a decent-quality battery from them for a really good price. None of their batteries had any labels, and the purchaser could select which of… maybe… six different brand labels he/she wanted on their generic battery.
Flea market guy would do that with fishing line. You want 30lb Ande? I have some in the back. He would slap on an Ande label and bring it out.
Tester
Yeah I was going to say around 600 or 610. I normally just buy the Delco and seems to work well in Minnesota.
one or more individual commenting on the…
commenting on the what?
I would just go ahead and buy a group 78 battery at Costco, for multiple reasons
They have among the lowest prices
Their warranty is among the longest
If you need it replaced under warranty, they do NOT require you to bring the receipt
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I buy whatever battery is the lowest price. Last one I bought from Advance Auto was $65. It was generic with only 90 day warranty. Been fine for 2 years so far. I generally get 6-7 years out of a battery. If the expensive ones last longer, I don’t think it’s a lot longer.