For a tiny car, they are not bad, but they are a small car - Keith. Climate can also be a big factor. They say here in the desert 3 years on a car battery is good.
Lead-acid batteries can benefit from a thorough charging from time to time.
This can take several hours.
A small automatic charger like a ‘battery tender’ etc. can do the trick.
I do a lot of short trips and only drive 2-3 times a week, so I charge the battery overnight every 2 months.
My last battery lasted 7 years.
“I do admit to listening to the radio for half an hour during my lunch hour at work, but turn the key to the position just before turning the key to start the car.”
It sounds like you drained the battery by turning the key to the “on” position instead of the “accessory” position.
The battery in my Civic is pretty small compared to other vehicles, but it hasn’t been an issue for me. Each battery lasts about four years, and I get plenty of warning (in the form of slow cranking) before it dies completely, so I’ve only found myself stranded once, and that was only because I procrastinated. In my experience, you don’t get the same warning with larger vehicles with larger batteries. On larger vehicles with larger batteries, the first warning you get that you need a new battery is that you are stranded.
CSA uses the “size matters” argument so much, you have to wonder.
Back in the day when there were drive-in theaters, they used to say running the radio the length of the movie used less power than starting the car once, but since that time, engines and batteries on economy cars have gotten smaller, and if you were listening to a CD or an iPod through a cassette deck (something with moving parts), you used more power than you would have used with just the radio.