Any recommendations for good car battery? Honda has one that’s 550 CCA/650CA 3yr warranty. The man at car part store showed me Duralast gold 650 CCA/800CA 3yr warranty. Ones with 1-2 yr warranty had lower CCA’s. I obviously want a 3yr battery. Is the duralast gold specs too high for my car? does it matter?
any other brands? btw I live in Orlando so weather is a factor
I should mention that my current battery is from walmart and is 3yrs old. The volts still read good but the CCA reading (272) is well below what it’s supposed to be (550).need to change soon!
I’d go to Costco and get the best Kirkland (their brand) to fit in your car. Their prices are very reasonable and the quality is equal to the best Diehard at Sears at just over half the price. A Kirkland should last 7 years in Orlando.
You get what you pay for, prices are fairly competitive across the board. In Orlando CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) is not as important as it is to us freezelanders. The warranty is usually pro rated, so you may pay more for a longer warranty but not really receive the benefits. No specs are too high for your car, so figure it this way. Cheapest battery 3 years. Middle of the road 5 years. Top of the line 7 years and figure out how you wish to deal with the choices.
I have had 4 Duralast Gold batteries and they worked well for me.
ConsumerReports…ConsumerReports…ConsumerReports.
The Nov '10 Issue has battery tests, and recommendations.
You usually get what you pay for, so if you’re planning on keeping the car, don’t get the cheapest battery you can find.
In the region where I live, there’s a chain called “Battery Wholesale” I don’t know who makes their batteries, but the last one I bought from them was their best and it’s still going strong after 7 years. If the Walmart battery only lasted you 3 years, and it wasn’t the dirt cheapest one they sell, I’d consider switching to someone else’s battery.
Get a middle of the road in the battery offerings at a place and you will not likely have issues. That has been my experience for 20+yrs of driving.
I encounter temps as low as -20F (rarely) and have had factory battery’s, walmart offerings, die-hard, bottom end, upper end and they all seem to last 6-8 years. The killer for me has always been leaving the lights on accidentally for a long period when a battery is older.
For longevity, I have found that the cheapest batteries are the best. They have fewer, but thicker plates. That is why there CCA’s are less, but they at least meet the minimum specs which are far and away higher today than they were thirty years ago when engines actually needed more CCA’s than todays vehicles.
The problem with Honda’s is that they have an odd size battery which is often only available in the higher priced models. BTW, I’d go with the Duralast in FL because they hace removable caps so you can add distilled water when needed (every couple of years).