Optima / Battery thread

[mrnicejetta]

Something in VW chat caught my eye and interest as far as batteries. I'm now curious to know what kind of batteries people have and how long they've lasted.

For example:

I've had an Optima red top for 6.5 years now, and have only had to charge it once because I was away for about 3-4 weeks.

I understand many of the TR peoples change cars like underpants, but I know there's some that can add meaningful info.

[Alan]

Not a fan. We had a bad experience with a red top back in 06 or 07. Perhaps we had a bum battery but at the time I did some research and found this was a common issue.

I'd rather spend a little more for a Hawker....I had a little Hawker Genesis battery in a prior car and had zero issues.

[2klara]

I have the Optima red top battery in my car and its not a daily driver. Sometimes my car will sit for three weeks and I will go to start it and it will be dead. Works good if you drive it at least once a week. So now I just keep my battery tender on it and it's still going strong. IMO if you let your car sit, the Optima doesn't keep a charge like most other batteries.

[civic99]

I had a rep top but it died on me so I just got a walmart ever start or whatever and it works fine !

[ShockerGT]

My OEM Subaru battery lasted 5.5 years before finally dieing and I had 2 instances of not driving the car for a month and it cranked fine both times.

After it finally died I switched to a red top about 6 months ago and have had zero complaints so far.

[power2weight]

I have heard from 2 different unrelated sources that the Optima company and name has been sold twice since the batteries first came out.

Supposedly both companies cut manufacturing costs resulting in watered down batteries compared to what they once were.

For the record, I'm pretty happy with my red top. I also think people don't understand the differences between their red top and yellow top series and that can contribute to poor battery performance and life.

[blackFLgst]

Odyssey mini battery FTW! Left the car parked for 3 and a half weeks in under 30 degree weather and it cranked like A champ when I got back. Never gave me A problem. Even in sub 0 temps!