New battery? - Canada

[Wiccat]

It's time to replace the battery in my '05 Murano. What's the best battery out there that's available in the Toronto to London area? I'm not concerned about price; just long lasting reliability and performance. Thanks.

[kerrton]

I just replaced the battery in my wife's car, my trusted mechanic and service advisor at the local Fountain Tire (Lethbridge AB) said there is only about 4 battery manufacturers in all of North Amercia, they badge the same batteries for many different retailers but the underlying battery is the same. THe lead-acid batter is an old, tried and true technology that doesn't see much if any research and development and improvements from year to year.

So basically you choose if you want a quality high-end battery which will run you between $130 and $150 CAD, or a low-end battery in the under $100 category. From what everyone has told me, it's probably one of the easiest decisions to make, just get one from the high end of the spectrum and you'll be find.

If you did want to save some money you could buy one yourself from Costco or Canadian Tire, Crappy Tire has sales quite often, you save on doing the install yourself but then you're stuck with disposing of the old battery and if something does go wrong with the battery you have to remove it and try to take it back yourself. I opted to let Fountain Tire put in a good battery with a 5-year warranty, and if anything goes wrong they'll swap it out for a new one but I don't expect any problems.

[Wiccat]

So you're saying just buy the most expensive battery and it'll be all good? Ok, thanks for the advice.

[kerrton]

Well not exactly, check on the warranty, a good battery in that upper price range will come with a 5-year warranty.

All I was saying about price is that there are basically two simple categories with batteries, 1) the cheapo category and 2) more expensive category. My advice was to stay away from the cheap batteries because they are not worth it. Call a couple shops and ask them for a price quote on a good quality battery, there might be 10 to 20 bucks difference between them and make sure they all guarantee them for 5 years. Or if you prefer shop around at places like Costco and Crappy Tire as they routinely have sales, catch them at the right time and you might save 50 bucks.

[Desert Rat]

Buy an Optima red top.

[Wiccat]

I was actually considering Interstate with 7 year warranty. Optima is considered better?