Originally Posted by Steve244

edit edit edit: NAPA has it too (no price listed). Obsessing much?

Originally Posted by Erosoberon

I have just reached 8,000 miles. Two days not driving and I'm calling AAA. AAA only gives you four calls a year. Ever got the flu? The service department person said I have to drive the car for about 20 minutes every couple of days or else expect the car not to start. Come on, really? every two days? Okay, anyone, throw me your solutions for this one.

Originally Posted by Steve244

Sorry, didn't mean to imply Sears products were any worse (they weren't) and they stood by them better than most retailers. Just that lead-acid batteries degrade with an average life of a couple years. Die Hards in the day were only the top end battery with the most CCA. That they did worse than the cheaper batteries was a function of use more than anything. They had long warranties; we adjusted a lot of them.

From the reading I did above if you drive an ideal daily commute resulting in a saturation charge that removes the sulfates, lead-acid batteries can last a long time. Climate plays a large part too.

A degraded battery will still start your car. Except that first really cold (or hot) day.

$70 every couple years to avoid a delay due to a dead battery seems well spent. Especially if when your battery zonks out you probably won't have the option of shopping for a good price; that $70 becomes $140 for waiting 3 or 4 years. A degraded battery can also harm other components in the car. My wife gushes about how long her toyota's battery lasted, but she's also had to replace the starter twice, the alternator once. Those are expensive. My 12 year old honda had battery replacements every couple years and I sold it with the original starter/alternator. Purely anecdotal, but there is a case to be made for just not waiting for it to die.

So far, besides Honda ($110) the only retailer carrying the Fit's battery is Autozone ($132). It's a bit high for what is essentially a $50 battery. I'm torn. I'm also OCD enough to not shoehorn the wrong size in there. Reminds me of Sears. Some jerk insisted on putting a group 48 battery in his mercedes. It was too high and shorted out on the hood. Sears paid big time for that. Don't know who sold him the wrong size battery.

Sat undrivien factory to when I bought it? Manufacture month was July. I bought the beginning of August. Maybe 8-15 days. Probably less. If it sat on a dealer's lot for months then expect a sulfated battery with a lousy life expectancy.

edit: advance auto has one for $105. Still too much, but it's getting better...

edit edit: O'Reilly has them for $99. Still too much...

edit edit edit: NAPA has it too (no price listed). Obsessing much?

Originally Posted by Erosoberon

I have just reached 8,000 miles. Two days not driving and I'm calling AAA. AAA only gives you four calls a year. Ever got the flu? The service department person said I have to drive the car for about 20 minutes every couple of days or else expect the car not to start. Come on, really? every two days? Okay, anyone, throw me your solutions for this one.