What's the current recommend on batteries?

My crown Vic/police pack at work has one. Went dead just sitting for a week. At twice the price, with a crappy warranty, I'll never buy one for personal use.

We have used them when we need to put a battery in a car trunk but other then that I see no point to them considering the cost.

If you are referencing an actual police vehicle, that implies a lot of extra radios, computers, dash cameras and other crap drawing standby power. I'd be surprised if any brand of normal sized battery used singly would keep up with that standby load for more than a couple days.

Indeed. The danger of anecdotal evidence is that any individual car might have a real or accidental electron seepage (anything from special police stuff, to a makeup mirror in the sunvisor that's always on, to a malfunction) -- and that any individual battery might be on the fritz.

It might be worth checking how well the battery is being charged. Get a multimeter and dig the probes right into the battery posts -- not the connectors, the actual posts -- so that you see how much voltage is actually reaching the battery with the engine running, and of course with the engine off.

If the voltage looks too droopy (should be at least in the mid 13's with the engine running, and on some models, notably some recent GM products, can scare 15 V) work your way upstream, using the appropriate care not to get your fingers or clothes stuck in the machinery of course, and see where you start seeing the problem. No battery can start you car very long if a pooped-out alternator -- or dirty or loose connections en route, on either the hot or the ground side -- keep it from being charged.

--Joe

For my Volvo cars I found the dealer replacement was within $5.00 of the auto parts house unit which I believe was an Exide. The advantage to the Volvo dealer battery was that the drain hose was a single piece and didn't require piecing together as the exide unit did. I got 6 years from the original Volvo battery on one car and it has 5 on the replacement.

Check the dealer price - you might find it is close to the auto parts house price.

As far as brand goes, just go with one of the big names.

He also just said a generic "sprial-wound AGM" battery. Exide makes a sprial-cell AGM battery, and I'd expect anything from Exide to be complete crap. Optima (originally an independent, now owned by Johnson Controls) is in my experience a quality product. Overpriced-ESPECIALLY since JC bought them out and started raising prices- but still a quality product.

It's a Porsche. Heck, the dealer referred me to Pelican Parts when I went in to get a replacement trunk light. Since I live in a fairly affluent area, the local Porsche dealer wants nothing to do with anything more than a few years out of warranty (certainly not a car of legal drinking age) and if they did have the battery, the price would no doubt be extortionate... I don't meant that to knock them, they need to cater to their base and I'm not it. I certainly won't be buying a new one, unless I win the lottery (and then I likely *will...*)

nate

At the porsche dealer I stopped at a few weeks ago every used example I saw the milage on was very low. Many still with manufacturer's warranty left. It's a coin flip from my POV wether it's just wasteful rich people or they dumped them because of the upkeep costs.

On Jan 21, 6:10 pm, Brent wrote:

I don't know that the "upkeep costs" are that great. Yes, parts are expensive. Yes, the recommended maintenance is expensive. However, the recommended maintenance schedule (like that of my old BMW 535i) is such that if one actually sticks to it, repairs should be few and far between. when they really get expensive is when stuff just starts plain wearing out, but that doesn't happen until real high mileage. (I dumped the BMW at over 200K miles when it appeared that I would need a suspension rebuild and a new driveshaft. That wouldn't have been cost prohibitive on many cars, but on *that* car, it likely would have been more than the bill I got for replacing the engine after I done blowed it up. I went ahead and did everything on the 944 except for the ball joints; that'll be another LARGE expenditure when they finally wear out, although if the economy doesn't pick up, I may choose to go ahead and do it rather than spend even more $$ on a new car that I'll like less.) Anyway the point I was trying to make was that the regular maintenance expenditures are in line with what one SHOULD be doing to *any* car that you plan to keep long term, even if that maintenance isn't spelled out in the owner's manual or recommended maintenance schedule. One *needs* to replace all fluids (brake, gearbox, final drive) regularly, although some manufacturers say that you don't just to look good in magazine long term tests and "total cost of ownership" calculations based on recommended services/ intervals.

Now the one thing about Porsches is that the mechanicals are quite unlike most other cars, whereas a BMW should at least look vaguely familiar to someone used to working on old RWD American cars. Most general mechanics aren't used to 6-foot-long timing chains with a whole mess of little rollers, hydraulic tensioners, etc... A 944 is a little less weird, but most "real" Porsche aficionados kind of look down their noses at it anyway...

but back to your post... I have seen several not-too-badly-used Boxter S's for sale for well under KBB. If the prices stay low, it might be time for an upgrade or a second car... There is some appeal to the concept of driving something built within the last decade, and without the opportunity for previous owners to have screwed things up for me. Not appealing enough at this time for me to give up blissful freedom from car payments, but still.

nate

There are more than a few people who drive a car until they get bored then move on to another. Purchasers as well as lessees who turn their cars over within 3 years end up eating the large amounts of depreciation. And they do it over and over.

Maintenance costs are not all that different between makes, especially at that price range. My guess is that the cost of fuel and regular maintenance is not a budget buster for most of those individuals.

My son-in-law was amazed at what he paid for a low milage late model E320 Benz in superb condition. He has sworn off new cars....

That's a dealer with so much business he is turning it away... Unusual in this time. I drive past high-end car dealerships like Hummer, Maserati, Land Rover, etc., in Fairfax County. The lack of customer cars on the weekend is eye opening.

There are at least two or three (I saw it on local tv news about a month or so ago) or perhaps more, auto new car dealers in the state of confusion I live in whom are doing very well, selling new cars.

I have been driving since 1957, I never have bought a new car or truck or van before.I used to buy old vehicles and fix them up in my spare time and sell them.I enjoyed that. cuhulin

In addition, with the bad economy right now, a _lot_ of people have discovered that they are driving late-model high-end cars that they cannot afford the payments on, and they are selling them. It is very much a buyer's market.

Problem is that you cannot find used Mercedes with manual transmissions. They just aren't out there. If you want a manual, you have to order one from the factory.

--scott

I own a 1960s era Mercedes Benz four cylinder diesel engine.Last year, I looked around on the net for diesel engine 1960s Mercedes Benz cars.There are some of those 1960s era diesel engine Mercedes Benz cars still giving reliable every day service, in some parts of the World.

My eight years older brother (God, rest his soul) spent a year in Germany in 1963, U.S.Army.He bought a second hand Mercedes Benz car, in Germany.One time he told me that Mercedes Benz car was as tough as a Tank. cuhulin

That must have been quite some time ago or a market not the USA. Last I saw MB didn't even sell any MT cars (in the US) just gear selectable automatics.

No, there are still three models in the US available with manuals, including the bottom of the line C class. Six-speed Getrags, though.

--scott

They must never bring them to the autoshow then... :)

I don't think their battery ratings are that useful because the brand rankings change so much from year to year, but can you point out where they're wrong here?

Yup - I agree. And many people are finding out to their horror that the a car purchased with 90% or more financing is usually upside down to the value.

Not a problem for most buyers of Mercedes cars in the USA.