Battery Recommendation

[JonnyDarcy]

Hi,
the battery on my Audi A6 (C6) Avant 3.0 TDI Le Mans 2011 has finally now completely died. Can anyone recommend a replacement? I'm likely to only have the car for another 12-18 months so am looking to save money with just a decent value option rather than an OEM replacement (assuming that will be expensive).

Cheers

[JonnyDarcy]

All opinions gratefully received. Any brands I should avoid perhaps?

[Crasher]

To be honest, they are all ****, Varta, Bosch, Exide, Yuasa, the lot of them; I have given up and don't know what to recommended. The Varta AGM in our load Passat has failed for the third time in two years. A friend of mine who is also a VAG indi used to be at Audi and he only fits genuine VW batteries now.

[JonnyDarcy]

Ok thanks Crasher. The original in the car appears to be Moll (spec 12v 520A 11Ah DIN 850A EN/SAE), presumably that's the brand Audi use from the factory?

[JonnyDarcy]

The Bosch S5 015 seems a reasonable choice and looks fairly easy to get hold of.

[Crasher]

Yes they are easy to get but they are unreliable, not as bad as the Yuasa 5000 series but I have never found anything that is worse. When I were a lad, long time ago, VW's used to come with Tesla branded batteries, not the US firm that stole the name, made in Yugoslavia and they lasted forever. When we eventually sold our 86 Caddy that had been the local dealers parts truck and then ours for about 15 years until the floor fell out, the battery was still going.

[JonnyDarcy]

Haha yes, I was actually pretty impressed the battery I'm changing lasted 13 years. Not too shabby really, especially when manufactured goods of all kinds rarely last beyond a couple of years these days. When my folks sold their farm they left their fully working Electrolux fridge freezer that had been going for over 40 years. Not a single issue in all that time. I've no doubt it probably wasn't very efficient but that is impressive. They certainly don't make them like that any more...