GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I awoke to a dead car battery this morning. No big surprise, it has been giving me grief for a while. The interesting part is that the battery was only 23 months old! I have never had a battery last less than 5-7 years. This note is to warn others not to buy an ECONOMY brand battery! BTW, the warranty on this battery was 12 months. I guess the manufacturer knows how czhitty their product is.
Lastly, don't blame me - the battery came with the 2005 Vibe.
chiadog

I agree all the batteries I've ever had have been 5-7 years. Heck I got 5.5 years out of the factory Vibe battery.
If you've got a Costco membership they've got good deals on quality batteries that are Vibe sized.

Green Bay Wisconsin is getting a Costco store in Fall of 2013.... but time wasn't on my side, so I went to Advance Auto today. I can't wait for the Costco to open!!!!!
chiadog

The OEM battery in my 2007 T&C is 5.5 years old - I've got to make a trip next week so I think I will get a new battery. A Duracell "34" with 800 CCA is $84 at Sam's Club (up $10 from a year ago). Similar one at Autozone was $119 but they have a rebate ($10 I think). Sam's also has a Duracell 78 AGM for $119 but after doing some research I think I will stick with the lower cost regular lead acid battery. All have 36 month warranties - 84 month prorated. Sam's will install - Costco does not. The only Costco in Columbus, OH is at Polaris in the far north. We will get one near Easton almost next door to Sam's Club by sometime early in 2014. That will be interesting - don't know how they will both survive. I will probably be a member of both - they are good entertaining places to walk around. If you are ever in Columbus visit Easton Town Center - about 3 miles north of the airport. It is more like a town than a mall. Lots of good restaurants in addition to the shopping. What is also amazing is that there are upscale Cadillac, Mercedes and Lexus dealerships there as well. CarMax is across the street. There are apartments adjacent - would be a nice place for empty nesters to live as you could walk to almost anything you might need. Trader Joe's could supply all your grocery needs. I suspect that there is a waiting list as you never see the apartments advertised.

We have a Sam's Club here. I used to be a member, but I never bought enough stuff to make the membership cost worthwhile. That's a great price for the duracell battery assuming you've already paid the ransom, "er membership".
chiadog

Chiadog wrote:I awoke to a dead car battery this morning. No big surprise, it has been giving me grief for a while. The interesting part is that the battery was only 23 months old! I have never had a battery last less than 5-7 years.

Look on the bright side, ask anyone who has ever bought a new Hyundai. That's about 11 months longer than an OEM Hyundai battery lasts.

I tried to look these things up, I guess this was a bottom of the barrel Advance Auto battery? Not sure who made that thing, I am curious...

The AC Delco battery in the Vibe is going on 8 years old, clinging on to life but it's probably getting due for a replacement. I would buy another one like it in a heartbeat, but the "AC Delco" batteries nowadays are just corpse marketing for someone else's product. I'm up for the Sam's Club Duracell, they're made by East Penn and look very much like the old AC Delcos.. Makes me wonder if they ended up with the rights to the design...

I just got a "34" Duracell for my 2007 T&C tonight. It was $84.23 plus tax. The 5-1/2 year old OEM was 500 CCA - I think this Duracell is 800 CCA. They install. I called one Sam's Club at 5:45 pm - they said the auto part closes at 7 pm and they were "booked". I called another Sam's and they said if I got there within a half hour they could take care of me. The guys working there were old timers that looked like they knew what they were doing - not that putting in a battery is rocket science but some of these young kids working today can screw anything up.

ColonelPanic wrote:

Chiadog wrote:I awoke to a dead car battery this morning. No big surprise, it has been giving me grief for a while. The interesting part is that the battery was only 23 months old! I have never had a battery last less than 5-7 years.

Look on the bright side, ask anyone who has ever bought a new Hyundai. That's about 11 months longer than an OEM Hyundai battery lasts.

I tried to look these things up, I guess this was a bottom of the barrel Advance Auto battery? Not sure who made that thing, I am curious...

The AC Delco battery in the Vibe is going on 8 years old, clinging on to life but it's probably getting due for a replacement. I would buy another one like it in a heartbeat, but the "AC Delco" batteries nowadays are just corpse marketing for someone else's product. I'm up for the Sam's Club Duracell, they're made by East Penn and look very much like the old AC Delcos.. Makes me wonder if they ended up with the rights to the design...

No idea who makes it, but here it is:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp ... Assigned=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems to me car batteries are being carefully engineered to NOT last too long. I don't remember these repeated replacements years ago.
chiadog

I see that the Advance Auto price for a "34/78" 800 CCA is $125.99. Sam's IS $84.23; also Sam's had a 78 AGM for $119 but I decided the extra $35 was not worth it.

SeattleJeremy wrote:I agree all the batteries I've ever had have been 5-7 years. Heck I got 5.5 years out of the factory Vibe battery.

Mine died after 2 or 3 years West Texas is hard on batteries, I guess, especially since I've only had a car port to park Epona under for the last year or so.

ColonelPanic wrote: Look on the bright side, ask anyone who has ever bought a new Hyundai. That's about 11 months longer than an OEM Hyundai battery lasts.

The AC Delco battery in the Vibe is going on 8 years old, clinging on to life but it's probably getting due for a replacement. I would buy another one like it in a heartbeat, but the "AC Delco" batteries nowadays are just corpse marketing for someone else's product. I'm up for the Sam's Club Duracell, they're made by East Penn and look very much like the old AC Delcos.. Makes me wonder if they ended up with the rights to the design...

hey, the OE battery in my old y2k Sonata lasted 30 months before melting down!

depending on where you are, if there is a Meijer in your area, their batteries are comparatively inexpensive, ($78.99 for the 35-2 the book calls for on the vibe), and made by East Penn/Deka. (also carry some of the "Duracell" line. )
I've been using them since my aforementioned Hyundai meltdown in nov. 02, no problems ever.
Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.

30 months is great for one of those!

Meijer is a good idea, I have looked at them there before. The kicker will be finding a fresh one, they're usually a few months old at my Meijer and have a good bit of dust on top. Next time I get a good Mperks offer for general merchandise, I could make myself a pretty good sale on a new battery there.

ColonelPanic wrote:30 months is great for one of those!

Meijer is a good idea, I have looked at them there before. The kicker will be finding a fresh one, they're usually a few months old at my Meijer and have a good bit of dust on top. Next time I get a good Mperks offer for general merchandise, I could make myself a pretty good sale on a new battery there.

i was looking @ the local meijer(ok, i work there) today, cuz my buddy's vibe needs an new batt badly, and with the 10% gm mperk over the Memorial day weekend, (and my 10% Team Member Discount) it would have been $68.14 after tax, battery date coded for N2(Dec 2012)
...and he had already left back to columbus... Oh well...