Got in the car to come tonight and battery was flat.. just lots of clicks when turning the key although the dash lights and interior lights worked.

 

Waited for RAC to come out and he put his meter on it and said "Oh it's jumped straight to Replace Battery".... and as it happens he has one I can purchase for £120!  I asked him if the machine could advise how I could pay for the battery 4 days before pay day, but it didn't seem so clued up on that question so I got a jump start and drove home.  

 

Looking on ebay I can see there are loads of batteries for around £50-£60, are these any good and does anyone have a make they recommend?

 

Or do I really need to spend over £100 on one?

 

 

Thanks

Andy

it depends how long you are planning to keep the car as if you are planning to keep it for a while its worth getting something decent such as bosch S5

Is there a Euro Car Parts near you?

 

They're normally pretty good for batteries.

 

They even have some discounts at the moment which makes a Bosch Battery with 3 year warranty just £70:

 

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Skoda_Octavia_1.9_2008/p/car-parts/car-electrics-and-car-lighting/electrical/car-battery/?444770965&1&013c7c1f8cf85f8eaf920d7f7b6997113daa22ac&000020

 

Phil

Cheers I'm going to have a look today

I got my last battery (a Yuasa with 5 year warranty) from http://www.buypartsby.com

It was well packed in a protective box with moulded foam insert.

I would also recommend the Bosch S5 - loads of cranking power and 5 year warranty. Fits in the engine bay fine.

Got mine for £80 from justcarbatteries.

Edited 25 June, 201412 yr by FatblokeVRS

The label is less important than the capacity, in my opinion. The manufacturer put in the size of battery needed to run the car reliably -- why would an owner want to do any different?

Got mine from here http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/

 

Think it was around 60 inc free delivery. Bargain and it was a branded Varta.

Another vote here for the Bosch S5.

The label is less important than the capacity, in my opinion. The manufacturer put in the size of battery needed to run the car reliably -- why would an owner want to do any different?

Because there are a lot of examples of the oem batteries not being man enough for the job

That's the problem, with the UK spec diesel Octavia the manufacturer didn't put in the size of battery needed to run the car reliably!

I had numerous problems with the feeble original 61 Ah battery in mine and replaced it at 3 years old . The replacement 77 Ah Bosch has already lasted 4 years with no problems whatsoever.

Because there are a lot of examples of the oem batteries not being man enough for the job

Interesting -- not had any issues with mine and it doesn't exactly have a shortage of electrical toys. Perhaps you get a bigger battery with an Elegance?

 

Waited for RAC to come out and he put his meter on it and said "Oh it's jumped straight to fleece customer for new battery"....

 

Fixed that for you ;)

 

 

Seriously though:

Do you know how old the current battery is? There could possibly still be warrenty on it, which would cut the cost greatly.

Also, how well did it start today?

Did you leave anything on?

Have you done any work on it - for example stereo upgrade.

Interesting -- not had any issues with mine and it doesn't exactly have a shortage of electrical toys. Perhaps you get a bigger battery with an Elegance?

 

its possible its been replaced before you bought it.

 

I swapped my battery for another 60ah battery BUT its an XS Power XS12-60 which has enormous CCA and short circuit amps is 2500a so the battery, although still 60ah is much much more powerful than any normal battery