Scirocco Central

Hello,
I'm (finally) looking to change my car battery. Pretty fed up of windows not dropping, and getting random under and overvoltage codes on VCDS.

I've looked a bit into batteries as a refresher and I see there are now different types ie AGM, flooded and Jel types.

Has anyone purposefully gone for any other than the good ol' flooded batteries?? I doubt it gets cold enough in this country for batteries to freeze over (as the flodded ones are sealed).

But I notice the other types have a higher cold cranking amperage, and probably a higher reserve capacity (which is quite key).

What are your thoughts? I'm looking at varta batteries, as the late great RW1 recommended these

Bosch S3/S4 or S5 in the correct fitment - job done:-)

Thanks cuprabob - I trust your judgement, so I will look into the Bosch ones as well.

Did you get one with a higher capacity(Ah)? Or one to exactly match the OEM specs?

dimexi wrote:Thanks cuprabob - I trust your judgement, so I will look into the Bosch ones as well.

Did you get one with a higher capacity(Ah)? Or one to exactly match the OEM specs?

I've not needed to put one in the Rocco yet but personally I would go for the highest capacity that physically fits in the location, which in some cases may be the OEM spec.

Cuprabob wrote:

dimexi wrote:Thanks cuprabob - I trust your judgement, so I will look into the Bosch ones as well.

Did you get one with a higher capacity(Ah)? Or one to exactly match the OEM specs?

I've needed to put one in the Rocco yet but personally I would go for the highest capacity that physically fits in the location, which in some cases may be the OEM spec.

Brilliant! Thanks for the advice - I think there are some high capacity batteries that can fit in that space (that I saw online). OEM capacity in my car is 60Ah

For Bosch batteries, Costco, Euro Car Parts and GSF seem to be the best for price from what I've seen.

Europarts have brilliant prices, couldn't find any on the costco website.

The S5 battery is about 64Ah, OEM is 60Ah - so I presume bosch is just better quality and better at retaining/delivering its charge, since it's not just that much extra capacity over OEM

Got a Bosch S5 005 battery in the end. 63Ah (slightly more capacity than OEM) and 610CCA - I am sure this will last till when I finally give up the motor.

Thanks for your help cuprabob!! also found that Varta and Bosch are made in the same factory (apparently), so no difference. Got the battery from europarts

You're welcome and glad to be of help.

I know they say it comes charged bit I would give it a charge before putting it in the car or go for a nice long drive once fitted.