Hi /o/... I need a new battery for my 2000 BMW 328i. I of course googled and found years old threads on BMW forums where these guys were talking about batteries for like $60 or $70 at Walmart and Autozone. When I go to the Autozone website and put in my vehicle is returns results for different batteries than mentioned in the old threads and way more expensive batteries.
Is it just that the prices have gone up? How important to my car is it to have a specific battery? Thanks in advance.
Inflation.
Read your owners manual.
battery prices have gone up significantly. best bet is costco.
>>14162073
I work at walmart in automotive. Your BMW uses an H7 size battery, in that size we only have the Everstart Maxx with the 5 year warranty (3 years free replacement+2 years prorated) for $150.
The H7 Walmart sells is pretty good. It's more than $70 but the warranty is good and it has the CCA you need.
I assume it's the same for E46s as E39s, H7s are really short and wide so if you have a different size battery the cover for the battery compartment won't close properly.
>>14162134
this
Thanks for the valuable information dudes. Too bad I don't have time travel and can go back in time to 2007 when the good battery was like $60.00.
>>14162073
> Get the owners manual or get BMW TIS.
> Check which battery the car takes.
> Shop for one.
What's so hard about this?
Wrong battery either it gets on fire or doesn't start at all.
Can't afford a proper battery, shouldn't have bought an old BMW, simple.
>>14163335
My question was mainly asking why the prices years ago seem a lot cheaper than what I am seeing for prices now. I can afford a million proper batteries but I'm not into wasting money.
>>14162073
Most batteries at walmart are ~$100 IIRC
>>14164413
Because the price of lead has gone up.
Also because Johnson Controls now has pretty much a complete monopoly on battery manufacturing for the US market, and can name whatever fucking price they want.
>>14162073
>How important to my car is it to have a specific battery?
Not very. You need a battery with the same or better CCA rating as the original, or else the car might not start in cold weather.
You need a battery with positive and negative in the same corners as the original, or else your cables probably won't reach.
For trunk/under-seat mounted batteries, you need one that has properly sized vents, to hook up to an outdoor vent-tube on your car (something you can just ignore on normal underhood batteries)
And finally, if you don't want it bouncing around, you need one with the right shape for your battery mount/hold-down. A lot of european cars use batteries with a specially sized flare at the bottom, and the battery mount in the car will clamp onto that flare. American cars mostly use a bottom mount too, but it's a completely different shape & size, and the euro mounts won't accept it (however, American trays will often accept a euro battery). Asian cars mostly use no flare at all, but clamp over the top of the battery, so they can take pretty much any battery.
>>14162073
A quick look on Battery Guys show they sell an Everstart for your car at £46 delivered inc vat, thats $67.82 US
>>14164450
>>14165542
See
>>14162156
$150 is the cheapest we have for an H7.
>>14165550
>Buying from walmart
@OP:
100-120 is about the average for a battery.
>>14165550
Then go elsewhere they are ripping people off considerably, even if that $150 includes old battery disposal fees.
>>14165571
The $12 core charge is waived if you bring in the old battery. We take them for free, there is no disposal fee.
>>14165567
The H7 is the only one that's over 115, everything else is either 49 or 90-110 depending on the warranty length you choose.
>>14165571
Former Autozone mgr here, H7's (and all the H-series battery sizes, for that matter) are marked up considerably higher than your average battery at pretty much all parts stores.
They're quirky sizes that don't sell very often. We often had to recycle them brand new because they went out of date on the shelf before they got bought. US suppliers don't make them; ours were literally imported from Italy for some goddamn reason. They're also wide and take up a lot of shelf space.
They should start coming down in price over the next few years, though. A lot of the Benz-based Dodge's are using them now. Once those batteries start getting old and going bad the US suppliers will have to start manufacturing them, and the auto parts stores will be able to stop throwing away expired batteries.
>>14165611
You know an 027 is interchangable with the 096 (what septics feel the need to call a H7 thats a bulb size) on the E46, it has slightly les CCA so isn't suitable for use when the temperature drops below about -15c , it's slightlt taller and slightly narrower but fits just fine.
>>14165641
27 doesn't have the flared-base mount or the external vent hookup. Enjoy listening to the battery thump and bounce around every time you turn a corner or hit a bump, as well as the leather upholstery on the back seat discoloring and peeling from the battery offgassing underneath it.
