Battery Bosch or OEM Volkswagen

I've got a '13 R with KESSY and NAV. that had a weird slow start, which made me think the KESSY swt. was worn like another thread mentioned. So I tore it apart and it was dirty on the contacts so I cleaned them. After that it seemed better but the car had 30+K miles and I did get another weird slow start, so I tested the battery and it tested good/charge. I did end up replacing the battery. I haven't had any issues since then. Now at 52K miles.

With your help, I just replaced my 9 year, still well functioning battery, in violation of the "if ain't broke..." rule. The process went without a hitch, thanks to your great information.

I run an oem vw battery was surprisingly cheaper than any aftermarket local options for me.

I've been running an OEM VW battery for a good solid 4 yrs + with no problems.

FYI I went with the Bosch 96R. It weights about 34 lbs and fits no problem although I did need to add a small wedge on top of the bottom lip to lock it down with the stock mount. It has a 3 year free replacement warranty and cost me just about $87 OTD @ PepBoys after turning in my $15 core. It's been more than a year and the battery has been rock solid with very little use.

The last two batteries I bought for my GTi, were specified for a Mk4 Golf/Jetta. Both of them were Bosch and they are both different sizes. Both of them ran me about $150 I went with the Mk4 batteries because Pepboys didnt carry for a Mk3. But both of them are fine

Since the battery weighs ~40 lbs this isn't really a significant weight change from front to rear so I've no idea if the car handles any differently. Would I recommend this mod? Probably not as it's not cheap and has no real performance advantage and more crazy than anything.

I installed a new battery but now the car won't start or turn over.

On the other end of the spectrum, the eGolf sucks. It wasn’t good when new and I can’t imagine spending that kind of money to repair it.

I think I went over 60 days without my 2016 Golf R due to a dead battery. A bunch of us had battery issues, I want to say around 2 years, and VW switched production or something. Batteries were out of stock and waiting on new production from Germany.