Battery OPTIMA or OEM BMW

2007 EOS VR6 6 volt Optima battery replacement Just following up to help out anybody else grappling with this expensive battery situation. I bought two of the red top Optima 8010-044 batteries on Amazon for $189 each and replaced the absurd $$$ yellow ones with no problems whatsoever. All I did was buy a battery charger and hooked it up to the jump points under the hood before disconnecting the old batteries, it was enough to retain all settings. To sum up, don't worry, it's a super simple operation that in no way requires an expensive trip to VW service. I will update if any problems arise as it's only been about a week as of this writing.

I bought a red top and have had no problems!! Can run the radio with the car off. Car can sit for weeks with no problems starting. Worth every penny

I got the yellow top but it was worth every cent fwiw. Swapped to a yellow and feel like I could start first time every time in the tundra.

My yellow top in my mk1 is 8 years old. My yellow ro in my R is 7 months old. They're great.

I installed an Optima Yellowtop D35. The D35 is shorter than the Q85, but the terminal cover provided by Optima doubles as a base to increase the batteries height. Great design Optima! Immediately after installing the battery, the "Battery Management System Malfunction" message still displayed. Finally after leaving the car overnight, the message went away on its own. The i-ELOOP system is now functioning as normal.

I have a red top in my XJ and people say the quality has gone down every time Optima is mentioned but I've had nothing but stellar performance from mine. I was about 7 miles in on a trail 2 weeks ago and my alt died. The battery got me back to the main road before it died enough to not run the engine anymore. A little more than an hour back out and some gnarly rock crawling.

For about a month I have owned a 2016 REx whose 60 Ah battery is supposed to get 72 miles. This week I fully charged it and have been commuting four four days without topping up. Today the REx kicked in with the trip meter at 73.3 miles. This was a mixture of city traffic jams and short bursts on the carriageway, mostly with the air con on and mostly in Comfort mode. So I'm pretty pleased.

So, I replaced it with a new optima battery anyways. Still have the issue.... Moved onto the car alternator. Tested it with my DVOM and it was giving out 13.7V at idle.

Optima batteries have taken a hit in quality in recent years.

Optima batteries have been objectively awful for years. Don't buy them.