Battery OPTIMA or OEM Subaru

Optima battery recommended. Expensive but large capacity for emergencies.

I have become a BIG fan of yellow top optima batteries. Mine tests out OVER 1000 CCA (only about a year old) sealed- Acid can never leak out. Deep cycle, you can run it dead without damage. Good warranty, The the batteries are built to take extreme vibrations, and have a superior design to connect the plates inside with a more solid connection.

I put one in my car and it worked fantastic for 3 years no issues and is still going strong.

I have the Yellow top in my 1983 Scrambler and have had no problems with it. I treat it awful in winter I will go weeks with out driving it and then crank the jeep and go use the winch and lights sometimes idle for long periods and the not drive for a few more weeks. Cranks every time.

On my Porsche I run an Optima which lasts 7+ years and is a very strong battery.

So we bought a new 550CCA battery and installed it and it started right up. When I pulled the 18 month old OEM battery out, I was shocked at the CCA rating: 356. 356!!!! That's insane.

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.

I have only had poor luck with optimas

At 126,000 miles in 2016, we had the battery replaced with an Optima yellow top dry battery. It lasted around 2 years and was replaced in September of 2018 under warranty. Today, my car suddenly wouldn't start, and after getting a jump and going to Autozone, it showed the battery had zero charge. They didn't have another yellow top, so I got a wet battery, one of the only ones available. What sucks is I checked the warranty date and it expired 4 days ago. I'm quite disappointed that the average life I've seen with these are under 3 years.

my optima red top died after 3.5 years and 4800 miles. When it wasn’t driven, I had the battery disconnected. For a $240 battery, I’m extremely disappointed. FWIW, the battery was in a restomod 66 mustang. I bought it in March 2018, and the warranty expired in March 2021.