Thank you for this excellent write up. Made switching out the 11 year old Varta a breeze. Locally cold temps caused negative strap reconnect challege due to stiffness. That and the mass of the big AGM we're the main challenges.
Next battery I am going to put in my Passat is going to be something made by Exide . I mentioned before that I changed my OE battery in the winter 2007-2008, was concerned with low temperatures of this winter, but battery seems to do very well, started at 9*F and still work without a problem.
My oem battery lasted from '08 to '13. The last few weeks the car would hesistate to start. The starter would click click, dashboard lights would flicker, and the ECU and CANBUS would reset. I'd lose the auto windows and see my trip odo reset, but the battery read 12.5V and alternator read just fine too. I waited until the day I had to jump-start the car then drove to VW and bought a new OEM battery; I believe it's a Varta. After I installed new battery the starting issues went away, but I got stuck where the car would go "clickiddy clickiddy clickiddy click" and dash lights flickered like mad; new battery too! I took my multi-tool and started beating on the connections, leads, and grounds. I found the ground wire to be a bit corroded. After cleaning the terminals with 120 grit and a whopping dose of dielectric, car starts like brand new. The starter is pretty tough.
Yes it does sit inside of the frame rail. When my A2 was a daily driver year ago, I ran the same battery. The battery fit perfect and did not hit the power steering bottle at all.
I decided to stop by the dealer today and check if they had any. Sure enough they did but wanted $15x.xx for it. I mentioned that I had found a lower price online but didn't want to wait for shipping to my surprise they offered to sell it to me for $126. I was really happy with that so I bought it and installed it this afternoon. So for anyone that may dig up this thread searching in the future, 000 915 105 DE fits and works great in a mk2 :thumbup:
I have some extended experience with a lightweight battery in my daily driven 2006 Boxster S, which is well known for the demands it places on the battery. In spite of that, I successfully used the Deka ETX30L (21 lbs.) for almost 3.5 years.
So I have the Odyssey 1200MJT in now and securely mounted with their "HDS mounting strap for 1200/1700 series batteries" from West Coast Batteries. It's mounted in the stock location in my 1994 Corrado VR6.
Had an Optima once. It was fine til it died, and it died hard. These days I stick with Interstate blemished units, since you can get them with cosmetic blems for about $35 from your local dealer. Cable wise, I updated them with the ones from a Mk3 VR6. I like the connectors better. Cables seem to be identical otherwise. Thicker alternator wire from Autotech is a must.
Optima batteries have taken a hit in quality in recent years.
Optima batteries have been objectively awful for years. Don't buy them.
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