Battery OPTIMA or OEM BMW
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.
I like them and that's what I use in my Toyota (Lexus). Had it a couple of years and so far so good. One neat thing about the Optimas is that since it's 100% sealed there's no worry about tipping it or having to wear gloves during transport and installation. It's also lighter.
Get an Optima battery and the battery minder - it's just a trickle charger that slow charges the battery to a certain voltage and then turns itself off. That's what I use in my S2000.
Agreed with others, weigh your usage and environment/climate into the equation. We will personally be replacing ours with a deep discharge battery like the Optima Yellow, since I've noticed that of recent we've been running a lot quick errands that involve one person running in while everyone else hangs out in the car with A/C on.
I bought a red top used off craigslist over 3years ago and it's still great.
A few months ago I replaced the autozone battery with an optima red top. I've left the lights on twice for over half the day and the car still started right up. I'm really impressed with how strong the red top cranks.
The only advantage to Optima batteries is if they are used in an environment where they experience very high vibration or need to be mounted in unusual positions. The longevity of them is no better than a good quality lead acid battery, so unless you're hardcore offroading or need to mount the battery upside down for whatever reason, they really offer no benefit.
I've owned an optima before. Will never buy another one. I used one in my 4x4 to listen to music while camping, play it until the sub cuts out, get a jump, charge it and repeat. Ended up damaging the battery and it would never hold a charge and struggled to start the truck after a weekend of camping. Tossed it out after 2 years.
Optima is not what it used to be. Total and utter crap.
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