Alternative to glass plate batteries

My 2010 Colorado battery lasted five years but my 2015 Dmax died within 2. New batteries O.E. are garbage

My battery lasted 18 months in my brand new car. Similar story for many. OEM batteries are shite..

Not all OEM batteries are rubbish ,
my aux battery in my Patrol is OEM Benz Sprinter start battery
nxt yr it will be 10yrs old ,I get it load tested each winter before going bush
an each yr the battery man tells me your not buying a battery this yr
it cost a bomb but well worth it
mechpete

OEM batteries rubbish ?? Oh that must be why the OEM battery [ Panasonic ] in my 013 FJ cruiser only lasted 5 years , or that the Optima red top OEM battery fitted to the wife 05 Jeep Cherokee , lets see , 13 years , yes 13 years and 250,000 km is still as good as new ....

13 years for an OEM battery! - that must be some kind of record.

At the other end of the scale, the FoMoCo labelled one in my BT50 lasted 18 months, the last 6 I was nursing it so in real terms it was good only for about 12 months.

We have a Mazda CX-5 diesel vehicle, with a Auto Stop function, which Mazda call " iStop". Thankfully, one can turn it off each time the vehicle is started, and as stated by someone else, the feature saves 3/5ths of bugger all fuel. What it can do, is rapidly wear out the ring gear on the flywheel, much faster than a "normal" vehicle.

Sorry, I got side tracked above, I wanted to talk about the battery. The CX-5, in diesel form, has a 2.2L twin turbo, intercooled engine about the size of a 30 pack "suitcase" of XXXX Gold, yet has a battery at least as big as an N70, if not slightly bigger. Wonder how much it will cost from the dealer once it carks it, as it's the first item they check before a service?

Great vehicle, by the way, fuel burn in mid-6L/100, and gets up & boogies.

Bob

The existence of the start/stop function is the reason why Subaru (and other manufacturers) specify a particular type of battery for those applications. Permanently disabling start/stop is well-nigh impossible on your vehicle (I know that first-hand), but there are some workarounds. Once you get rid of that pestilence any normal battery will suffice.
The system saves a poofteenth of a % of fuel in suburban running, and if you do the maths it doesn't save enough to pay the extra for battery replacement.

Edit:
1. Get the battery evaluated by a specialist like Battery World etc.
2. Stay away from stealerships. Find a good independent Subie specialist.

Pretty sure the average 2015 Subaru Forester didn't have start/stop, only the top of the range, and I wouldn't rely on Battery World for info either. If it isn't on their computer then they don't know.

Just goes to show you mustn’t believe the dealer. Any battery with a dud cell, let alone two dud cells will fail. If it had a dud cell then it won’t keep dudding along for 12 months. That is what dud means. Unless the OE battery has screw plugs in the top, the dealer can’t test which cell/s is/are faulty. He was simply trying to sell a battery before it failed. Maybe ok in some circumstances for reliability for the customer, but the customer should be fully informed if that is the situation. Then no argument.

Unfortunately you cannot believe many battery sales places because they are in the business of selling batteries, rarely do they try not to sell a battery. Most resellers of batteries as mentioned, don’t hold higher quality batteries, they sell run of mill usually at inflated prices. Motoring associations make money from selling just a battery to get you going, not necessarily one which will give long and a good value service life.

Ivan, the OP explicitly stated his Forester had start/stop. Not sure why you are trying to muddy the water.

Also in my experience places like Battery World - while in business to sell batteries - will usually load test them in front of you and provide a report. Apart from the OP's battery still kicking on (despite its alleged dud cells ...) it would certainly be worth having an obligation-free test before shelling out the hard-earned. YMMV.

That's the weird part, the test.

After the Subaru dealer said two cells were dead, I went to the RAA who said it was perfect, but at 93% charge and needed to be put on a charger.

Then a few months later, K Mart Tyres and Auto said it was 83% and hanging on, but that was also nearly a year ago. It was never put on a charger and I never had a single problem starting the motor.

I will plonk in a large high CCA battery when this one goes dead. My driving rarely triggers the stop/start mechanism and it can be turned off though this must be for every trip.

The battery in my (diesel) Hilux died in early July 2017, on the morning we were packing to leave for Broome.
It was the original battery and it was 4 years and 4 mths old - and it had been showing signs of deterioration for a couple of months (slower than normal cranking, and needing a "jump" after leaving the interior light on for a couple of hours).
On the morning I replaced it, we left the doors open for an hour, while we loaded up, and the battery refused to crank the motor.

I bought a new one, went on holidays, and after I returned, I took the old battery to my workshop and gave it a long slow charge over 3 days, with my basic 4 amp charger - and with an Infinitum battery desulfator attached.

The battery recovered enough to be able to start the 4 cyl 1Z Toyota diesel in my forklift, multiple times, nearly every day.
As of today, this "buggered" battery has been providing sterling service in my forklift for another 16 mths after it appeared to be toast.

This is not the first time I have recovered a "buggered" battery with the Infinitum desulfator.
The U.S. Military utilise the desulfators to prolong the life of the batteries in their equipment, which is under-utilised or in storage.

AFAIC, this little desulfator is well worth the $44 I paid for it, and it has saved me a lot more than what it cost.

There are some chargers out there that claim to have desulfators "built in" (such as C-Tek) - but I have read reports from owners/users of the C-Tek chargers that state they don't believe that the desulfator built into the C-Tek chargers is all that effective.

Cheers, Ron.