Yuasa, Varta or Advanced battery brand?

[JeffL]

My car, GS300 MK3 2007. Current Battery is a Halfords HB030 and when my local garage serviced the car this week they reported that the Battery had failed their Battery Test. In their opinion Halfords batteries are rubbish! They recommend Yuasa and Varta. Just checked prices etc, Halfords offer Yuasa HB030 (same number as their own Halfords battery) £166.49 inc. fitting. The Yuasa website quotes YBX3030 72Ah and 630 amps, whereas the Yuasa HB030 at Halfords says 75Ah and 650 amps, you'd think they would be the same. My local garage can supply and fit the Varta E23 (570412063) at £156. A company local to me in Stockport, advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk can supply the Varta at £165. They can also supply their own branded Advanced 068XD Type, 5 year warranty at £145 with mobile fitting. Anyone on here got a preference for Halfords, Yuasa or Varta or Advanced branded batteries?

[Malc1]

I found the local Main Dealer at Toyota the most competitive and best value for my ( Ls400 ) replacement Yuasa Battery recently ....  give them a go I would say 

and you get a free coffee whilst being fitted ..............  a 5 min job with the correct Battery always in stock

Malc

[Bluemarlin]

Varta E23 is £86.99 delivered at Tanya batteries:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/e23/

 

 

[Linas.P]

Halfrauds batteries are indeed trash, Yuasa is not great either. Vatra as far as I understand is made by the same manufacturers as Bosch S4 (which is long term recommendation on IS250 side of the forum). So given the options I would go with Vatra. 

As well I would not buy it in halfrauds because the consistently refuse to take batteries on warranty... honestly I don't trust them with anything. 

[Barry14UK]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

Halfrauds batteries are indeed trash, Yuasa is not great either. Vatra as far as I understand is made by the same manufacturers as Bosch S4 (which is long term recommendation on IS250 side of the forum). So given the options I would go with Vatra. 

As well I would not buy it in halfrauds because the consistently refuse to take batteries on warranty... honestly I don't trust them with anything. 

[JeffL]

2 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

Varta E23 is £86.99 delivered at Tanya batteries:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/e23/

 

 

Yes, but then you have to fit it yourself. Don't fancy that personally.=, but I know a lot on here would DIY. Thanks anyway.

[JeffL]

43 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Halfrauds batteries are indeed trash, Yuasa is not great either. Vatra as far as I understand is made by the same manufacturers as Bosch S4 (which is long term recommendation on IS250 side of the forum). So given the options I would go with Vatra. 

As well I would not buy it in halfrauds because the consistently refuse to take batteries on warranty... honestly I don't trust them with anything. 

Sounds good. Might do the Varta deal then with my local garage but I'll check out the Toyota dealer first as suggested by Malc1 and see if they do Varta. Thanks.

[Barry14UK]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Halfrauds batteries are indeed trash, Yuasa is not great either. Vatra as far as I understand is made by the same manufacturers as Bosch S4 (which is long term recommendation on IS250 side of the forum). So given the options I would go with Vatra. 

As well I would not buy it in halfrauds because the consistently refuse to take batteries on warranty... honestly I don't trust them with anything. 

Halfords did have a reputation for it's batteries not being the best but at least some of their better batteries are now in reality now Yuasa which have a good reputation for batteries, possibly better known for being the major supplier of motor cycle batteries.  I have a Halfords/Yuasa AGM I fitted to my car (as  I detailed in a thread some way back).  This was on offer at the time and I used my 'Gold' discount.  It also came with a 5 year warranty which I expect Halfords to honour in the event that it fails due to a fault for which I am not responsible.  If you allow it to go flat a number of times or for an extended period you may not be reimbursed.  This is quite common and Hankook say this on their equivalent Battery for example.

Varta, (not Vatra) batteries have a very good reputation.  I have used them for years in my cars. They are made in the same factory as Bosch and are owned by Johnson Controls, thought to be the largest lead acid Battery manufacturer in the world. I think the way a Battery is maintained likely accounts for it's lifespan more than the difference between major makes but one easy indicator is to check the weight as lead is expensive and some use more than others.

[JeffL]

15 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

Halfords did have a reputation for it's batteries not being the best but at least some of their better batteries are now in reality now Yuasa which have a good reputation for batteries, possibly better known for being the major supplier of motor cycle batteries.  I have a Halfords/Yuasa AGM I fitted to my car (as  I detailed in a thread some way back).  This was on offer at the time and I used my 'Gold' discount.  It also came with a 5 year warranty which I expect Halfords to honour in the event that it fails due to a fault for which I am not responsible.  If you allow it to go flat a number of times or for an extended period you may not be reimbursed.  This is quite common and Hankook say this on their equivalent battery for example.

Varta, (not Vatra) batteries have a very good reputation.  I have used them for years in my cars. They are made in the same factory as Bosch and are owned by Johnson Controls, thought to be the largest lead acid battery manufacturer in the world. I think the way a battery is maintained likely accounts for it's lifespan more than the difference between major makes but one easy indicator is to check the weight as lead is expensive and some use more than others.

Yes I noticed the weight varies a little on the ones I was looking at. Varta is 18KG,  Advanced is 21KG, Yuasa HSB030 (from Halfords) is 18.1KG, Halfords own brand HB030 18.3KG, Yuasa YBX3030 (on Yuasa website) 17.3KG. So from a weight point of view these ones appear similar. Maybe really cheaper brands would be a lot lighter. Thanks for the heads up.

[Barry14UK]

purity of the lead and quality of separation of plates are also less easily determinable factors.  'Battery Megastore' is usually another competitive source for a wide range batteries.