For long time owners: How often do you change your battery?

I'm am so out of it with new cars and all their electronics. I normally get 4 -5 years out of the GM and Ford batteries but there is no NAV screen on either car and way less electronics. Can I expect the same 4 - 5 years with my 2020 Challenger? I'm expecting NOT but what's your actual experience?

Do you change on a regular basis even if the battery is still good? I like doing that to avoid aggravation.

 

I just replaced the battery in my 2012 Ram last week........and the test said it only needed a charge...but at 9+ yrs old, I just put a new one in.

 

^^^ Yeah, those are the instances I try to avoid. 5 years is my max now after our Mustang decided to die without warning once at the local grocery store. Worries about getting the cold stuff home, etc.. was all unnecessary. How much longer life should I have really expected? Not worth it. Usually you get warning signs with sluggish starts, or even the clock slowing down, but sometimes a battery just dies.

Certainly no guaranty that every battery will last that long as I had a GM battery go dead once after just one year. That was over 20 years ago so I'm hoping technology has improved a bit since then.

 

Having the battery in the trunk - away from the heat of the engine bay - allows them to last MUCH longer.

I think it's very reasonable to expect 5 - 7 years ... or more.


At the other end of that spectrum was my 2005 Pontiac GTO. I put 5 batteries in that car over the 8 years that I owned the car. No aftermarket electronics other than a radar detector that was wired so that it was only on when the ignition was one. Battery cables changed -- twice. Every test showed no parasitic drain. Yet it killed them all ... including 2 Optimas.

The only theory we came up with was that because I often kept my work backpack in the passenger seat, the car "thought" someone was in the car and was keeping the ventilation system active.

 

^^^ My mind would never allow me the peace to keep a battery in the R/T for more than 5 years.

Your GTO would have driven me nuts!!

 

It drove me nuts at times ... but was otherwise an excellent car.

Should have seen the look on the face of the guy at O'Reilly's when I brought the car in with a dead Optima that was under warranty. He checked the battery with two different machines before agreeing to replace it.

 

Got my 09 R/T new on 30 April 09. Just changed out the battery 2 December 21. Never had a problem with it but figured it may have been on borrowed time! (110,000 miles.)