quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
What a stinking shame it is when a good company with a good product decides that short term profit beats long term viability. How many decades of future purchases did they lose to get a few years of cheap labor in Mexico? Idiots!!

As bad as a Chinese battery?

quote:

Originally posted by GWbiker:

As bad as a Chinese battery?

Not sure it matters where junk is made. Once bean counters hear the siren song of maximizing short term profits, it's over.

I have had two Optima Red Top batteries last 4 years each in my 2003 Corvette. When the first one died I got the second but, it would not hold a charge. I returned it for a new one and it also lasted for 4 years again.
These batteires have to be used frequently (every 2 - 3 weeks) or they need a trickle charger. They do not last in static demos (garage queens).

Red top Optima, circa 2002 install, went 9 years in AZ before it began to turn the engine a little slower than usual. A few months later, I figured I'd be better off replacing it before I got stuck somewhere. Reading the deterioration in quality, and knowing what the cost was going to be, I out a regular battery in. Not worth the expenditure on a car I was selling.

I say just get a high-end Interstate battery and call it a day. There are only like two places that make all the batteries you see out there.