quick simple question here.

 

I'm shopping around for a new battery for my 2005 outback. 4 cylinder 2.5l

 

I have little idea of what I need. suggestions so I can shop prices

thoughts?

I went with WalMart as per car's rating on both of my 05 (OB and Legacy).

It's cheaper than Autozone for same rating.

I believe yours is a group size 35. You can get some great deals at Advance Auto by using in store pickup after buying online and using coupon codes.

 

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subcategory_Batteries_13556_13559_10151_10051_-1___

 

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/advanceautoparts.com

I went to Autozone and they put it in for free. Likely more than Walmart, though I could put a battery in with eyes closed I just didn't want to mess

with it. About $100.00 for my Forester, and that was their best battery.

There are three major mfg of car batteries. East penn , johnson controls and exide. Johnson is by far the largest with brands such as interstate,optima, etc. They also supply batteries to sears, autozone, advance auto and many many others. Napa uses exide batteries. The johnson batteries get very good reviews. The stock battery for my car called for 550 cca. I got a sears die hard gold with 640cca and 100 hr reserve with a 3yr replacement and 100 month warranty for 107. I believe most subarus use a 35 group battery. any top of the line johnson battery will last a very long time. Also heard good things about the exide batteries but napa is kinda far from me so i went with johnson.

Yes I think group 35 is the usual Subaru battery, for the auto trans vehicles anyway. Sometimes the MT's have a smaller or lower rated battery. You really can't fit too much of a different size in there, at least not larger, because it seems often then the battery terminals are in different spots or reverse of the group 35 size. Unless you want to have to mess around with lengthening the cables, etc.

 

The AGM batteries such as Optima and Odyssey often have high amperage ratings and some are deep cycle capable, but some people say the lead plates are much closer together and more likely to develop a short in a cell in the future.