New car battery recommendation

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by IllusionX

Scott, how long should lead acid battery last given best working conditions?

Cuz sealed lead acid batteries, like the ones found in home alarms as backup don't seem to last much longer than 4 years... My previous car batteries never lasted longer than 4 years either..
So as a rule of thumb, car batteries usually don't last much longer than 4-5 years. But it obviously doesn't seem to be the case with most of the Yaris/Echo owners up here.. like mine is 7 years old and counting...

It really depends on a lot of factors. I have had car batteries last over 10 years and I have had them only last 4 years. I believe that the best case would probably be about 15 years.

I have a Sonnenschein battery in Crashy that was manufactured in 2001, was used for some testing with the mobile robots I used to work with, spent about 7 years being used very intermittently on my Gravely walk behind tractor (which was used in the spring for rototilling and once in a while in the winter for snow blowing) and has now been in Crashy since February of 2011.

The Yaris is a bit tougher on batteries that most other cars, as it has a high static current draw (over 100 mA), which means that in a week or two of not using the car you have significantly drained the battery. So, Yaris that are driven 365 days a year will see longer battery life than Yaris that are driven intermittently.