My wife's 03 mini has what appears to be a dying battery. Slow to start, sluggish at first when turning the key. Today after work it died and she needed a jump start. Needed another this evening. Dealer of course want major $$$.....what is a fair price for the new battery, if in fact that is the problem and should we go to the dealer or second party?

 

if it is the original battery I'm surprised it lasted this long. I replace mine at 5 years regardless.

There is NOTHING special about a MINI battery and you should be able to get a replacement at any decent auto-part store. They will also check your battery for you for free: Pep Boys, Auto Zone . . . . I lived in Chesapeake for a time, while I had my 02-S

A REALLY REALLY good battery will cost over $100 while most will cost less. How much to spend????? Most of the cost difference will be in the warranty length. A GOOD battery has a 5 year warranty (prorated).

 

I have an 05 Cooper and I just had a dead battery a few months ago. Very easy fix went to Napa got the Legend 7547 took me all of 5 minutes to install it and heck I am a girl. Cost about $100 but way cheaper than the dealer and oh so easy to do! I would just do it on your own I did get a $10 credit for bringing my old core back in bringing the cost down to $90 and it was $90 well spent. Hope this helps!

 

Well the OEM batteries are vented and carry a one year warranty and expensive.

I went the slightly, and just slightly less expensive route, for the one time cost of the sealed battery, with lifetime warranty and because I live up north I got the Optima Red Top (I believe it was model # R34) You can do the yellow top further south where there's not as many sub 40degree cold cranks...in VA I could go either way. The Optima batteries are also deep cycle so a recharge from dead brings the battery back to a true full charge and not slightly less than full like the OEM battery.

The OEM battery isn't a bad one, and many like yourself have certianly made it last longer than the one year MINI expects to get out of it; but there are other better options out there, and if you're planning on keeping your MINI long term that little extra on the investment over the $100 walmart rack battery will pay for itself as time goes on.

That's my $.02... and you can search on NAM for Optima batteries and get lots more responses, it's advice that I got here on NAM that lead me into researching them across the web and making my decision and I've been happy with that aspect of it.

 

Is the MINI oem battery sealed? I thought it wasn't a great idea to have a non-sealed battery in an S? I also need a new battery; mine is dead.

 

Thank you everyone! I knew there was a cheaper and better alternative. Off to autozone or Pep Boys today!

 

Nope...it has a plug that you connect a vent tube too.
Many batteries sold have a kit for $10 in the battery parts bit to allow this...some come with the vent premolded to plug the plastic hose in, no kit needed...on an S, with a non sealed battery it is needed to vent the hydrogen gas and possibly corrosive gases out of the car...

 

If you join AZ's Reward cards program (free), they give you a $20 immediate credit for every 5th $20 worth of purchases. So I buy other things for our cars and break up the cost if they go over the $20 mark (wipers, tools, brake parts, hood supports, etc...usually items not for the MINI).

AZ battery (Optima) is like $190 plus taxes. Of course, Costco stop carrying the Optima's in the 34R sizes.

But anyone know of ther places besides AZ to get a good deal? I'm going to look after the New Year's myself, as still on the OEM one.

 

I live up north I got the Optima Red Top (I believe it was model # R34) You can do the yellow top further south where there's not as many sub 40degree cold cranks...in VA I could go either way. The Optima batteries are also deep cycle so a recharge from dead brings the battery back to a true full charge and not slightly less than full like the OEM battery.

I think you've mixed a few facts here. The OPTIMA Yellow is a deep cycle battery while the red is just a plain old battery. (their blue is for marine applications) unless it has changed recently.....

http://www.optimabatteries.com/home.php

OPTIMA is not stronger than anything else, they are just a pretty GOOD battery. For classic car owners and hot rod folks they have the advantage of being a gel-cell which means they can not leak (OPTIMA says you can mount them upside down if you want to). A very important factor worth paying for if you have invested a zillion dollars restoring/building your toy and you want ZERO worries about leaking acid destroying your paint. I use OPTIMA in my 79 & not in any of my other cars.

Also: the 34R is the right OPTIMA for a GEN1 S .... not for a Justa however. Do a little digging and you'll find a recent thread about that . . .

 

Got the Duralast Gold and am quite happy with it. THank you all for the information on this forum! It helped a lot. We did sign on for the card as well since we will be using them a lot in the future so future savings makes sense. The duralast hooked up the vent tube with no problem.