Is anyone able to speak to the quality and longevity differences, if any, between Group 49 and Group 93 batteries? Both are a perfect fit and suitable for my cars, but Group 49 is OEM.

The reason I ask is that, next time I get a battery, I'm going to go with an Interstate "blem." But apparently the Group 93s are much more likely to be in stock.

Thanks.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 158k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 177k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 72k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Looks like the 93 is a better battery too.

Interstate Batteries Results Page - Automotive / Truck 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300DT

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

I recommend the Bosch battery. They sell them at Pep Boys. You get the Christmas $25 off coupon + the $20 rebate from Bosch. With a core, it comes out to be just around $80!

The $25 coupon is something you print out when you go to their site.

Worth a look!

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Using group size alone is near meaningless when judging if one battery is " better " than the other. There are two competing parameters when selecting electrical characteristics of a battery of a given physical size, high amp output over a short time ( cranking battery ) and low amp output over a long time ( deep cycle, forklift, boat motor battery )

For a lead acid battery, surface area and thickness of the plates are what matter. More surface area ( more plates, bigger battery size ) gives greater amp hours and is used in deep cycle batteries.

Thinner plates gives higher cranking amps ( but at the cost of longevity and depth of discharge) and is used in cranking batteries.

A few thick slices or many thin, take your pick for a given weight / volume.


It is possible to have the same battery capacity in a large group size as a small group size simply by using a bigger box. Compare amp hour and cranking amp rating, if they are not available battery weight can be used. However, this will only tell you there is more lead inside and not if there are many thin plates or few thick plates.

The Mercedes battery that came with my car when I got it new to me (4 or 5 yrs ago now) has been amazingly strong cranker in even our coldest days, good glows, etc..

Don't know who makes those ones but definitely worth consideration.

Aside from that, I get batteries from Costco made by Johnson Controls which are proving out to be excellent as well, for the money especially, and with Costco warranty / backing I feel pretty comfortable buying there.

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Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

I thought Costco batteries were made by Interstate...well at least thats what the service manager said...

Interesting. So here are two for my car:

Interstate Batteries Results Page - Automotive / Truck 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300D 2.5

The only difference I can see is that the Group 49 (the OEM) has fewer CCA. But I guess it has its advantages.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 158k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 177k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 72k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Interstate doesn't manufacture, they market. Most Interstate batteries are actually manufactured by Johnson Controls. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Have a look at this chart, it shows the 49 and 93 to have the same physical dimensions. More research is needed to determine why the 49 / 93 have the same external dimensions but are different groups.

Interstate Batteries

At least in the Interstate line, the only reason a 93 has more cranking amps is because there is more lead inside not because the battery is physically larger.

Some websites give slightly different dimensions between these groups. Specifically the height is different on at least one website I found. So Interstate (or Johnson Controls) may have pooled those two groups into one in order to reduce costs.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

So why would one prefer a 49 over a 93?

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 158k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 177k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 72k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

My autozone brand lasted 2 years extra.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

Cost and weight would be factor in selecting the 49 over a 93. Given diesels need a really good high amp battery to reliably start, in an older high mile car used in a cold environment I'd go with the higher cranking amp unit.

( As the engine wears / loses compression, it needs more cranking speed to get started . )

When selecting an upgrade, consider base price to be the minimum starting point then only look at cost benefit ratio of the upgrade. ( $ 100 base $ 125 upgrade = $ 25 to upgrade.)

For example when I was deciding on having my garage built, I had started with making it 50 ft deep, as it turned out the added cost to make it 60 ft deep was minimal. If I had gone to 70 ft the cost would have jumped dramatically as a fifth set of columns would have been needed rather than just stretching out the 4. And then there was the urge to make it 80 ft. . . .

Good to know, thanks

Looks like I will be picking up a group 93 for the recent addition