Battery Life

[albert champion]

i have too many benzes, i suppose. what astonishes me is how fast batteries go south. and i store my cars in a climate controlled garage[60-80]

i put my e320cab up in the spring love bug season in early april, wanted to take it out today. dead. dead. dead. this battery was new in april 2002. all cells were still to the brim.

and the interstate battery would not take a charge. and the griot's garage jumper pack 400 wouldn't fire it up either. by the way, this is a lousy product - don't buy one.

it loved the new battery, though. fired right up. radio wanted the code re-entered, but all presets had been remembered[how did this happen?].

and all the window presets had been remembered.

sometimes, after encountering this situation, i think of replacing the standard batt with one of the optimas. but, when i examine them, i ask myself, how can i secure them in the benz batt comparments? they have no foot for clamping them. and they are too tall.

if the optima product is such an advance, why don't those design engineers configure it to fit into the envelope of a standard automotive battery. if they did that, it would be a "no brainer". if they are better, more long-lived, than the conventional auto batts.

any comments?