Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

The battery on my Cav failed suddenly today - sudden failures seem to be a feature of modern batteries unlike a few years back when they just got steadily weaker and gave you plenty of warning.
Any way, I noted the battery had a 4 year warranty so off I went to find the receipt. After much digging I found it - and it was dated 2013!
I really can't grumble at a 10 year life can I ? How time flies.
For the record the battery was a Halfords HCB075 and I'll be replacing it with exactly the same.

It is amazing how time flies.

Admittedly Halfords can be very expensive, but for stuff like batteries, they are usually very good quality.

And when you look at the cost over the lifespan, it isn't that bad overall.

I had a battery suddenly fail on me. That was probably about 2011 though. Stopped at a petrol station and then couldn't get it started again. Had to call the AA out in the end as no one had any jump leads.

Anyway, halfords batteries are pretty good in my experience. I've been buying ones directly from Vauxhall recently and they don't last very long.

I think it depends how often you use the car. A daily driver hides it better as it starts easy and is charged every day.

A lot of vehicle batteries suffer from lack of use for months on end, especially evident during 2020 and 2021.

Not everyone is savvy enough or able to disconnect the battery for long term storage.
Charge to full, leave disconnected for 6 weeks, and repeat until you need the car again.

But - on top of this, since 2020 many manufacturers have out-sourced to cheaper suppliers in India but mainly China.

Many formerly good brands have taken a beating to their reputations because of premature failure or rubbish parts quality.

One example is Lucas. A huge reliable electrical parts supplier, but now I would not touch their batteries with a barge pole. They fail prematurely and without warning.

Incidentally - although completely different battery technology, I have found this with wheelchair batteries, supplied on NHS powered mobility chairs.
Both lead-acid and AGM batteries are affected.
Even the biggest companies have had problems with sourcing decent quality batteries with an acceptable life span.

Did you know that wheelchair batteries are only warrantied for six months.
In the past three years I have returned dozens of dodgy batteries under warranty.

I got my new HCB075 battery from Halfords for £68 using a 10% discount code available online for click and collect but not when buying within the store. So a pretty good price - I hope it'll last for 10 years again just like the old HCB075 (if it does it'll probably see me out!)

When I put my Cavalier back on the road a couple of weeks ago I fitted a Varta Heavy duty one. With trade discount I think I paid just over £60 delivered. Usually get very good service out of them. The one that came off the Cavalier was an unknown Chinese brand that was fitted to the car when I purchased nearly 7 years ago, so particularly with a lot of standing I dont think I did too bad with it.
The brand new Bosch one on my Jag failed at only a few months old but it must of been a gradual decline as I'd had a few electrical gremlins for about 6 weeks that disappeared when it totally failed and was replaced.
The most annoying one I had though was at 5pm on Christmas eve with my Volvo 440( back in 2005) when I left the house to pick my then girlfriend, now wife up from work. It worked totally fine in the morning when I dropped her off, but that evening was dead, where do you get a replacement from at that time on Christmas eve?

Batteries do tend to just 'die' now! When I just got married/mortgage etc my Morris battery started to give up but being short of cash I nursed it through the winter by using the starting handle (remember them!)

Alan