I looked up D51R on Amazon and Elearnaid. Holy Crapp! The price of Optima batteries for our little Classics has gone up by almost 100% At that price, we might as well go get a Toyota battery at the Dealer! Bad move, Optima!
100% recently, or since the last time you bought, and how many years back? I noticed battery prices (in general) jumped about 2~3 years back, due in part to lead shortage?
A regular AGM battery is around $200 on Amazon at least. I just got a new 12v for our 2010 in January from Autozone when it was on sale (with a coupon) and with an in store rebate for $160 out the door. It lasted 8.5 years, so I’m not complaining . Might be worth checking other retailers .
Is there an Exide, Bosch or whatever available? What's the OEM, Yuasa? And what's that going for at dealership?
Good night, why not just go to WalMart and pick up a battery? $50 plus tax and it's a drop in, no mods needed. I've been using them in my Gen 1's for years.. and years.. so far, no problems.
Excuse my ignorance: where IS first gen 12 volt battery? Is it it in the trunk? Is the OEM a vented AGM?
You're excused. It's a deep cycle with a vent hose that vents gasses to the outside air. I never understood why the battery needs a vent, AGM motorcycle batteries don't.
Hi just posted on this in another thread - did not see one - here in Northern California OEM Toyota battery was $396.00. Purchased Optima D51R from Elearnaid fir $239.00 - no shipping fees, arrived at my doorstep within a week - is installed and after 600 miles working great!
I just purchased this Prius in October - car had a cheap regular lead acid battery so the battery cable modifications had already been done - I won't go into details here but you can get more info on my posting in another thread
It depends on what you're willing to give up. Spec for the battery calls for deep cycle--not really necessary. But also a nominally sealed, vented AGM battery--not a wet lead acid battery. Over the past years, I've seen leaky, over filled lead acid batteries rot battery trays in to rusty doilies. AGM batteries never do. The car I sold yesterday had the Optima 51R battery. My current and only Gen 1 actually has a sealed, AGM mobility scooter/UPS battery. Meets the specs, except that it's not vented. I've been using it for 9 months now and it's fine. I think it was $57 shipped on Ebay (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) As its function is to keep the setting in the PCM and power up the relays at startup, and not power a starter, CCA is not important. Actually a motorcycle battery would do.
A Warning! With all that accumulated H2 in the trunk area, your car could easily float away....... Good Post.
I went back and looked up the UPS/Scooter battery I'm using in my Prius. Sealed Lead Acid Battery 12 V 33 AMP VRLA AGM SLA (12V) (33AH) | eBay Requires a little "adapting" but so far has worked flawlessly
