Best replacement battery?

Hey guys the battery on my 996 died. Do you have any recommendations on what would be the best battery to buy and perhaps where to buy one? I live in Fairfield County Connecticut, and I would prefer to avoid being fleeced by the dealer and don't feel too comfortable walking into the local NAPA Auto parts store where they do not see too many of our vehicles. TIA!!!!!

depends upon your intended use.... you might want to get a gel bettery like an optima if you're using it on the track. I just put a Bosche into my car and it's working out fine.

THNX Oreganet. The car is basically a weekend rover and part time commuter machine. No track, did you purchase it locally or online?

Interstate makes the best. They make the Optima.

I bought it from my local Pep Boys. I figure that considering that Bosche already has a large number of parts in my car, then adding a battery to the list wouldn't hurt, plus the battery gets good reviews. I got a high end one... I don't remember the exact name, something like Premium Gold, but it's one of the best batteries that they carry.

was it a drop in replacement? Or did you have to drill holes (the bosch)

It's a straight drop in replacement - a perfect fit and it even has a vent tube the mates up to the car without any problems.

I read up a lot on this before I went out and bought my new bettery a couple of weeks ago. I read about some batteries needing adaptors and so on. I didn't want to hassle with that and just needed a good reliable drop-in replacement. This battery is a perfect fit, got great reviews, and comes with a 3 year warranty.

Autozone - $65-$75 bucks if I remember correctly. Install was a piece of cake.

I believe I paid around $84 after the core return. My local Autozone does not carry that particular brand of battery. I'm fairly picky about this kind of thing and took out a tape measure to make sure that the dimensions fit in the battery holder. It was at that point he asked what kind of car I was putting the battery into - the expression on his face when I told him was priceless... as was the one I got when I dropped off the Porsche OEM core.

Guys, you don't consider factory battery??? too expensive???

US Bosch batteries are made by Interstate (Johnson Controls). The factory Porsche battery seems to be an inferior battery at a very high price.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2950 Johnson Controls also makes them for Autozone and Sears. Didn't know there was a Bosch branded battery being sold in the US. Have to dig out the carmera and look around.

For drop in, any battery that is a direct fit is fine. Optima requires modification to battery tray.

A couple of battery resources: http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/batbrand.htm http://www.autobatteries.com/ Here's a page on battery selection: http://www.autobatteries.com/basics/selecting.asp As others have said, the main selector should be how reliable is the brand? what are the cold cranking amps? (i.e. will it start your car in cold weather!) and how good a warranty does it have? Stick to that and you really can't go wrong when selecting a car for routine usage.

I went with a Duralast from Autozone after reading another thread on this - 1/4 the cost of going to the dealer, easy DIY replacement, and has worked just fine - whatever you get, don't forget the "breather tube", if that is the right term.