I woke the tiger from it's winter slumber this evening. It was a fight to get it started.

I'd charged the battery over night, but it still struggled to turn the engine. It started eventually but once I stopped it (after about 25 mins) it it wouldn't restart.

Where's the cheapest place to get a half decent replacement.

It's a Fiat Cinquecento battery and it used to turn the 2.0L zetec over with ease.

Sounds very much like a shagged battery. I usually just get 'em from my local factor. For the BEC I get bike ones off Ebay but CEC batteries tend to be quite chunky so you'll get mullered on postage.

Whereever you buy the battery from, make sure they cycle them. If they have a huge pile of dust on top and have clearly not been moved for donkeys years go somewhere else!!

Halfords is always a safe (if not amazingly cheap) bet.

i got one for my BMW 328 (its a biiiig battery) from my local tyre exhaust battery place. about half the price of halfords

Halfords is quite expensive for batteries. I bought a big leisure battery off ebay and it was alot cheaper than halfords even after paying postage.

With batteries you get what you pay for --
A Battery with a 1 year warranty might just get through two winters.
A battery with a two year warranty will fail after 3 winters.
A battery with a 3 year warranty will last 5 years,
A battery with a 5 year warranty will last 8 years or more

Cheapest batteries tend to be the fastest movers so in the UK it pays to buy battery types used by Ford Rover or Vauxhall. No point in buying too big an amp hour battery for engine size but don't buy to small either. Modern batteries are much ligher than older types so look at one from at least a 1.4 litre car --- such as the Rover 25 1.4 or 1.6 or Mondeo 1.6 or 1.8

Try this crowd -- good price on Varta with a 4 year warranty

http://www.motionbattery.co.uk/

[Edited on 20/4/09 by britishtrident]