So my battery in my MY98 RS is on it's last legs. It's really struggling to start the car in this cold weather we're getting. I want to get a new one. I am willing to spend a little extra cash to get a good battery, with higher cold cranking power, or what have you.

Do you have any recommendations for a good brand/model/amperage to go with? Have any one you really like and have had good luck on? Any concerns with going with a battery that is too much higher powered? Thanks!

Many of us have Optimas. Mine is doing very well in the current deep freeze here in the Northeast, and it's a year and a half old. Almost anything is better than the marginal stock battery.

I'm right smack dab in the middle of the deep freeze. -3 here now. *shivers*

Wow, heatwave here, +7.
Still too cold for those OEM batteries.

I just ordered my Optima today. My OEM one almost doesn't start the car when it drops below 20. :(

The Optima Red tops work well for cars that get driven on a
daily basis. The Yellow tops are recommended for weekend
cars or cars with large stereo systems pulling a lot of amps.
Yellow top is a deep cycle battery. Im using the yellow tops
and drive my car only once every 2-3 weeks in the winter.
The battery even with 750cca will not start my wrx unless I keep
the security system off or charge the battery once every 2
weeks with the security armed. The car is garaged and
usually in 20F-35f temps, but its still too cold if the security system is armed.

Honestly, i would just get an ordinary battery with high cca.
The optima's being 'better' than other batteries to me is
more or less psychological. The yellow tops being deep
cycle batteries will help my situation though as i can
completely discharge it (at worst case) without killing it.

Ok, I am buying an optima. Found a local place that sells them. Both red and yellow tops.

I don't have anything that takes any amount of power. An alarm and some bizzaro electro-anti rust thingy (it was free).

Hopwever, in the summertime, I will go for long periods of running my stock stereo loud with the doors open at a campsite without running the engine.

So would the yellow be better? Or would red suffice? I do this 2 or 3 times a month at the most.

yellow top. a red top can be cycled, but it will diminish the overall life expectancy of the battery. the yellow however, does not get damaged by deep cycling.

hey, what about for the 51R size group, does Optima make any batteries this size?