Looking for suggestions for a replacement battery for my 2007 Q7 3.6L.

I want something with high CCA that will last...thanks

 

Audi OEM for me, which I think is 520 CCA. Never had a problem, and they're more or less the same price as an aftermarket replacement, so why mess with something that works?

 

The real thing you need on these cars with all the electronics they have is a high reserve capacity. With all the electronics and the Battery Management Module (BEM) these cars will start acting crazy when the voltage gets outside of what it wants.

These two have the same CCA, but look at the difference in the reserve capacity.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/pcp?comp...RMJ,SSB-95RPLT

 

The OE Varta battery the dealer sells is the best option, if you have a dealer close by, that is. When my OE battery died hard, I was 3hrs away from a dealer, so I looked for an H9 AGM style to replace it, which is very close in amp/hours rating to the OE wet-cell battery. No-stock regionally, so ended up with an H8 AGM, which most stores stock. It only has 95 amp/hours rating, and in hindsight, I wouldn't buy the lower amp/hours rated battery for this particular car; you need and want the extra amp/hours capacity of the larger H9 AGM or OE battery. The AGM batteries are just newer construction tech and do better with high discharge/charge cycles

The battery is the only part I would buy directly from a dealer. You can also find the Varta wet-cell battery pretty easily at some local auto store chains. I think it was Autozone that rebrands it by putting their own store brand sticker on it, but may have been O'Reillys I saw those at. It was a Varta though, complete with the BEM sticker code you need to enter into this car when swapping battery out...it makes life easier.

Imagine you've replaced the battery prior, but if not here's some tips, as Audi's are a bit 'special':
Search and read the battery swapping threads...battery is located under front seat/left side of car...only the two front-most seat anchor bolts need be removed + the rear rail plastic trim pieces. Seat bolts require triple-square tool/socket to remove.
See the thread regards to "Got Parasitic Battery Drains?" ==Fix your Parasitic battery drains.
You will need a VAG (Volkswagen Auto Group) compatible scantool to be able to tell the car you've swapped the battery out/enter pertinent information, etc. Ross-Tech VCDS is always recommended if you DIY on this car; it's the best & does the most. (The dealer is going to charge you so much $$$ to install & program the battery, you will wish you had bought the VCDS)
Be careful to ensure the battery vent tube to outside of car is not damaged and gets reconnected to both the battery vent and the exterior fitting, as it can kill you & yours dead-dead if the fumes emitted by battery remain inside the car.

 

Appreciate the responses, I have to fix the door drain problem and will probably look for the best price on the Audi OEM battery. Wish they would have just put it in the engine bay, had no idea about the venting / can cause death issue. Of course, I've never had a vehicle before, with the battery inside the car.

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the location of the battery vent? The replacement video I watched on YouTube made no mention of it.

 

Autozone too has both the flooded cell and AGM. I opted for the regular flooded cell instead of AGM because of the longer warranty of the regular battery at the time (3 years vs 1 year AGM). Now the top line all have 3-years, so you can pick the AGM. AGM does offer higher reserve capacity and works well in colder climates. But I do not think they are as hardy as flooded cells.

Duralast and Duralast-Gold (2 vs 3-year warranty):
https://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...cca/820339_0_0
https://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...cca/766486_0_0

AGM: https://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...cca/229889_0_0

Regular batteries have lower Ah rating, therefore I recoded using VCDS from something like 105Ah factory to 95Ah. I do not remember the exact numbers.

 

They battery vent is here in the red circle, just pulls out and push in the new one.

 

Thank you, definitely will make sure to check that is connected..

 

I like the AGM option, looks like an all around better battery...

 

Yeah, definitely get the larger size (H9 AGM), so you get 105Ah capacity...they cost exactly the same as the H8 AGM size when I was looking, at multiple retailers, which I thought was very odd. Just be sure to look up the AGM battery codes to put into the BEM system...AGM batteries can be charged more aggressively than wet-cell battery can, etc. I've seen reference BEM codes posted on here a couple times by @dreadlocks in battery swap threads, so you can just pick the one closest to your type (AGM), capacity (amp hours), and cranking amps.

If you order it online for pick-up, you often get the current promo deal discount; I saved like 15-20% off my AGM battery I got from Advance Auto Parts, but if I need anything locally, I go to the website of auto parts stores, where they offer a discount code pretty much all the time, although the amount of discount will vary from month-to-month. Most auto parts stores will also give a military/veterans discount inside the store, but you gotta ask.

Last thing; there are vent holes on both sides of battery to accomodate different installations, be sure to put the little plastic plug in the far side not connected to the vent hose. The plastic vent-hole plug(s) included with the new battery look completely unimportant, so take care not to lose track of them during install.