Hey guys, my pathetic OEM battery is steadily falling by the wayside, so much so that its not able to adequately power my sub amp so Im looking to get a new one (testing at 399 CCA's!). I looked into a beefier battery like a Kinetic 1400 CCA battery but those things are $300! Then I thought about just getting a bigger replacement battery in the 700 CCA range. That should be more than enough to run my system and cost $80.

Ive done some reading online and apparently the Group 35 size battery which is what the V6 uses will fit in the I4 so long as you buy a Group 35 battery tray and holder. I was going to do that but noticed the Group 34 batteries have over 100 CCA more and more reserve capacity than the 35's and are only a tiny bit bigger but cost the same.

I was wondering if anybody has tried dropping a Group 34 battery in their I4.

 

First off, just because I like sharing information, your starter will never draw more than 100A. The whole "CCA" game is basically just a marketing tool to sell batteries. Plus, if you ever drew 1400A of current from a battery you'd likely make it explode from the heat.

And, I just put in a Group 34 battery in my friend's 99 I4 for the extra reserve capacity (he has the Alpine MRD-1000 and 2 12" 2Ω Type-R's) and it was a bit bigger. The battery is resting on the edge of the battery tray for now. Are you sure the V6 battery tray will fit? Aren't they on the other side of the engine bay like the 6th gens are? If it doesn't fit you can always grind down the walls on the tray to make it fit.

 

K-series engine in 7th=gen is in the right-side of the engine bay, same as the V-6. The whole business of mirroring the whole engine bay disappeared with the end of the F-series engine.

 

Under normal conditions I agree you dont need a million CCA however Im a very active car audio competitor and sound quality is judged with engine off and at major shows you have 3 judges. My system is 1600 watts and these judges love to slam on these systems for 20 minutes at a time so I can guarantee you that having tons of CCA and reserve capacity makes a big difference. As for the 1400 CCA batteries talk to the SPL competitors with 50000 watt systems. They usually have a few of these batteries. Theyre more than capable of putting out that power but thats also why they cost $300-400.