I need a new battery for my 2000 xK8. I am thinking of getting a Bosch replacement but I heard somewhere that the ones in the US are just a generic battery with a Bosch label.

The car is in Florida so heat is an issue. I look forward to hearing your battery experience.

 

There are only a couple of battery manufacturers in the country now. They build all the brands on the market and label them accordingly. Pay more attention to Cold Cranking Amps than you do to a brand name....


We have run the appropriate Pep Boys Bosch 49/850B vented battery in my wife's 2006 XK8 since September 2012 without any issues. Be sure to check pepboys.com - it usually has a $25 or $30 coupon for batteries. And be sure to ask for the little plastic vent pipe that plugs into the proper vent port on the battery. If a new vent pipe is not taped to the new battery, many retailers tend to forget them....

 

Two thumbs up on a Bosch battery from Pep Boys. I bought mine online (Bosch H8/L5 49-900B) and saved a lot of money vs buying at the store because of the discounts offered (the guys at the store turned me on to this). Plus, I got free install, (which they may/may not be able to offer when buying directly from the store).

An "AGM" battery is well worth the investment if you have a few extra bucks AND/OR you don't keep a trickle charger on it when parked for extended periods. I do, so the old-school lead acid battery works just fine for me. The Pep Boys Bosch battery had the best warranty of all offerings I could find when researching, and provides dependable performance.

 

the Bosch white batteries are made by Bosch in Germany... (I used to work for EXIDE), EXIDE is the master distributor of Bosch in the States, they came to us from Germany, we made many of the other batteries at any number of our factories spread across the country,( I have been to a couple of them).... all that being said, I run the Bosch in my XKR, after a few others, the Bosch is by far the best for my car (I do have a rather extensive audio system in the car so demand on battery performance is relatively high.