Leasing a luxury car shows that you have specific priorities for your equipment.
These priorities probably include performance, reliability and comfort.
You want predictable outcomes, a plan that works every time, and the kind of luxury that makes the uncomfortable edges disappear into pleasure and quiet.
And of course, you have a healthy desire to impress, and to display the high standards you maintain for yourself and your surroundings.
One thing that can undercut all of these goals at the same time is poor battery performance.
Whether your battery dies outside an important client’s office or in the care of a car valet service in Los Angeles, that predictability, comfort, and aura of control are suddenly stripped away. And if poor vibration resistance puts you on the shoulder during an otherwise epic drive up the Cascade Loop, all the joy of driving a highly engineered vehicle will be gone in an instant.
So whatever your plans for your luxury lease happen to include, make sure the battery is ready to rise to the challenge.
Cold Cranking Amps: The Highest Performing Cars Make Great Demands on Batteries
A powerful engine is a joy to control, but it comes at a price. That price is paid in Amps.
Spend a week at a ski resort with a car valet service and your car may begin to test the limits of your battery’s performance, which can lead to frustrating wait times and can limit your enjoyment of your trip.
And while the valet service will have jump packs to try to start your vehicle for you, depending on your vehicle’s engine their equipment may also be taxed.
So before any trips, and particularly before cold weather, check to ensure that your battery is at full functional capacity and can generate at least 800 cold crank amps. This should be adequate to meet the needs of even the most powerful engines.
Reserve Capacity: Stored Power In Case of Failure
Ideally your alternator should be recharging your battery as you drive, each RPM adding more charge until your battery is at full capacity.
Unfortunately, now and then, alternators do fail. Your car should notify you if this occurs, but what happens next depends entirely on your battery’s reserve capacity.
Some batteries have less than 20 minutes reserve capacity–especially in the case of a luxury car, which often have high energy demands for the fuel system, climate control, entertainment, and more.
So when choosing a high performance battery make sure it has more than 100 minutes of reserve capacity, more than enough to get your vehicle to the nearest service center and find out what is wrong with your alternator.
Durability: Powerful Engines Create Vibrations
Your luxury vehicle has been engineered in such a way that the driver’s seat does not experience anything but the smoothest and quietest of rides.
Under the hood can be a whole other story.
Considering the compression force, the sheer power, that is generated by the engine, it’s not surprising that less expensive batteries end up failing when they are placed under the stresses that many luxury cars exert.
A traditional lead-acid battery is never going to keep up, so ensure that your car is equipped with an absorbent glass mat battery or a lithium ion cell. Either one is designed to withstand the stresses of high performance and the tightly engineered environment under the hood of your luxury car lease.
Load Handling: Meeting your Car’s High Electrical Demand
The luxury car places great demands on its battery.
The electronic control unit that ensures maximum performance and keeps the car running smooth and clean has vast and constant requirements, and the fuel system itself is a massive draw as it governs the fuel air mixture.
And that is just the percentage of the electrical draw that takes place under the hood. If you include the demands of a high-end sound system, the engine noise cancellation, heated seats, and an advanced and detailed system of dash components, the energy needs of a luxury lease are immense.
And if the battery isn’t up to the task, failures can be catastrophic and destructive of expensive components.
Once more, the average battery can’t handle this kind of draw, and even an OEM battery may be taxed especially in bad weather or after a year of more of use.
So if the valet parking service driver tells you that the car started a little hard as you are leaving a wedding venue, don’t wait; get your battery tested and replace it with a high performance battery that is compatible with your car’s electrical system.
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