She says

Press, 26 March 1981, Page 20

She says

We'd actually been expecting the batteries to pack up for some time. They had been in the car for more than six years, which is not bad going. The speed at which the engine turned over in the mornings had got less and less, and there had been dire predictions about the coming of winter.

It didn’t take that long. A cold, wet day apd the parklights left on for a couple of hours administered the coup, de grace, and when I got back to the car all the starter would do was to grunt.

Around to the garage, and now we're well-powered again, and $lOO or so poorer. The high price is because the car takes two six-volt batteries instead of one 12-volt. Perhaps, we said to the ga-rage-owner. this was the reason why they gave such a

good life, even with quite heavy use. It could be. he agreed, but there was another possibility. In our car, the batteries were slung alongside the axle, under the back seat, and well away from any heat. The same applied to the batteries in Minis, he said — and they, too, were noted for their long life. Yet the same battery fitted to models in which the battery was placed under the bonnet, and subjected to a lot of heat, often lasted barely half as long. It’s worth remembering — a cool battery is a long-lived battery. If your car’s designers haven't taken the trouble to solve this problem for you, there's not much you can do but ensure the battery is kept well topped up, and that any underbonnet holes or hoses directing cool air at it aren’t blocked off. Barbara Petre