I got this one, and as ivanhoe, I also did not code it. Replaced the original one with this last November, no problems at all.

Seller was decent, delivery was spot on. No affiliations with the seller nor the brand, hope this will save you some time as it took me a while to source the correct one.

Mine is a 2007 D3 3.0 TDI.

That's the one saved in my watch list (seller) but just a different listing +++

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/I1-VARTA-...53.m1438.l2649

Resurrecting this thread - the absolute best battery is AGM Odyssey. Have a google search to read up. I apply these on our offshore generator systems for the past 12 years, and fitted one to my S8 recently 3 years ago.

It might be good but £300+ for is a bit expensive, could buy 2-4 normal batteries for that price. AGM batteries also normally need a bit higher charge voltage 14.8-15.0V instead of 14.0-14.4V. So I would not fit AGM battery in the car that did not have AGM from factory or has a coding available for AGM, otherwise it will never get fully charged in the car.

Well finally ordered a Varta L1 (020) battery for £106 from Tayna (eBay) as it was on offer. Fitted it 3 days ago in the freezing cold as the car was not starting on a daily basis. Easy to change and coded it using a BEM code from a genuine battery listed on ebay :cool:

One reason my battery may have died quicker than usual was the fact that some numpty had previously fitted the wrong battery. It had a Varta 100ah battery which was smaller and obviously cheaper than the correct one.

So far so good, starter spins quicker and starts the car quicker too. Also it has not gone into sleep mode yet +++

Good stuff - worth giving it a charge if you can - they are usually supplied with approx half charge as it's better for the shelf life of the battery before it's sold :D

I had a feeling it may not have been fully charged and seeing as it was very cold when it arrived, I charged it up fully and left it on charge until I fitted it +++

It was still freezing cold, but the car must have known a new battery had arrived and started losing charge more frequently! :ROFL: