Last Updated on March 1, 2021 by Tim Harman

What’s the best battery for a minivan?  The Optima YellowTop!  Our 2012 Toyota Sienna had recently been slow to crank.  It was especially slow after the power doors were opened/closed a few times with the car off.  We’re going on vacation soon, so I thought it’d be a good time for a preemptive battery replacement.  Years ago, I bought an Optima battery for my old 1990 Ford Bronco II.  I ended up junking the car but sold the battery to a friend who then went on to use it for YEARS (~10 years combined total use to the best of my knowledge, possibly more).  He moved across the country and used the battery in multiple vehicles.  He was that guy who was into those awful lowered and bagged trucks and always had an overkill stereo system.  Needless to say, all that crap demanded tons of power from a battery.  More recently, I bought an Optima RedTop battery for my 1998 Ford Explorer.  I purchased the battery the fall of 2013 and here it is near spring of 2021 and it’s still going strong.  I’ve literally never had an Optima battery give me any issues.