So, performed the swap on Saturday - relatively easy all in all. The hardest part was removing the foam insert in front of the battery wall-clamp.
As before this had to be man-handled out of the way, a little coaxing with a screwdriver helped enormously.
In re-fillting everything, the reverse was also the case.
I plan to fit the plastic covers over the terminals, but need to do some minor surgery first to cut a hole in the side of the covers to allow the leads to fit.
I managed to 'enjoy' the EPC? Dashboard warning and restricted engine function for the first couple of miles - in fact this came and went twice, basically preventing the accelerator pedal from responding at all. Quite weird, but back to normal shortly afterward. Windows seem all ok having been re-set. The key didn't seem to require any re-coding.
An interesting aside was that the new battery has 'fixed' the car stereo, before the iPod feature and CD player refused to function, and I had been pondering a replacement. The change of battery reset the car, and the stereo, and all functions are working as before! Has anyone else experienced this side effect of a dying battery?
The 12v plug also seems to charge the TomTom better than before - at least less warnings have been sounded by the TomTom. I had presumed that power would have been through the alternator rather than the battery, but everything seems to point to the battery being rather more significant than I had previously taken it for granted for.
Note to self, a battery is
not just for starting the car!
Old battery:
New battery: