Original battery failed just out of warranty. Dealer quoted $600 for a replacement. Upgraded to an AGM battery, bought an OBD tool, and spent 15m on the install and reset — all for under $300.

Telling the story here for anyone who may deal with the same thing: Our 2023 Taos SE threw a transmission warning the other day (I posted about it a few days ago), and when we took it into the dealer, they said there was no code stored, but that the battery was near death. With parts and labor, they quoted $600 to replace it.

This is the newest care I've owned, and the first time I'd learned about needing to do the battery adaptation, but I'm no stranger to VCDS and other tools that let you play around with VW/Audi values, so I wasn't intimidated in the slightest, but holy crap — it's even easier than I thought... A $60 Carista dongle, a $20 one-month fee, and a $175 Interstate battery from Costco later, we're back in action.

Don't be intimidated by the talk about recoding the battery. It requires NO specialized knowledge at all, and it takes less than a minute — even if it's your first time.

Similarly, don't be intimidated by removing the old battery and installing a new one. It's three 10mm nuts and one 13mm bolt (and you'll need a socket extension). If you can lift a 40lb object out of / into your engine bay, you can do it in under 10 minutes — easily.