Just go with whatever one offers the longest warranty for the price. I have a CT Motomaster AGM in my M3. Came with a 5 year warranty and exceeds OEM Spec lol

All of the battery brands out there in North America are really only made by 3 companies: Delphi, Exide and Johnson Controls.

I will only ever run sealed maintenance free batteries or AGM. Open cell batteries always seem to cause way more off-gassing and terminal corrosion.

Mustang: Optima (AGM)

Mazda: Mazda brand sealed from parts counter (probably rebranded Exide or something like that, definately not the same Panasonic that came with the car from the factory)

Sonoma: AC Delco Sealed Maint free

F150: Energizer AGM

If any of you guys have a BCAA membership, and your battery needs replacing, you can actually call them and they'll show up with a brand new battery and install it for you, take the old one away and everything! complete mobile service! Their battery has their own branding on it, but it costs the same as everywhere else (sometimes cheaper) and they offer their own warranty on it...if it ever gives you problems, they'll drive out to deal with it. I've used this a few times and its a really convenient service for its members.

Can they do the programming as well? (i.e. on E90 and later BMWs)

They will only do this if they've had to come out to you multiple times to jump your vehicle. My neighbor tried this on a car he didn't drive LOL

that i am not sure, I don't think so to be honest.

I called for the very first time when my suv died in the parking lot at costco. I knew the battery was going because it was starting to crank slower and slower each time I started up. I meant to replace the battery but never gone around to it. When it didn't start at Costco, i called BCAA and told them I needed a new battery and they showed up with one, the guy ran a test, confirmed and replaced it. But I don't think that works on a car you just have in storage or something.