Being a relatively new owner and having now run it for 6 months I assumed that the random starting issues were just one of those things I'm now pretty much convinced its down to the battery. Any time its been hot or the car was left in the sun it has been a complete lottery as to how many attempts it takes to start. It would rarely be less than 3 attempts but could be as many as 10+. I'm thinking it might be time to ditch the Exide before it triggers any other problems or just gives up entirely.
That sounds like a healthy battery if its giving you 10+ start attempts!
Most of these Exide batteries were working perfectly until they failed suddenly - often whilst the car was running. A few did cough and splutter and run for a bit before failing but just because it's working now doesn't mean it's going to last.
It's also worth noting that in at least 2 cases the car would not start with jump leads onto the Exide battery. Disconnecting the battery and jumping onto the cables worked for one and changing the battery for the other.
