Best PWC

[riverebel]

who makes the most reliable pwc on the market.want something that will run around 60 mph yet be a good reliable ski.

 

[mkuehnl]

Re: Best PWC

There have been a number of threads regarding this topic and it seems that the general concensis is that sea doo has the edge.

 

[nrladeere]

Re: Best PWC

Let's get real here. I have been around PWC's for a while. Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, ...Sea Doo somewhere down the line. Sea Doos make the dealers rich. The Japanese know how to build reliable equipment.

 

[BiXLL]

Re: Best PWC

The Japanese know how to build reliable equipment.

I agree

 

[riverebel]

Re: Best PWC

how bout your 2 cents on the subject Jeff W.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Best PWC

sure, just came in to rest, its hot welding in fla. I guess its all subjective really,Price performance use etc, I like sea doo for the most part, easy to work on good hull design and really strong hulls for the money, Reliability wise they can be a pain in the butt, kaw is a really good mechanically reliable ski with some problems with hull strength and handling, price is fairly good, yamaha is great in most respects hull and mechanical quality but not usually friendly to work on and they are getting some bad reports lately, cost wise they are usually a bit more expensive and a little heavy weight wise, If I were going out to but a new ski now I would go with honda but they are not the rocket ship of the water like the new sea doo, honda has been doing 4 stroke for many years and are good at what they do, their hulls are quite impressive, gas consumption is good even on turbo models, Only problem I experienced with test drives is a total lack of response in the handle bars in the center, seemed like nothing happened in either direction for about an inch either way. so pick your poison, I have very little experience with polaris but im looking at the hull and its like a sea doo gtx so they probably handle pretty good.

 

[MrBill]

Re: Best PWC

Personally, I have preferred Seadoo for many years, but particular models and model years. The GTX model has been my favorite all around for many years...it's well equipped (electronic gauges, forward/neutral/reverse, mirrors, etc,) powerful enough (110-135hp) and had a great hull design, until last year. The newer Seadoo hulls are suppose to provide more safety, but obviously that means less manueverabilty. Regarding reliability, each model year for every manufacturer presents issues and quirks...for example, the 1999 Seadoo GTX (maybe 1998 too)charging system had some issues with the stator and regulator. An redesigned regulator is available which is much improved, the original equipment one tends to burn up between 125 and 150 hours. If the regulator goes, chances are it cooks the stator and some other stuff too ($500-550 parts, $250 labor).<br /><br />With the move to 4 cycle to meet environemntal regs and some saftey concerns, the additional weight and power to weight ratios, required mods to hull design, including the steering assist on some new models. I haven't ridden the Honda water machines, but my experience with other Honda equipment is that their power plants are definately A+++. <br /><br />It took Honda a few years to figure out car bodies...before the late 80's, they rusted out in a few years, but the engines ran great.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Best PWC

since you brought up the new steering on the sea doo I have been having great results with removing it totally and replacing it with my steering ,there are a lot of people who hate opas including the sea doo mechanics. And if sea doo does any more changes on it, my atty is wanting to sue them for patent infringements ,so its getting interesting in that area. but I do love the gtx hull and most of the sea doo hulls they even started using the gtx hull on the gti the old gti was a awfull design, like a 55 gal drum.

 

[ronskal]

Re: Best PWC

When I bought my S-D new in 96, I felt that they had the edge in performance and handling with good reliability.<br />For new watercraft, I would not hesitate to buy any of the 5 mfg. products.<br />Being biased I would look at the S-D first, but having owned Honda, Yamaha & Kawasaki motorcycles I would have confidence in buying one of those.<br />I'm confident Polaris is good also, although I havn't ridden a newer one, their 95 vintage models were good/solid/stable.

 

[imported_Mike_M2]

Re: Best PWC

Seadoo caters more to the rental market than anybody out there, but that's been changing lately. Yam has been slowly closing that gap. Having a friend that is a service manager at a local PWC shop, i pick his brain often. 2 years ago, i was ready to bite the bullet and wanted a new 4 stroke so i went to him for advice. His shop deals all brands but Honda, and he put the order like this, Yam, Kaw, Pol, SD. He said the Kaw and Yam are very close as far as problems, they rarely have any. The SD was just about all he ever worked on, and that was enough to keep me away. His recommendation? The Kaw STX12F. It's a great machine that handles the water well, hits 60, CAN'T FLIP, and cost under 8 grand. Hey, watch the ski races on tv once, what are they riding??