Pensacola Fishing Forum banner

4 Stroke Preference

6K views 44 replies 31 participants last post by  hjorgan 
#1 ·
Dont mean to start a "chevy vs ford" type debate...I continue to learn more about boats in hopes of having my own "real" boat someday soon.The real estate market and recession is keeping me from selling one of my houses, which is the mainreason for the delay. I've been on several boats now, and I always pay attention to the engine brand, type, etc. My first real boat is going to have a 4 stroke engine. I dont want to debate merits of 2 stroke vs 4 stroke.

It seems everywhere I look, I see Yamaha. It's almost the default go to engine it seems. But why? Are they that good? Are the others crap? Or does Yamaha just have more marketing dollars? My best car ever was a honda, I would think honda makes a kick ass marine motor, but I dont know. Also, I know at least two forum members who swear by their suzukis. Then I have heard"Etec kicks ass/Etec sucks", etc.

I'd like to hear your experiences and preferences, which though they may be anecdotal, perhaps the poll will give us admittedly unscientific bigger picture.
 
#3 ·
I have run the Hondas and Yamaha both in very hard work conditions.

The Honda 90 ran for over 3000 hrs before we retired it due to steering sticking. No engine type issues at all with continuous abuse and neglect. 3.2 GPH accross the board fuel average.

The Yamaha 90 (tiller steer ) doesn't have an hr meter but has held up well engine wise for 4 yrs of abuse. The only issue with it was the lower unit having to be repaired do to high speed shifting to heavy load abuse...

They are both reccomended from my experience.....The Honda may be a bit easier on the fuel, but that is a purely anecdotal observation..
 
#4 ·
This may not be an far observation because my Hondas are messed up. ONE is out of whack.

I can only evaluate the yamma and Honda being the only four strokes I've been on.

I think I would lean to Yammaha though. Again on of my motors in out of tune so I' sure it effects its tourqe and MPG.

If I had a choice and money I would go with the E-Techs though.
 
#5 ·
4-stroke e-tech?? or were you just saying you'd take the e-tech even though it's a 2-stroke over a 4-stroke model?

i like the mercs myself. ridden on a couple boats w/ the verados and it's awesome. interested to hear the reviews on the 300s and 350s after they've been out a couple years.
 
#10 ·
Get a yamaha, were ever you are at there is a service department... if you break down in cuba they have service department, not to say you will break down but you get my point. If you break down in mexico you could probobly get etec parts, but all kidding aside. Honda suzuki just dont have the support group like yamaha does.
 
#11 ·
chad403 (8/14/2009)Get a yamaha, were ever you are at there is a service department... if you break down in cuba they have service department, not to say you will break down but you get my point. If you break down in mexico you could probobly get etec parts, but all kidding aside. Honda suzuki just dont have the support group like yamaha does.
I have to agree with Chad. When I went out to buy my boat I asked a lot of people of their preference and why. I received a lot of the same answers and was really leaning toward Suzuki. But because of the repair network and availability of parts-I chose the Yamaha.So far it has been great-Of course it's still fairly new.
 
#14 ·
Deeplines (8/14/2009)
TURTLE (8/14/2009)I don't know if you are aware of this but Johnson and evinrude are both made by Suzuki.
Daewoo, opal, chevy and Cadillac are made by GM. Don't understand the point.

Yes, I'm aware E-tech is a two stroke. I would just by it over the choices IF I COULD.
The point is we are not talking about cars.There is no difference between Suzuki, Johnson and Evinrude 4 stroke motors once you take off the couling.The cars you mentioned have many differences, transmissions , drive shafts, too many to list.Parts for almost everything on the above three are interchangable, you can't say that about a cadillac vs an opal can you?

Was'nt trying to start anything, it's just like trying to compare different brands of Iodized salt or bottled water, may look different on the outside but the same on the inside, so the question should be what color motor do you like better when comparing those three.
 
#16 ·
TURTLE (8/14/2009)
Deeplines (8/14/2009)
TURTLE (8/14/2009)I don't know if you are aware of this but Johnson and evinrude are both made by Suzuki.
Daewoo, opal, chevy and Cadillac are made by GM. Don't understand the point.

Yes, I'm aware E-tech is a two stroke. I would just by it over the choices IF I COULD.
The point is we are not talking about cars.There is no difference between Suzuki, Johnson and Evinrude 4 stroke motors once you take off the couling.The cars you mentioned have many differences, transmissions , drive shafts, too many to list.Parts for almost everything on the above three are interchangable, you can't say that about a cadillac vs an opal can you?

Was'nt trying to start anything, it's just like trying to compare different brands of Iodized salt or bottled water, may look different on the outside but the same on the inside, so the question should be what color motor do you like better when comparing those three.


I see what you are saying.

Thanks.
 
#17 ·
Yamaha or Suzuki.....i have had both...have a 250ss Suzuki now and that thing runs like a greased cheetah....my old yamaha was a reliable as the day is long and never let me down in 7 yrs.....i have heard and seen nothing but bad out of the new merc's and the ole e-boom...errrr e-tec
 
#18 ·
I have a 250 suzuki 4s that I have put 120 hours on since March. So far so good. Its the first 4s I have owned and I can honestly say I will never go back to a 2 stroke.

When I was shopping for a new motor to repower I was looking at a couple different things and was not set on which 4stroke I wanted. The things I looked at were:

1. Price

2. Warranty

3. Which local dealer would service the engine

If I could have gotten a yamaha forabetter price than Igot the suzuki forI would have. I think youcould have problems with any brand outboard. So it boiled down to the three things above for me.
 
#19 ·
honda

suzuki

yamaha

i will never own another 2stroke motor again. have twin suzuki's on my cat and absolutely love them. turn the switch, crank em up and never think twice about em. yamaha makes a great motor. bought my dad a honda outboard 7 years ago and have watched him punish a motor as much as u can do and it's still purring today. running over rock jetties at lake martin, jumping log jams in the alabama river, 7 years of running it tilted up on ft. pickens beach flounder fishing in the sand and that motor hasn't missed a lick. have two stainless steel props for it. one's on the motor and the other's always in the shop where he's hit something. that motor puts honda at the top of my list....:)
 
#23 ·
yamaha.... and yes they are that good. i would probably choose suzuki next because of their reliability as well. even though i have heard service techs say they are hard to work on.

my observation of mercury is thatof the SKAtournament trail. if they have a service tent set up for mercury and one for yamaha, the mercury tent will be busy into the wee hours of the morning changing lower units and power heads and the yamaha techs are fast asleep in their hotel rooms. i have personally seen this more than once. in fourchon two years ago we happend to be passing the mercury tent on our way to our boat to check out on day 2 and those guys were still working on engines. i relate mercs to owning a race car. yes they are fast, but you are going to have to work on it to keep it that way.
 
#24 ·
Doing some googling pulled up other forums saying "hondas are great, but they are heavier than the equiv rated horsepower yammy, and more expensive. This was several years old though, and wondering if that was / is still true

The poll seems to reflect what Ive seen so far on the water, lots of satisfied yammy owners out there
 
#25 ·
For what it is worth J.D.Powers rates Honda 1, Yamaha 2, Suzuki 3 and Mercury 4. I don't have a dog in this hunt. My only experience is with yamaha 2 strokes. Two motors, three blown powerheads in five years. I have a friend that has 1300 hours on a suzuki 140 four stroke. Seatow puts tremendous hours on their suzuki's. Yamaha four stokes seem to be fine. I thought that was an interesting observation about the mercury techs at the SKA tournaments. You could look at that another way though. From what I gather the mercury techs love to tinker with their motors trying to tweak them for the best performance. To me yamaha is like the penn reel company. They dominated the field for so long they became complacent. Mercury passed them long ago in the two stroke market. I am pulling for them in the four stroke field. They are the only american made motors left [although sadly they are shifting a lot of assembly over to china]. If I had to vote though it would be yamaha because of their customer service. The only negatives I have heard regarding Suzuki is they do not go to the lengths that yamaha does to keep their customers happy.
 
#26 ·
yamaha 2 stroke

dont need no stinkin 4 stroke

2 stroke is proven

2 stroke is more power out of the hole

last motor i had was a 1752 stroke lasted 20 years and still ran when i got rid of it for my 200

200 pops my ass on plane in seconds fully loaded with no trim adjustment

gotta love it
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top