02-19-2004, 06:49 PM
4-strokes are improving every year. Look how long it took before you could even buy large 4-stroke power plants for your boat. But realistically, look back at how long it took for Merc's OptiMax to be stable. Sure, it was better than Ficht, but it still took about 3 years before consumers could buy one and have it run without needing constant factory updates; or before the motor spent more time on the water than in the shop. Even still, many anglers were still buying fuel-injected 2-stroke motors because they could get the same or better performance at a significant savings over the DFI counterpart.
So yea, the Verado is exciting. But hopefully Merc won't use its consumers for product testing on their own dime this time. Also, the weight big 4-strokes is becoming less of a factor since boat mfg's are redesigning transoms to accommodate larger motors. It's good to see things moving towards cleaner motors.
So yea, the Verado is exciting. But hopefully Merc won't use its consumers for product testing on their own dime this time. Also, the weight big 4-strokes is becoming less of a factor since boat mfg's are redesigning transoms to accommodate larger motors. It's good to see things moving towards cleaner motors.