Yamaha or Honda

D

dr.of.ichthyology

New member
looking to re-power, have been told my 92 cruiser can easily handle one of the newer model 90 hp engines. Currently it has a 2000 70 hp Evinrude. Is it a fair statement to say that with today's technology it would be hard to find a "bad" 4-stroke, at least when talking about the top 4 or 5 manufacturers. From just looking and talking to people, Honda's and Yamaha's seem to be the front-runners. Remember i said "seem", Honda's seem to be everywhere but those who have Yamaha's seem to be more passionate. New to the area and looking for some direction and looking for an incredibly reputable dealer, preferably no further south than tacoma, the further north the better as i am just N.E. of Bellingham. Is there a better time of year to buy and if so when?? Any help will be appreciated.
 
If you are NE of Bellingham check out West Coast marine in Bellingham. "Gator" is the best outboard mechanic I have come across and I highly recommend talking to him. They are dealers for Honda, Yamaha and Evinrude E tech. He prefers the Honda and I personally am a Honda fan although you can't go wrong with any of the new 4 strokes. The finale word on E tech is not in yet. In Mt Vernon Master Marine is very reputable and are Yamaha and Suzuki dealers. Talk with Larry Carpenter (owner). I have an old Johnson still going strong but would probably repower with the new EFI Honda 90 when the time comes. (22 cruiser). Good luck.
 
I have a Honda 150 on our Venture. It is a very nice motor.

I have a Yamaha 60 on my Alumaweld. I love it. A friend has a 250 on his boat. Both are SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If all the Yamahas are as good as these two, the only reason to buy anything else would be price and/or service availability.
 
OK Mike, go home, sober up and give us a new poll. Let's see if the opinions have changed in the last 5 years...Keep the old one though.

Thanks! :mrgreen:

Charlie
 
My take, Honda great motors, a little heavier usually slower than Yamaha's. Yamaha reportedly to have better resistance to corrosion so the Florida boys say. We have had and have numerous Honda cars in the family fleet. Same as the outboards, can't kill em as long as they get clean oil, fuel and air. For my money I'm sure the Suzuki's are fine but the just don't have the company wide reputation of either Honda or Yamaha. Like others have said Yamaha outboards past and present have treated us right why change? We currently have a 4 stroke 150 hp and a four stroke 2.5 hp for our dink. Will add a 10hp Yamaha hi-thrust kicker before we set off for the northwest hopefully in 2012.
D.D.
 
I think everyone will have their own priority set when deciding on power. I chose Suzuki for two reasons: 1.) 150HP engine offers the largest block of any 150 made and I value displacement torque when in the ocean 2.) There are at least 3 dealers within driving distance for service.

I think you are right that any of the major brands will offer a good engine. If you are 100 miles from the nearest (insert brand name) I would not get that brand.
 
I'm not technically savvy about outboard engines but I can recognize an unhelpful corporate attitude when I see one. While rebuilding my boat transom I needed some dimensional information about Honda's 9.9 remote-controlled engine to mount on the transom as a kicker. I talked to nine Honda dealers and none of them could or would help. I called Honda Marine and they told me that dealers had all the information and that the main office wouldn't give out any technical information.

After a couple of months of roadblocks with Honda I found a Yamaha 9.9 at a good price. I talked to the dealer and told them I'd like to install it myself. They bent over backwards to provide me with all the information I needed while I was at their shop and a phone number to call if I ran into any problems.

Honda seems to make good engines, but I doubt seriously that I'll ever deal with the company again. If one prefers to just let the pros do it, Honda might work for you. If you are a do-it-yourselfer you might look elsewhere.

Just my experience. Good luck.

T
 
Number one thing to consider when repowering- what brands are handles by your local dealer. There isn't a Honda marine dealer in our neck of the woods, which means anybody needing Honda motors, and later Honda service, has to go out of the area.

I would avoid Mercury. The Mercury motor is a Tohatsu / Nissan engine on a Mercury lower unit. They may be good runners, but they are not popular with the C-Dory crowd.

Evinrude- I love the E-Tec 90. Good weight, good power, clean running and lots of torque. I know some aren't fans, but we've sold a lot of 90's without any problems with the engines.

Suzuki- The new DF90 is light weight, has the offset powerhead for extra gearing and can turna bigger prop than some others. We have installed a few of the 70 /80 /90's on boats and been very impressed. The last 19A we sold had the DF90 and it was a good performer, quiet and good acceleration.

Yamaha- Dependable, good running, but the heaviest of the four stroke 90's. Shares its block with the F75, which is probably going to be phased out in favor of the new 70. The new 70 is worth consideration as it is incredible light and was designed to be a replacemenmt engine for 70 and 90 horse two strokes.

Honda- We sold a used 22 Cruiser with a Honda 90 EFI on it. We all felt that is was not as smooth as any of the product we sell, and frankly couldn't see what the big deal about Honda was. We've run boats with 150 Hondas as well, and agian weren't really impressed. They were certainly competant engines, but not outstanding. Honda would love for us to be a dealer, but we don't see where they have anything in their line that we don't already have in the lines we carry, and we think Suzuki or Yamaha are better products.

We sell Evinrude, Suzuki and Yamaha, so can talk about those brands with confidence. The rest is just my observations based on boats we have sold.

Bottom line- who sells what in your area.
 
Will-C":w1qglo4a said:
<<stuff clipped>>For my money I'm sure the Suzuki's are fine but the just don't have the company wide reputation of either Honda or Yamaha.D.D.
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DD, I'm not sure where you're getting your info but on every fishing and boating board I've ever perused, Suzuki's have a great company wide reputation. Many say that the dealer network is thin in their area. I guess we're lucky in the Puget Sound, we have many reputable Suzuki dealers. In fact, I know of two dealers in our area, when asked to choose between the Suzuki 90 and the Yamaha 90, chose Suzuki hands down.

I don't dispute that Yamaha's are great engines but so are Suzuki's and I'm not the only one who thinks so. AFAIC and from what I've heard and read, their reputation is solid, world-wide.

Peter
 
Peter,
I spoke of company wide reputations, If you consider Honda's product lines and Yamaha's product lines not just outboards I would stand by my statement. I didn't say your Suzuki was a bad motor, or that you were stupid for buying it. I just think Honda and Yamaha are bigger companies with much broader product lines that widely accepted as being at the top of the heap. To my point Honda Cars and Suzuki cars, which are more popular? But to make you happy I'll say it; Suzuki's are the best. :|
 
It is my understanding that Suzuki is a larger company than Yamaha. I'm not sure how either compares to Honda, as Honda sells more cars, and has power equipment as well.

All of which doesn't really matter if there isn't a dealer near you.
 
I vote Yamaha...had ( 2 ) F90...( 1 )F100...(1 ) F80 ..all bought new and i still see them on my old boats running strong. I like the Suzuki that i have now but if i were to repower i would get a Yam. mainly because i have been trying to get a hold of Suzuki Marine Canada for a year now. They don't reply to any of my e-mails..( looking for dealers who can service my outboard if and when needed )..i don't think there is a customer service department in Canada.
Tug
 
Bottom line, as others have said, the dealer network must be accessible. That should be the determining factor. As so many have mentioned, the modern 4-strokes are all good, especially Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki.

Peter
 
Tug":3efmb66g said:
I vote Yamaha...had ( 2 ) F90...( 1 )F100...(1 ) F80 ..all bought new and i still see them on my old boats running strong. I like the Suzuki that i have now but if i were to repower i would get a Yam. mainly because i have been trying to get a hold of Suzuki Marine Canada for a year now. They don't reply to any of my e-mails..( looking for dealers who can service my outboard if and when needed )..i don't think there is a customer service department in Canada.
Tug
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Tug, are you thinking that your 4-stroke 70hp doesn't have enough get up and go? Our very first engine was a Suzi 70hp 4-stroke, brand new motor on a brand new boat. Our first summer was spent being propped incorrectly and not knowing any better (newbies), we waited for the factory to give us the correct size prop. Once we changed it out, the boat felt much better and the motor felt great. But by then, we already decided to move up to the DF90 for more power. We're glad we did. The 70 would have been adequate but we wanted more. Is that how you're feeling?

Peter
 
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