New 4-stroke outboard prices.....insane!

**imq707s** · 07-31-2019, 12:26 PM

With motors like the 450R coming out at $55K+ each.......how can any "non rich" person afford them? What affordable options do people with smaller single outboard performance boats have if you want a 4-stroke motor? Or anything that's not a used 2-stroke?

I'm guessing that 2-strokes are going to be around for a long time, because that's the only think most people can afford.........

Thoughts?

**David - WI** · 07-31-2019, 01:06 PM

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new ETEC, if I was buying "new"... with all the new 4-stroke Mercs around I wouldn't even have the ugliest motor at the sand bar.

**R.grover** · 07-31-2019, 01:30 PM

Yes very pricey but you are still lucky compaired to the prices here. a 450r is $98.000

**imq707s** · 07-31-2019, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by R.grover

Yes very pricey but you are still lucky compaired to the prices here. a 450r is $98.000

Wow..that's nuts. I saw a price sheet online that was showing the MSRP on the 450R's at $55-68,000 depending on what options you got. Almost 100k for one?? That's insane.

Edit: just saw that you are in Australia!

**blacktruck** · 07-31-2019, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by imq707s

With motors like the 450R coming out at $55K+ each.......how can any "non rich" person afford them? What affordable options do people with smaller single outboard performance boats have if you want a 4-stroke motor? Or anything that's not a used 2-stroke?

I'm guessing that 2-strokes are going to be around for a long time, because that's the only think most people can afford.........

Thoughts?

You said "smaller single outboard performance boats have if you want a 4-stroke motor?" That's not what the 450R is for. The 450R is priced pretty well, when you consider the competition, which is basically none. Twin 225 HP engines wouldn't perform as well, and cost you that much. There is no two stroke that produces that kind of power, the 450R is a 3 year warranty monster engine for big boats, not small performance boats.

For affordable four strokes, it depends on your boat! The 250R is a great option, sportmaster, tons of power, priced well. ProXS engines are also decent, from 115 to 225. Evinrude G2s are great and are obviously 2 strokes, but just as quiet and efficient if not more. Yamaha's are well knows to be good, and you can find lots of used four strokes now. Some manufacturers have certified used ones, like Merc, where you get a full warranty and large discount. A fully certified 250 ProXS 20" TM is about $12k.

**Capt.Insane-o** · 07-31-2019, 11:14 PM

The "slum" V-8's weigh and are priced fair enough I suppose, even figuring in my ambivalence. The 450 is whatever... to me just another over weight, over priced, piece of blah. Any one racing one of those things yet?.... I bet the first ones we see racing will have a water skier on the hook. Dunno...whatever.. kinda interested to get behind the wheel of the new 150 etec tho..

**JPEROG** · 07-31-2019, 11:31 PM

The price of a 300R is very relative to anything else out there. Look at what a new 280 cost 21 years ago, then look at what a new truck or upper end motorcycle cost 21 years ago. The percentage of increase when compared to today's market is very similar and might even favor the outboard cost.

One thing for sure is that new motors will never be less expensive then they are today-

Joe

**Bodhi** · 08-01-2019, 12:35 AM

When you break it down, your paying for all that extra moving mass (cams, valves, rockers, etc..), that 2 strokes don't have. The more crap they cram under the hood....the more you have to pay.

**Markus** · 08-01-2019, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by JPEROG

The price of a 300R is very relative to anything else out there.

Exactly. The 300R is competitively priced. Let's not be fooled by the price of the 450R which sticks out for good reasons.

Given the price of a twin screw supercharger in the aftermarket - look at the kits available for Mustangs, for example - Mercury should be making some good money there.

And Mercury deserves a good run until the competitors catch up. The V8 platform is a great piece of engineering (skill), and US economic expansion just passed the 10-year mark (luck). This is how business should work.

Originally Posted by JPEROG

One thing for sure is that new motors will never be less expensive then they are today-

Don't be too sure about that when it comes to the top-end of the market. 7-Marine has new Swedish owners who want to make the product accessible to millionaires, rather than just billionaires. Over in Japan, I bet there are folks who look at the Mercury product and say "Oh **** - why didn't we do this?". And again, at the current price point of the 450R, Mercury should have plenty of wiggle room to reduce prices and still make money when competition heats up.

**Markus** · 08-01-2019, 02:19 AM

Originally Posted by imq707s

With motors like the 450R coming out at $55K+ each.......how can any "non rich" person afford them? ....

Thoughts?

The 450R is not meant for non-rich persons.

However, the money Mercury makes selling 450R to rich persons helps the business case for the V8 platform, and allows Mercury sell the 300R at more competitive prices to non-rich persons.

So let's hope the rich buy trainloads of 450Rs!

(Although in the short term, with limited manufacturing capacity, Mercury can be expected to prioritize building massively profitable 450Rs over less profitable 300Rs)

**Markus** · 08-01-2019, 02:27 AM

Originally Posted by Bodhi

When you break it down, your paying for all that extra moving mass (cams, valves, rockers, etc..), that 2 strokes don't have. The more crap they cram under the hood....the more you have to pay.

Certainly.

Around the turn of the century, when we were bitching in a similar way about how DFI 2-strokes were more expensive that carbed 2-strokes, the outboard engine manufacturers actually took a profitability hit, as the additional cost of the DFI stuff was not reflected in the price of the engines.

But in the case of the 450R you pay for more than that. You pay for owning the greatest outboard engine in history. A product without equal.

**noli** · 08-01-2019, 04:38 AM

.

I watch a lot of offshore fishing channels on Youtube, and what I see many times on a re-power are folks are (not Yammis cause they're getting very expensive as well) installing Suzuki 4-strokes

here's 1 of the channels that I watch

4 stroke baby!

.

**rochelle howell** · 08-01-2019, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by noli

.

I watch a lot of offshore fishing channels on Youtube, and what I see many times on a re-power are folks are (not Yammis cause they're getting very expensive as well) installing Suzuki 4-strokes

here's 1 of the channels that I watch

4 stroke baby!

.

Amberjack fishing challenge - powerlifters. YouTube.
A.j.'s smokin' professional athletes.
Humble those big boys real quick!
Good stuff!!!!

**Capt.Insane-o** · 08-01-2019, 07:24 AM

A school buddy has a pair of zooki 350s on a cc and loves them, they replaced a pair of 300 xs. He's on Lake Michigan so the saltwater woes they have aren't an issue.

**delawarerick** · 08-01-2019, 08:41 AM

I worked for Sturgis Marine back when omc went out and Suki came running in. The ones we sold for barges that were used for pilings where the first 70hp the purchasers brought them in around 2-3 thousand hours for service and they were still running. Problem was there was no dealer loyalty and a guy around 30 miles away was undercutting our prices out of a garage. Tahatsu did the same when I was at Angola Marine they sold to the big dealer less then 3 miles away and he sold them for less than we paid. Last note suki don't like salt period.