Honda or no Honda?

[oldskier]

I don't have any experience with Honda, but I will agree with the Yamaha guys. I have a '95 V115 on my 'toon and it is built like an anvil. Starts everytime, put a water pump in it this year after 3 years NEVER OUT OF THE WATER.

[oldskier]

OBTW, Welcome to the board, and if it's opinions you are after, everyone here has at least three...and are willing to fight about it.

[150aintenuff]

personally you couldnt pay me to own any honda power sports or ob engines... or sell them to a customer i wanted to keep...... i would go yamaha or mercury for a sales line my self...

[obrien]

I have seen a set of honda's on the back of an Intrepid that were 3 months old, and the amount of salt and corrosion under the cowl was sad. I would buy honda anything, not a car, mower, and especially an outboard. Same goes for yamaha. Mercury is the only way to go.

[powerabout]

I found the 4 inline thats they call a 150 has about as much go as an old 100hp 2 stroke..as in useless for waterskiing.

[bnjackson5]

I really don't have a dog in this hunt but Hondas do hold their value like no other motor and if one goes for sale for reasonable amount they are snatched up fast, at least in this part of the woods.

[obrien]

damn, someone from Henderson. I went to high school there, and lived out on the lake.

[Aqua]

For me I would BY FAR choose the Evinrude E-tec's. The power and maintenance schedule are unbelievable. Everyone that I know that has bought an E-tec has bought one with less horsepower than they had. They all have said that the performance was the same or a little better than their old set-ups(ie 90h.p. Mercury to a 75h.p. E-tec). The E-tec's are the cleanest motor out there if your customers care about the environment(personally I only care about the performance!!!). The second choice would be the Suzuki(can't believe I just wrote that)they are NOTHING like they used to be. As far as the 4-strokes they seem to be on top of the game right now.(For your information, any 4-stroke Evinrude's are actually Suzuki's rebadged). Good Luck with your venture!!

[BayBoatRider]

I know I'm going against the grain here but I really do like Hondas. I've seen and worked on Hondas used in commercial applications with tons and I mean tons of hours. For you it sounds like you need to pick a brand that's gonna make you money. Just find out what is selling where, work the numbers and go from there!! Some people will only buy brands that others would never touch, it's more about the target consumer than the outboard!!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

[v70cat]

I really don't have a dog in this hunt but Hondas do hold their value like no other motor and if one goes for sale for reasonable amount they are snatched up fast, at least in this part of the woods.

I have seen tons of them on the Coast Guard boat with over 2000 hours on them.

[mcyama]

laurence, I am a honda tech at hanko's metal works in Berwick La. Iwill be taking my master cert. in early 2010. Ihave 35 years of working on outboard motors in saltwater. I have sold and run them all. The current lineup of honda outboards will compete with any other manf. Honda is in the bussiness of selling to the general public a high quality outboard. Honda Marine to my knowledge will not build a racing or high performance outboard any time soon. Hanko's is a manufacture of both pleasure and industrial water craft. We install Honda,Yamaha,Mercury,Suzuki and others all day long. Being dead center of the U.S. oil drilling and production market I have seen Honda motors with as many as 4000 hrs. Of course they break and can be destroyed. Yes, they along with all others are faced with tremendous eingeering challenges. As with any of the new green motors you must follow one of murphey's laws. The four cycle outboards have twice as many parts as a two cycle so they will need twice the maintance. You must have a service dept that is equiped to handle any issues that may arise. The day of the carb two cycle is over in the U.S. market. 2009 will end and so will the carbs. Some manuf. still choose to build high tech two cycle outboards with great sucess. It has always been Honda Marine bussiness to build four cycle outboards. As long as your customers day out on the lake is an enjoyable and memorable experience they won't care which manf. you sell. thanks Martin Conrad

[rdownes]

I've owned a Honda BF50 (50HP) 3-cylinder motor for about 5 years, powering a 16 foot center console aluminum boat which has been run both in salt and fresh. Its been a perfect running engine, no corrosion, excellent gas mileage, and tops out on this boat at 40MPH (GPS). It is also relatively light for its HP output.

This engine is often used on RIBS and in single and double-engine configurations on C-Dorys.

[VELOCITY 3.6GT]

Leave four strokes for the cars. Go with the Evinrude or the Mercury. Just my opinion.

[stevell]

I can't help but wonder how many people that have negitave thing to say about the honda have owned one or had real problems with them. Ihave owned a 235 evenrude and had lower end problems. amd mercs that needed pistons and rings in less than 150 hours from new. they were good motors but they had some issues. My honda 225 has been the most trouble free engine i have ever had.

[bworner]

Hi Stevell, I think to be honest alot of guys are like me, either in the marine business or are some how affiliated. We all here issues with this or that these days, some unfounded some is correct. I myself think most of Hondas lineup is quite weak, now the new 40-90 with B.L.A.S.T are great motors for the Pontooners and Small aluminum crafts that most run, but for these guys here performance and reliability is key, and the Hondas of the Higher horsepower category are weak compared to their Yamaha or Suzuki counterparts. Honda if they wanted to could put some technology and really mop the water with their competitors, but why, they sell thousands of engines world wide and very rarely change anything, heck look at the paint job, same forever. Yes for the most part they run good, but anytime you take the motor out of a Honda Pilot or Acura MDX in your case and turn it up, let it run in water 24/7 and it was really designed to loaf at what 2500-3500 rpms for 400,000 miles, now its runnin at 6000 rpms for alot of time, or worse yet its idling at 850 rpms for days on end, all im saying here is that companys like Suzuki typically make their motors for the marine industry, they dont use stuff that was built to be in a lawnmower or truck, not a bad thing just different. Alot of techs roam here, alot of techs for some reason do not like them, They have made companys like Evinrude and Mercury stand at attention and improve quality and smooth operation, hell you can now get a 2 stroke thats just as smooth and almost as quiet if not as quiet as a 4 banger, pretty cool spot to be in. If your a Honda 225 owner watch a movie called Into the Blue with Paul Walker (fast n Furious) these guys that control the area run a center console boat with some Wicked Sounding Honda BF225 VTECs, if they really sound like that in real life then they may be the coolest sounding outboards out, very smooth and Formula 1 like...Cheers, Brannon