Not looking to start a Ford vs Chevy what's better thing, just looking for general concensus on how they compare for:

- Fuel economy
- Noise level
- Power
- Routine cost to operate like oil, plugs, service, etc.
- Resale value
- Service and parts availability

I can only speak for my own:

- Fuel economy... average mpg is 4.4, WOT it drops down to 2.3mpg per the smart craft guages
- Noise level.... overall very quite
- Power.......... like a train, it just keeps pulling harder with every RPM gained on the tach
- Routine cost to operate like oil, plugs, service, etc. It sips oil and gas, Iridium plugs can run $16 a pop and more depending on where you buy them.
- Resale value... can't answer this one for I don't plan on selling
- Service and parts availability...Not an issue to date, of course the only thing I have had go wrong was a lower unit seal gone bad. 210 hours on 2004 motor.

heard a lot of chatter the last couple years about Mercuries blowing topends..... reliability would be my main concern..
pretty close on parts and mainteneance/fuel mileage, etc.

Mercuries will outrun the Yammis on the water though...

**Fuel economy - Merc
**Noise level - Rude
**Power - Bottom end = Yamaha Midrange and Top end = Merc
**Routine cost to operate - Prolly Rude, first scheduled maintenance is 3 years.
**Resale value - depends on boat, certain boat brand owners want certain motors. Then there are some who can't get another brand cost effectively.
**Parts availability - Merc and Rude both have parts houses in the DFW area. Yamaha doesn't but normally is pretty quick to get stuff out.

All 3 are great motors it depends on what characteristics you like. My choice is Merc...always the Yamaha guys knocking the Merc's, ya think there is a reason (Merc envy )

Every engine has it's own issues. Sure there are Merc's that drop powerheads. So does Yamaha, Rudes, and every other brand. Think about it, if you have a 1 % failure rate (I'm just using this for a comparison base line), and you have 60% of the market, you have more engines on the market than anyone. So out of 100 engines, you have 60% of those. Out of those, you have a 1% failure rate. one would expect to see more of your engines fail than anyone else. The company with the least amount of market share, would have the least failures hopefully, since they don't have as much product out.

Merc's are great engines. So are Yamaha's. I wouldn't hesitate either way buying one or the other.

Personally, I'd take any of the three. They all have good points.

When I bought my motor I tried to get a discount from Bombardier because they had no DIs in my area and no one would buy one. They weren't interested eventhough I was a sales manager at a boat dealership.

So I decided on a Yammaha HPDI and planned to rig it on my boat. Before I got it bought one of our boat mfgs called and said he had over stock on Optis going for 17% below wholesale so I bought one from him.

It could have gone any of the three ways and I would have been happy.

Hey Mike, N.TX, you still online? Said your mail was full had a question. Am a current customer, don't wanna bogart this post if I can email you.