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Posts: 5874
| Ben K, you are right, in your opinion. But you make it sound as though Yamaha will cover anything, forever. Simply not the case. Certain circumstances, they will cover out of warranty. But so has Merc. And BRP, And Suzuki, and....
Reputation is important, but I tend to look at it as perception instead. Perception was that Yamaha builds a more reliable motor. Reality probably is that they have about the same rate of problems as all the brands. But no matter. JD Powers award the past two years to Merc for the Opti. Who ever saw that coming 6 years ago?! When was the last JD powers award for Yamaha? That is a Customer Satisfaction based award. Seems the tide has turned? Or is it just perception that Opti owners are more satfied than Yamaha owners?
You say that when your Alaska guide uses the Yamaha's when it got really cold. Must have older carbed motors then, because Merc's midrange have been EFI for quite a few years before Yamaha's were. No way a carbed Yammy starts and runs as good as an EFI motor in the cold. The fact that Merc used Yamaha powerheads on the 75-115 4-stroke does not say it all. It was an economic agreement is all. The past 2 years, Merc has there very own design, and it is in many ways, a superior motor. Heck, Yamah didn't even EFI their 115 until at least 5 years after Merc did.
As for Yamaha coming outwith a power assist for the bigger tillers? Perhaps. But again, Patent Laws will require them design something different from the Merten design. So, I doubt that Yamaha themselves will develop it for the relatively small market. As I said, if another system is made available, it will be by a Tim Merten type. My guess is also that if Ranger can't get the Enginesteer to put on Yamaha's at the factory, then they will go to a Warrior like system. Again. small market, and they aren't going to stick a lot of developmental money in to this. But, that is assuming Ranger, or whoever, won't be able to buy these for non Merc applications.
Also, I am not sure the Warrior assist system is actually CG approved. | |
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