Yamaha vs. Suzuki

[fatwalleye]

Has anyone tried the new Suzuki 4 stroke motors? I was told they have a lower gear ratio than Yamaha so slower trolling speeds. I am looking at the Suzuki 90 tiller vs. the yamaha 90 four stroke tiller.

[Sgt. Rock]

While we are talking motors, I'd like some opinions on the new Johnson 4 stroke units by Bombardier. Looking at a new rig and have the opportunity to do Johnson or Yamaha.
Both in the 50-60Hp range. Thanks for any help.

[LundExplorer]

Apparently the Johnson 4-strokes are Suzukis painted white...talked to a Suzuki guy at the sport show, he confirmed this at least for the 140 hp 4-stroke.

TL

[Guest]

Yup, that is correct. The suzuki will troll down better than any other 4 stroke - unless you add smartcraft to the mercury engines. This is due to a gear reduction suzuki uses. We bought a 115 suzuki 4 stroke last year and it trolls down better than any others in that class. At least at that time Merc. didn't have an engine in that class that was capable of smartcraft (they were essentially Yamaha engines).

I believe the johnson 4 strokes are all still suzuki as well.

[kjgmh]

The Mercury 30 - 60 efi four strokes are pure mercury. They are Smartcraft compatible but it will not adjsut the trolling speed like the Opti's. People should also consider the new Bombardier E-tec and Mercury's new 3 cylider Optimax. Both of these will be available in 40 - 115 hp. These will be really sweet motors. Have the same benifits of 4-strokes plus more. Less maintance, smooth, slow idling and less weight. I personaly don't see any advantage to 4-stroke in this horsepower range.

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Your next fish could be your biggest!!

[Guest]

kjgmh,

The 60 HP is available with smart craft gauges (same as the optimax). I was at least told that this will reduce idle speed down to 500 rpm, which would help with trolling speeds if that is the case. This is about a $500 option though and apparently not a very popular one as the 60 is a small enough engine that it should troll down quite well. Above 60 smartcraft is not available on the 4 strokes, since they are Yamaha built and merc. can't connect this to Yamaha technology...

I guess I see things different. I wouldn't consider anything other than a 4 stroke after having several 2 strokes and now a 4 stroke. Quiet, clean, cheaper to run (no oil to mess with).. The Opti's are okay, but they are oil hogs and not as smooth as the 4 strokes.

[Guest]

Suzuki builds a sweet motor. They were the first to claim digital fuel injection and a better ignition system. They were suppose to have better gas mileage and a lower gear ratio than other 4 strokes. I bought mine in 2000 and they also had double the warranty with 6 years at that time. Things have changed and others have caught up.

If you go to http://www.suzukimarine.com/4strokes/compadvan.jsp?mn1=DF60&mn2=DF70 you can see a comparison. Of course, this is a suzuki site so they will only say the good things about suzuki. I haven't seen a bad 4 stroke yet. I highly recommend Suzuki though.