It was 84 degrees in the Delta here in California last Sunday… and the Spark was screaming out for it’s maiden rip.
Boy they have done something special with this.
In a word… a… blast!
This thing is light, nimble, flickable, and is designed to be thrown around. An MX bike for the water if you will.
Throw it sideways and let the back slide out. Throttle it up and put the nose in the air. Jump a few wakes. Throw some spins. I put it in sport mode, and literally laughed out loud.
This is the old school fun that has been missing the jumbo “boats” of a PWC being made by the big 3 over the last few years. This is something different.
While 90HP may not sound like a ton, the whole thing is a hair over 400lbs. The power to weight ratio is quite high… and it shows… it jumps off the line.
While I was still in break-in, and I didn’t want to wring its neck off the bat, I attained a max 52MPH as measured by the built-in GPS speed. This was plenty. Seriously. It’s a little, short, ski… and it felt fast. This is not a long-range cruiser. You’ll get tired on such a small craft, but I managed to throw down an approximate 25 miles in a quick half day of noodling around… running into some friends on the beach… and burned a whopping 3 gallons of fuel. Nooot bad.
The IBR brakes are strong. Stops quickly. If you really apply them, it will nearly slam you into the handlebars. Strong. They really shined around the dock… reversing… and easing it in. An absolutely must-have - and really glad I got them.
I have a few of the Sea-Doo Spark specific accessories and they all worked well. Rubber mats – fine. Snap in side bumpers are great… literally snap on and off… simple and fast… no ropes. Rear wet storage mesh bag bolted onto the back for bumpers and docking lines is handy and easily accessible.
All-in, with the HO version with IBR, convenience package, trailer, accessories, taxes/freight/registration… ran $9500. Clearly a bunch more than the low end $4999 60hp model before taxes and with nothing else… but worth every penny.
They have a hit on their hands… will sell a ton of these… and it will really be interesting to see what future variants they will come up with based upon the anticipated success.
Even more interesting will be Yamaha’s response. Will there be a “new” Wave Blaster brewing? I think they’ll have to respond. Look forward to it… it seems like the Spark has started something new here.