I read somewhere in this thread that someone was disappointed in Yamaha for not being innovators anymore. Sure the 2003 boats were a game changing layout, but how often can that kind of thing really occur? Look at cellphones, the iPhone legitimately changed the landscape for how we interact with a cellular telephone. There hasn't been that level of "innovation" in a decade now. No industry is immune to that, and finding true paradigm shifts takes a very unique set of circumstances to occur. Finding those game changing feature comes very infrequently. In the interim, the engineers and designers at Yamaha continue to make the small incremental improvements that keep the boats fresh, and show some thoughtfulness. Not sure expecting paradigm shifts on a regular basis is a realistic expectation.
I was the one that said that. There are shifts all the time. There use to be no jetboats. Now how many models and brands are there? People use to waterski, when was the last time you saw that being done? Then hyroslide. Then wakeboarding where it was about the wake being higher further back for jumping and flips. Then lots of tubing. Now it's wakesurfing where they want the huge wave right there. Pontoons use to be cheap junk, now there's a market for 100k gofast luxury pontoon boats. Now bay boats are huge and into the 6 digits. 23' boats use to not ever have a head, that I remember, now a lot do. Now some bowriders are starting to go with that left aisle instead of center aisle and putting a small sleeper cabin in the combined space. I can't remember a single outboard before that had a transom design like the new Searays and Monterys. There is change everywhere and all the time. Sorry, but in the boat department, there has literally been no innovation from Yamaha in over 10yrs. Oh wait, my bad, sorry, they did invent the 'articulating keel'. All I see is them trying to fix the things people don't like (steering, reverse, throttle) and raising the price absurbly for the same basic boat. Oh, and trying to not loose sales to the 'wakesurfing' crowd. Are they making their boats even better? Of course, YES! But the price increases are out of whack.
When I look at what seriously is different between my AR230 and a new AR240, sorry, it's almost nothing. The layout is basically the same. Sure the outward appearance is different, bow is squared off, the rear transom is lower, different engines, different electronics, etc. I don't know how to explain it, but while the two are different, uuhh, they're also not really different. For that stuff that I consider important, literally nothing is different. For somebody that does not currently own a Yamaha, sure, it all helps make the boat that much more appealing (except the price). In 11yrs, the single only thing they've added that I really want is the smooth throttle control. They haven't even solved the grass issue. Would I love my seats to be hinged? Of course! Side table mounts, check!
Now compare what searay and monterey did. They still offer the traditional bowrider with the traditional layout, but now they've introduced new layouts that are quite different and are pulling me and others back away from Yamaha and actually considering going back to prop. I've been jetboating for over 18yrs now, had a seadoo before, but I've never really been about prop vs jet. Yes, jet is safer, no exposed props for the kids, I did enjoy that when my kids were very little but seriously, let's stop BSing ourselves, most did it cause the Yamaha was cheaper, but nobody wants to really admit that. Sounds much better to say I got it cause jets are safer. Yes, one 'can' wakesurf behind a jet and not a prop, but I don't use our boat for wakesurfing at all. If you're super serious above wakesurfing, stop looking at Yamahas and get a real wakesurf boat. For me, it's been about the price and layout. Jet's had for a long time just been cheaper and I also happened to like and then even love their layouts. Well, the prop crowd is waking up and starting to give us the layouts, and Yamaha is helping them out a lot too by #@#@ing up their own pricing.
Just doing a quick search, my 2007 AR230 MSRP was $38k. The new AR240 is $57k. Sure, 11yrs have passed. Then again compare a 2007 Waverunner FX HO at $10.5k and a new FX HO at $13.5k. Hmm, the boats have increased 50% in price, but the waverunner only went up 28%. No doubt, the AR240 would be that much more attractive at 48k instead of 57k. And then when I look at base vs e-series or X, I feel like I'm getting charged yet another extra $20k for about $5k worth of stuff (but all brands are guilty of this). The difference though is the other brands tend to offer alacarte so I only get robbed on exactly what extra I want vs having no choice and getting robbed on all of it.
Yamaha has now easily priced their boats to the point that it's a no brainer to cross shop and look at other boats.
