Yamaha Rips The Sea-Doo Spark

[TechRider]

I have never seen Yamaha go after the competition like this before. I wonder if they will do it on for the boat line as well.

 

[Glassman]

Saw that on Twitter earlier today. Pretty aggressive marketing.
I like it. Shows some balls.

However, it also sends a message that they aren't going to sell a low price machine.
At least that's my totally uneducated take on it. I know squat about the PWC biz.

 

[Magic]

Whoa...... That's pretty aggressive for Yamaha! "So, for 5 Grand, your pretty much getting a recycled plastic piece of doo..." (Sea what I did there?)

 

[jdonalds]

I am not a fan of SeaDoos due to their poor reliability record. And I certainly am a fan of Yamaha both for quality design, and bullet proof engines. But I don't like these types of ads no matter which product is being reviewed. When new jet boat manufacturers compare their new products to the Yamaha line they always pepper the ad with not only one sided biased information (why not) but the implications are often misleading. Also they tend to leave out corresponding positive points.

These two videos are not just aggressive they are nasty. That is the kind of advertising that will turn me away from the product being touted as being better and make me take a long look at the one they are trashing.

I can tell you that SeaDoo is selling a lot of Sparks. My son works at Redding Yamaha / Seadoo and the only negative thing about the Spark is SeaDoo isn't making any money with them so they are holding back on the quantity available. They are sabotaging their own PWC lines.

Those at my son's office that have ridden the Spark say they are a ton of fun, not underpowered, and it's like going back to some of the smaller PWCs that were more agile than the big skis of today.

The ads do make a good point about engine accessibility. Certainly SeaDoo could have made that easier. We'll have to wait a year or two to see how they hold up.

 

[Glassman]

"Those at my son's office that have ridden the Spark say they are a ton of fun, not underpowered, and it's like going back to some of the smaller PWCs that were more agile than the big skis of today."

The great thing about this site is the access to others' real-life experience with these products. I tend to think your version is closer to reality, with buyers driven by price.
Since it looks like they'll end up owning the market at this price point, someone at SeaDoo could end up branded a genius if the Spark proves to be reasonably reliable.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

The entire idea boggles my mind! They are sabotaging their own line of higher priced PWC's and are producing a product of lower quality that will surely end up adding to the SeaDoo sucks mentality in a few years when people can't afford to repair their jet ski.

I have been getting heavily marketed to go and test drive one from local dealers who I've done business with and BRP. I received an interesting email that had a link to a video on YouTube that promoted the Spark. In the video some clown was towing his Spark behind a Ferrari! It's worth the giggle to see it.

 

[CDENsomnia]

Wow gotta say I didn't expect that! No matter what the case is these are entertaining!

 

[Gthunter5]

I'd buy one as it seems like it would be fun to drive and wouldn't care if people banged into the dock and such.

Weren't triumph boats made out of the same stuff?

 

[davel501]

They look like fun and my '02 SeaDoo GTI LE is still a great boat but if I bought something now it would be a Yammie with a 1.8. Easier maintenance having everything the same AND it would be nice to have a spare engine for the boat sitting around. There is a lot of plastic on boats these days, including the Yammies, and it seems to be holding up ok.

 

[Ronnie]

Looked like marketing 101 with a little art of war mixed in. Yamaha emphasized the VX's high points, the spark's low points and suggested there may be a few more "gotchas".

PeterG has one and from what I read he loves it.

I have not ridden one but will say this, I was down at the local motor sports dealer (atvs, motorcycles and pwcs) today to get some Yamalube and saw 3 sparks displayed in the front window. I did notice that one did not have the front storage compartment but thought the guys just got lazy and didn't put it in (the other two had them). One had a price tag of $6,300 plus $1,600 in prep and shipping bring the total to $7,900 before trailer and taxes. I didn't price any of the other PWCs there today but $7,900 is a far cry from the $4,999 bait rate in the ads I remember.

I do recall seeing a big sticker price on one of the other large skis, not sure which one, it said, "Reduced to $12,999" so it's all relative.

 

[Britboater]

Thats kinda sad, Yamaha are making themselves seem really desperate. Not good.

I thought the same when a Scarab salesman was putting down a Yamaha 190, choosing certain, erevalent points. In business you don't go slating your competition, words are cheap, actions are stronger.
From what I've heard people are loving these Sparks as they represent what the old PWC's were like, just like Yamahas very own Blasters. Quite embarrassing really.

 

[Evil Sports]

I am a sales manager and my foundation line is "Sell on your own merits not the lack of others". I find those videos entertaining but never follow that manor of salesmanship.

 

[jdiaz78]

That's throwing down the gauntlet!

 

[Lspeedss]

Being an "old guy" the bait pricing was obvious 5 minutes into looking at these at the boat show in March. No storage and all the other hits these vids go into is a shared opinion with my own. This type of marketing is intended for the likely target of the Spark. Generally younger set. Sad to say..may not have the ability to see the obvious over the impulse and believe what the internet tell them..
Anybody notice this dude in the vid looked like he just woke up after partying all night.lol priceless..lol

 

[Geiger41]

Looks like Yamaha just Dee-boe'd Sea-Doo (Look up "Friday you got knocked the F out") If your unsure what I mean

 

[WickedPorter]

A friend of mine who frequently boats with us just bought one as a "scouting vehicle" ... that was his excuse, anyway He got the lower end model from a local powersports dealer. For ~$5,000 - it looks like a very fun little ski. Looking forward to messing around with it a little bit soon. Also excited that I won't have to pull up anchors and make the trip back to the marina with the mothership in order to pick up that friend who was late to the launch!

 

[WOOSAB]

I've had my Spark since March. No issues, no regrets, I love it. There are quite a few misleading statements in the two Yamaha videos you're referring to, and the whole tenor and tone of the videos has diminished Yamaha's brand IMO. I also use my ski's as rentals and have over 60 hours on both of them.

The biggest ill-advised statement in those videos to my mind is when the Yamaha representative says a tank of fuel "might last for an hour or two" on the Spark. That's a ridiculous statement. If they were really serious about convincing you how good the VX is against the Spark, they would list some fuel consumption side-by-sides. They didn't do that. For me, as a buyer, I'd be interested in them crunching the numbers. But they don't do that; they make jokes about plastic water bottles and the chill shade instead.

Before I looked at the Spark, I was looking around at Yamahas. Everything I read indicated that Yamahas were renowned for their reliability, and that attracted me. But then the Spark came out and I could buy a brand new machine under warranty, still have money left for insurance, safety gear, and accessories.

Another point Yamaha criticises the Spark for is the add-ons. But for me this was a good thing, because there are only some things you have to buy upfront (i.e. choosing between 2 or 3UP and IBR). The rest you can add later when your cash flow allows. So it allowed me to only have to save a certain amount of cash for the upfront purchase. Since I got, it I've added mats, the step, the storage bucket, side bumpers, etc.

They also criticise the Spark for its 'plastic' construction. But the upside of this is the weight of the machine. It can be towed by a very small car. So if you've got a small car, you don't need to work a tow vehicle into your budget as well.

I think you should consider why Yamaha would upload videos like this to its official branded Youtube account, without any statistical or scientific data to back what they say. They have never done this in the past towards other ski's or jet boats why now?

If Yamaha had a good story to tell about the VX, then that's what they should have done. For them to invest dollars into producing videos like these shows they are more interested in talking about what they think their competitor is doing wrong, rather than what they think they're doing right. As a potential buyer, you should think about that.

The other thing I think was a misjudgment by Yamaha is assuming a potential buyer might look at these videos and do no further research. These days, when I'm making a 'big' purchase I look around. It doesn't matter if it's a new TV, a microwave, or a car -- I research it online. I see what people are saying about it, I visit multiple sites. I don't just trust one opinion straight away, I read as many as I can. Given you've even posted the question in this forum, I can see you're the same. These days, most people are.

The danger for Yamaha in this, I think, is that they risk saying to potential buyers 'the Spark is bad'. But if those buyers ultimately choose a Spark and find that it's actually very good, when it then comes to their next ski purchase they'll remember Yamaha for the wrong reason: that Yamaha is willing to peddle misleading information for a sale.

LETS COMPARE A FEW THINGS
So first I am only going to compare both models.
So 2up HO Spark I paid $14,200 ( this is for 2 and double trailer + TTL) so $7100 each. for the Vx base model, and after the transportation fees that all dealers add on, and the trailer, the Vx will be pushing that $9,500-10,000 dollar range. Now lets get to the fuel usage, and tank size, and how many hours before your empty. Spark has a 7.9gal tank, uses 2.4 gal per hr at 35mpg, meaning you'll be empty in just over 4hrs. And will cost you roughly $30 to fill up. The Vx has a 18.5gal tank, uses 4gal per hr at 35mph, meaning you'll be empty in 4.6hrs. But it will cost you roughly $70 to fill up. Hmm so I can save $2,400-$2,900 with the Spark and could use that money to fill the Spark 100 times.

But, the Vx has 110 hp and the Spark only has 90 hp so you will go faster on the Vx. Really!? How much faster? Being $2,400 more than the Spark it better be much, much faster. Nope, sorry Vx you have a top speed of 54mph. The Spark has a top speed of 48-50mph at 90 hp. Really!? the Vx only has a 12mph advantage. So you pay $2,400 more for 5 or 6 mph?? Doesn't seem worth the extra dollars to me.

But wait, how come the Vx doesn't have a top speed in the upper 60s or low 70s? Oh ya, the Vx weighs 736lbs. The Spark weighs only 405lbs. Ok, ok lets be fair the Vx can carry 3 people while the Spark can barely hold 2 adults. But, I didn't buy a jet ski to be a chauffeur and give people rides around the lake. And your not going to throw tricks with 2 people on the PWC, so who cares. But, the Vx has 15.1 gal of storage space, and the spark only .42gal. Again, what do you need to store? Remember your only going to be on the water for a max of 4.6 hrs before you need to stop and refuel. Which means anything that you might need to store can just hang out at the beach with your other friends or in your vehicle.

I've owned the yamaha LS 2000 great boat never a issue, also had 2007 ar210 motor blew in less than 5 hours some of you might remember had issue with yamaha and they refunded me all my money back. I then purchased the seadoo challenger 255hp great boat never had a issue. Ended up using it to tow a yamaha in at the yamaha gathering a few years back after they hit a sand bar. Only issue with seadoo was the super charger rebuild every 100 hours. Only reason we sold this boat was to upgrade to a bigger boat which is the sx230 which i still have and love. Also to date the vx is by far the most used rental JEt ski out because of reliability. I can't say that the spark at this point is better than the VX but i can say when you go into the dealership and compare both side by side it's hard to purchase the Yami hands down anymore. It a reason why most dealers are running out of sparks very quickly. I think it's to early to write the spark off also.

 

[BigN8]

Nice review. I just saw one of these at the gas dock. Anyone have anymore experience or heard anymore about performance or reliability on these since this last post?.

 

[scokill]

After reading all the comments and then watching the videos I was kinda let down. I didn't see anything near what I was expecting from the comments.

 

[billyb]

I hope to buy a spark this offseason.

I have my boat on a lift and a boathouse where the spark will reside. We used to have a waverunner and it was great.

We would anchor the boat, hang out in the water and take turns on the bike. That's exactly what I want the spark for.

I don't want to pay upwards of 15k for an ancillary water toy. I like what they did with the spark...and I hope to buy one.