www.iFourWinns.com

It's been rather slow around here......so I figured I would get other peoples input on this topic. I have always owned Mercs In 1989 I bought a Sunray with a 4.3 Merc, 220hp, 2004 a Nordic with a 75 hp 2 stroke,2007 Nitro with 150 optimax. Never had any probs with any of them. Now I have purchased a Volvo. I believe the power plant is a General Motors product on both (am I correct?) so this leaves the drive unit, controls, water pump,etc,.
Mercury also seems to have a larger network of dealers,prop selections. When I went looking at FW,s my dealer had 99% Volvo,s. Had I had the choice from in stock I would have picked a Mercury. Only because its the devil I know. So I would like to hear your opinions on both.......I guess so as to put my mind at ease that I didnt make a bad choice.

Lee

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2006 F150 FX4
2008 H210 SS
5.7 GXI SX
Compass
Ratchet cover
Bow and cockpit covers
Bow cushions
Q&Q

The best one to go with is the one that you have the best access to service for. All else being the same I'll take Volvo but there's not a thing wrong with either of them.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I like them both!
Boat #1 was a 1960 Glastron Fireflite 15' with a 50hp Merc O/B..... great reliable motor.
Boat #2 was a 1996 Bayliner, bowrider 15' with a 90hp Mariner... not too happy with this one.
Boat #3 was a 2001 Nordic 2120 cuddy with a 270hp Merc I/O and I loved it. Excellent set up and very reliable.
And now my 298 has twin Volvo 270 I/O's..... and I love them also. Excellent set up, very reliable and customer service is outstanding.... from Volvo that is, not my dealer!

So you can see I've owned both and I think it just depends on your personal experiences with each of them. If anyone has a bad experience with any brand, I'm sure they'd hesitate to go that route a second time.

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"ROCKHOUND"
2005 Vista 298
Georgian Bay, Ontario.

One of the great myths that I was led to believe when I was shopping was that Volvo parts are hard to come by. I was surprised by the number of people who said, "oh, you're thinking of getting Volvo engines? Tough to get parts." What I quickly realized was that the people perpetuating that myth were basing the notion on something they may have learned ten or more years ago. From everything I have learned, it is absolutely no longer true. And if you don't have a dealer nearby with the part you need, I have found the online availability/instant shipping to be excellent.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

I have owned merc 5.7L (alpha I), OMC 7.4L (king cobra), and currently a volvo 5.7L DPS.
They all are GM blocks, and I have never been at a loss to find parts for any of them at any boat dealer, online or NAPA.

Each one has there problems, but with a little online surfing/research you will have a heads up on what to watch for.

If I were to buy a boat today, it would probably have a volvo, but I would have no issue with a merc in the boat if that was how it is equipt.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

I have to tell you, it seems like there are more horror stories with Mercruiser drives than with Volvo drives. I have ZERO first hand experince with the Merc, but the things I read online etc...indicate they get hot, harder to work on and stuff like that.

As for parts, I dont think either brand is harder or easier to get parts for these days.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

The following items are better:

GM v. Ford
Chocolate v. Vanilla
Nike v. Reebok
Bareback v. Using protection
Coke v. Pepsi
Dove v. Hershey's
Merc v. Volvo
Hanes v. Fruit of the Loom
7-up v. Sprite
Flair v. Bic
Gillete v. Schick
Champion v. AC Delco
Dove v. Irish Spring
Goodyear v. Firestone
Toyota v. Honda


All debates are over. You're welcome.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Paul, I was with you until you dropped that one

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I kinda look at it like this.....

Do a search on Volvo DP vs. Bravo III - I see more sucess stories on the DP than the B3. Now I realize there are a lot more B3 drives out there, but I'm happy with what I see in this discussion, especially about annodes and issues with galvanic corrosion.

I've had both Volvo and Merc and both are fine, but I was pleased to find the Volvo DP on my boat when I purchased it.

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2001 Horizon 260 - 7.4 Volvo GSI DP

You can not compare Honda with anything else, maybe toyota and nissan. But honda is in a class of its own! Just read all the generator threads just to start out with.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

In all of our searching for "the cruiser", we did a lot of rides in various hull brands with both Merc and Volvo.

We did find a noticable trend that the Volvos tend to be a bit smoother (less vibration) and quieter. This has nothing to do with the GM engines, but with the drives and the exhaust systems. This held true for both small-block versions and big-block versions, in each of the hull brands that we tested (such as, Crownline, Rinker and Four Winns).

If you did not test the same combo from each brand (Merc & Volvo) in the same hull, very close together, or even back-to-back, you would likely never pick up on this.

The notes on making sure you have adequate service in your area, for a given brand, are certainly wise.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

In my case I run in salt water and I really like the work Merc has done with the new seacore system when compared to the Volvo injector flush system. Also as back up to that plan I got every warranty option they offered just in case I didn't make the right choice. Now only time will tell. On the performance side no complaints it runs out well and I really like the DTS shifters.

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2008 318 Vista "Ka-wai-ola"
350 MPI/BravoIII DTS Seacore
2006 1500 Key West -70 Yamaha
Previous Boats
Key West 2300CC
Pacemaker 270 Sport Fish
290 Sea Ray

I would never buy Honda Toyota Nissan Accura.......or what ever other rice burner is out there.

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2006 F150 FX4
2008 H210 SS
5.7 GXI SX
Compass
Ratchet cover
Bow and cockpit covers
Bow cushions
Q&Q

For me, 2 reasons I chose a VP rather than a Merc...

1) Cone clutch makes more sense than the older technology dog clutch the Merc uses - in theory it will be smoother. In practice, is it noticible? Probably not!
2) The dealer I chose only handled VP powered FW boats!

Both use the identical Chev engine so nothing in it as far as performance goes. Merc probably has the advantage of more parts and service availability depending on where you are located of course.

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Which begs the question, anybody know why the identical VP motor is usually rated 10 hp more than the equivelant Merc? Just a curious thing...

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)