Best Outboard Motor Brands for Reliability and Long-Term Use

Hi everyone,
I’d like to get your opinions on outboard motor reliability. Over the years I’ve worked with brands like Yamaha, Mercury, Honda, and Suzuki, and each has its strengths.

• Yamaha seems to be praised for durability.
• Mercury offers great performance and parts availability.
• Honda is known for fuel efficiency.
• Suzuki often comes up for value and smooth running.

In your experience, which brand has given you the best long-term reliability?
Do you prefer staying with one brand, or do you mix depending on the boat type?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Evinrude 2 strokes with hand mixing of gas and oil at 100 to 1 ratios. I have a fantastic old Evinrude Mechanic. Mechanics keep a motor running. D I Y might.

Grandad put a Maytag washing machine engine on the lower unit of an old OMC. Dad was still using it in the 90s. I think it was easily 50 years old, and he gave it to my uncle who gave it to his neighbor. Wouldn’t surprise me if it is still running today.

Based on widespread user reports and professional mechanic reviews, Yamaha is consistently noted for the best long-term reliability and durability.

Many boaters stick with one brand they trust for consistency, but others will mix based on the specific boat's purpose and the best motor for that application.

The only bad deal I have had was 2023 new Poozuki 6hp 4 stroke .
The dealer insisted on a pre sale service which took 2 days ( silly me , I shouldnt have paid up front ) . Got it home and put it in a tub for a bit of a run prior to hitting the high seas . 1st thing I noticed was that the steering jammed about 20 deg to port , and after running for a few mins I spies the oil slick .......pinched O ring on oil filter housing . I counted the drips into a container and worked out the motor would have run for about 40 mins before running out of oil .
Took it back and they had to re-fit the steering pivot bushes and fitted a new O ring ( they wanted to order the o ring but I sent them to the o ring shop ). All good they assured me , got it home and they had left out the seal for the top cover ..... I noticed it immediately as the whole cover was loose and rattly . Bunch of #uckin idiots , never went back .
The motor is very good , always starts easilly , plenty of grunt for trolling and runs on next to nothing . Only thing I have done is change the oils and filter ( takes the same filter as my quad ) and fitted an hour meter .
Had a good faultless run out of a 90hp 2/ , and my Honda 35 hp also faultless during my ownership .

Boats Pal Marine said:

Hi everyone,
I’d like to get your opinions on outboard motor reliability. Over the years I’ve worked with brands like Yamaha, Mercury, Honda, and Suzuki, and each has its strengths.

• Yamaha seems to be praised for durability.
• Mercury offers great performance and parts availability.
• Honda is known for fuel efficiency.
• Suzuki often comes up for value and smooth running.

In your experience, which brand has given you the best long-term reliability?
Do you prefer staying with one brand, or do you mix depending on the boat type?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Click to expand...

What is the purpose of this post? You own a boating company selling parts and such, one would think that you would know the answer to your question?

and opinions are like...........well, you know.

long term reliability..... old two strokes, hands down. if you maintain them, they last 75+ years

as for most un-reliable. EFI 4-strokes with CAN. doesnt matter which brand, they all fail.

WE all realize that any company with a computer controlled Product..........Can control when it DIES. Anytime after the warranty period.
In 1962 I worked for a safety equipment company. I designed the new improved and VERY profitable electronic controlled new units. Management could not kiss my shoes often enough. I then showed them I could add in a simple timer that would shut the unit down AFTER the warranty period. More happiness for all. Especially servicing dealers.
A simple grounding of the timer resulted in a new warranty period of running.
Ain't being a Design Engineer great ?
With todays I C chips controlling everything. No one knows why anything fails.

Saying a 2-Stroke is better than a 4-stroke like saying the Go Devil in my ‘47 Willys is a better engine than the 4.6L in my Ford F150. Both require upkeep. That old Willys engine with far less than 100,000 miles takes considerably more effort than the modern EFI engine with 240,000 miles to keep running smooth. Everything fails eventually.

I don’t care for Suzuki. The powerheads seem okay but I have changed more lower units on them than any other in the fleet. Four between the DF175 and the DF200 in 4 years, a couple didn’t even show damage on the prop. I replaced the VSTs on the 200 and the 250.

I just replaced a 14 year old Yamaha F150 lower unit that had over 1,000 hours of rental type abuse. I think shifting damage mostly. They liked to let that one grind its way into gear instead of just shifting it. I replaced the needle and seat in one of the Yamaha VSTs.

The Mercurys I work on are all 150 EFI. I haven’t had to replace a Mercury lower unit yet but all of those are now less than 7 years old and none of them have over 500 hours. They sold a boat last year that had around 1500 hours on it. It needed a throttle position sensor 3 years ago but was trouble free otherwise. I would not have been afraid to buy it.

The 2 Hondas are just 2 years old and coming up on 300 hours. The only thing I have on them so far is they seem to be really fuel flow sensitive.

I have owned 2-stroke outboards. Very seldom had trouble getting them to run. Less complicated to work on but I wouldn’t call them more reliable. The Mariner I owned had some harness issues. The Force required frequent spark plug changes. I don’t recall any particulars about the Johnson or Evinrude. They all had their particular starting and warmup procedures. No procedures with EFI. Just turn the key and go.

It doesn’t really matter what you have, the less you use it the more work it takes to keep it running.

I guess if you’re a “prepper” worried about what may still run after the aliens drop a big EMP on us, it may affect the decision whether having a computer controlled engine is good or not. Won’t matter though. The money to buy and the ability to make fuel will be largely gone anyway.

Bought a new Johnson 125 HP in 1972 and kept it for 7 years. Kids grew up, no more Sunday outings after church, so I sold the boat. During that time I never did anything, anything, to that engine but put premix in the tank and ran it. Sold it to a friend and he used it for who knows how long.

In about 1976-9 somewhere in there, I bought a new bass boat with an 85HP Mercury. Don't remember how long I had it....years, and never did anything to it but put premix in the tank. I used to get my kicks at the boat ramp in the winter. There would be several boats at the ramp, owner's trying to get them running. I'd dip the boat, hit the primer, hit the starter and was off the trailer in maybe a minute. After that, I became a Merc. guy, forget why specifically, and that's all I had.....not sorry. Just sold my last boat (2002 Merc. 115) because at 83 I decided I was too old to get out on the water any more....boating alone which I always did in my later years, family grown.

On the OMC vs Merc. I never could outrun a Red Banded Merc. Tower of Power. (I6)...assuming they were the same HP comparable boats.

You will find your answer under the same heading as which vehicle is best, Ford, Chevy, Honda, GMC, etc etc....all luck and opinions......

Got to love discussions where people quote longevity of ICE motors in calendar years.

dingbat said:

Got to love discussions where people quote longevity of ICE motors in calendar years.

Click to expand...

could say 5000 hours. to many in the midwest where they used the boat 2-3 times a year, that is 50-100 years. to commercial guys, that is 3 years

Something smells like Al.

Oh no Mr. Bill. Not AI.

He hasn't posted since his advertising post got cleaned up and not answering my question so it does smell funny.

No, "Al" - like the nickname for "Albert"
He was a good friend, but the guy rarely showered.
Al stunk.

If and I do have a vintage outboard from the 50's it is a mercury, after that I was an evinrude guy. I have owned two Honda outboards, can honestly say I have only had 1 motor fail and that was abuse using an old motor to pull skis and tubes.