TOHATSU GURU
Admiral
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 6,164
Re: E-tec 75 or TLDi90
We sell Tohatsu and Nissan labeled engines. And up until each of the other brands stopped allowing engines to be shipped, we were also an authorized Mercury, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki dealership. I have no loyalty to ANY brand of engine. This is just a business that I have been in for 40 years. Our dealership was started 58 years ago and we have been around long enough to have an idea as to the difference between slanted advertising (all brands), mindless emotional commitment to a brand and reality. <br /><br />Every brand produces a bomb one year and a gem the next. It's "The circle of life." I am asked daily "what brand would you buy?" My answer is usually the same...They are all good, some models, in some brands are better suited than others to a particular task. For what its worth, I was raised that OMC was the best outboard money could buy. That just isn't true any more. No one brand has a lock on being the best. Cherry picking a stat off of a single model engine and touting it as proof of its godhood is lunacy. <br /><br />Let me end this on a positive note. E-Tec, by all indications, can be a good choice for someone. As I have said repeatedly, there are no indications of systematic failures. However, it is not the "best" at anything except meeting EPA requirements. As E-Tec develops a track record (It does not have a large enough and long enough basis yet) it may very well prove to be better than anyone elses. But as of right now that jury is out and will stay out for years. Would I buy an E-Tec?....sure. I would buy any brand of outboard if it met my needs. I.E. Price, weight, performance, warranty, reputation of the servicing dealer and most important of all....reliabilty. <br /><br />Emotional involvement with a brand is pointless....I just saw a Ford commercial on TV. They are best. Wait, Honda says they are best. Whats this? Chevy is saying they are the best. Like everything else in the world....it's the one you wind up with, that you don't have problems with, that determines what the best is. I actually bought a little Daewoo four years ago and it was flawless up until six months ago. Would I buy another one...maybe, maybe not. Those first three and half years of zero problems were great. Now there seems to be a lot of little things developing problems. By the way, it had the highest CSI of any car in its class when I purchased it and there were no horror stories about them. Kind of makes you think....doesn't it?
We sell Tohatsu and Nissan labeled engines. And up until each of the other brands stopped allowing engines to be shipped, we were also an authorized Mercury, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki dealership. I have no loyalty to ANY brand of engine. This is just a business that I have been in for 40 years. Our dealership was started 58 years ago and we have been around long enough to have an idea as to the difference between slanted advertising (all brands), mindless emotional commitment to a brand and reality. <br /><br />Every brand produces a bomb one year and a gem the next. It's "The circle of life." I am asked daily "what brand would you buy?" My answer is usually the same...They are all good, some models, in some brands are better suited than others to a particular task. For what its worth, I was raised that OMC was the best outboard money could buy. That just isn't true any more. No one brand has a lock on being the best. Cherry picking a stat off of a single model engine and touting it as proof of its godhood is lunacy. <br /><br />Let me end this on a positive note. E-Tec, by all indications, can be a good choice for someone. As I have said repeatedly, there are no indications of systematic failures. However, it is not the "best" at anything except meeting EPA requirements. As E-Tec develops a track record (It does not have a large enough and long enough basis yet) it may very well prove to be better than anyone elses. But as of right now that jury is out and will stay out for years. Would I buy an E-Tec?....sure. I would buy any brand of outboard if it met my needs. I.E. Price, weight, performance, warranty, reputation of the servicing dealer and most important of all....reliabilty. <br /><br />Emotional involvement with a brand is pointless....I just saw a Ford commercial on TV. They are best. Wait, Honda says they are best. Whats this? Chevy is saying they are the best. Like everything else in the world....it's the one you wind up with, that you don't have problems with, that determines what the best is. I actually bought a little Daewoo four years ago and it was flawless up until six months ago. Would I buy another one...maybe, maybe not. Those first three and half years of zero problems were great. Now there seems to be a lot of little things developing problems. By the way, it had the highest CSI of any car in its class when I purchased it and there were no horror stories about them. Kind of makes you think....doesn't it?
