Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

[IvanJ]

Soon I'll buy a new outboard motor for my fiberglass boat, used in river/freshwater.

I know that both H&Y are good motors, but is there any particular drawbacks? I've read some negative feedbacks in forums for Honda 8 and 9.9 that disturbed me (hard to start, some plastic parts brake easily, etc.)

Reliability is what I need the most and don't have money to change the motors every other year or buy the expensive parts.

Thanks!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

location and ease to get to service center, would mean a lot in my choice.

 

[IvanJ]

Re: Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

location and ease to get to service center, would mean a lot in my choice.

... and basically, that's the only difference?

Well, we don't have any official service center for neither honda nor yamaha. It's the same I guess, with yamaha having marginally better unofficial support.

 

[DRIFTER_016]

Re: Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

I work at a fishing in Canada and can offer a little advise.
Our motors are 30 horse and we have run Mercury, Yamaha and Honda 4strokes. The motors still in service are the Yamahas and Mercs. Why? We found that the lower units in the Hondas were weaker and had more problems.
If you are set on either a Yammi or Honda, I would go with the yamaha.
The Merc 4 stokes are also very decent motors, so if there is a Merc dealer near you you might want to consider one of them. Our Mercs have held up extremely well with few if any problems.

 

[IvanJ]

Re: Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have an old Honda 7,5 almost 10 years (I guess the motor is from late 70's era) and never ever experienced anything bad. It's a true workhorse - never changed the impeller or any other part, except usual oil changes.

That's why I wanted Honda 10hp in the first place... I'm familiar with their motors, but don't know how reliable are they now in 10hp engines.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Honda or Yamaha 9.9?

No difference in reliability. Either one will make you happy, but I will let you in on a little secret. Buy the one your gut instincts tell you to buy. Because if you buy the other one and have any problem at all, you will end up telling yourself it is a POS and that you made a mistake. It has been my experience that people who buy what they want enjoy their engines a lot more than people who settle for something they think is second best.