New mercury v8 250 or v6 225

[kevin kovach]

Just trying to see if anyone has any experience with the mercury v8 250 or v6 225? I'm in the market to repower and have narrowed it down to suzuki or mercury. I can get a suzuki 225 3.6 liter tomorrow, I know it's a tried and true engine being around since 2006. However it lacks for of the current lean burn technology most new outboards have. But I also came across the Mercury's and they are considerably lighter. 250 v8 comes in at 525lbs and the 225 v6 comes in at 475. While the suzuki I believe is 625lbs and that's the v6. On a small boat like mine, 21ft, that's a big difference in weight. So I was looking to see if anyone has any first hand experience with these, good, bad etc. It's also a one year wait for one if I order it. Suzuki 10 grand cheaper and I could get tomorrow. Thanks in advance for your input.

[hammer4reel]

Suzuki is the Zebco of outboards .

There are huge reasons they are cheaper .
They are by far the worst at getting corroded from salt water use .

The cost if repairs and parts how Suzuki makes you purchase them QUICKLY removes the savings you get in the initial motor price .

.

[Capt. Debbie]

I'm not sure how true that is generally speaking. Obviously anything can happen.

In Florida Sea Tow has been running hundreds of Suzukis365 days a year under very harsh tow conditions. That's 7 days a week largely. That is battle tested. Many reached over 5000 engine hours with only fluid changes.

That's a few years on virtually problem free operation. Largely the group is in the 200hp and up range and all four-strokes.

Suzuki had been a gold standard based upon those results for sea tow. Perhaps the newer ones are poorer? Different sizes are different. I can't speak to that. But 5000 hours on an OB was unheard of 20 years ago. Especially an abused tow engine run in shallow water sucking in sand and ALL salt water operation.

So maybe they are not all bad. Not saying you're wrong hammer. But it may be a model and year specific fault?

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

Suzuki is the Zebco of outboards .

There are huge reasons they are cheaper .
They are by far the worst at getting corroded from salt water use .

The cost if repairs and parts how Suzuki makes you purchase them QUICKLY removes the savings you get in the initial motor price .

.

[Papasown]

Just thinking that 10 Grand buys a lot of fuel, Cap. Good luck on your decision.......Papa