The design resurfaced, and Strang and Wynne presented the plan to Kiekhaefer, but he rejected it. Rather than abandoning the idea again, Wynne left Mercury and filed a patent for the design after a falling out with Kiekhaefer. He then sold the rights to — you guessed it — Volvo Penta. The announcement by Volvo motivated Kiekhaefer to embrace the new sterndrive model, and so he asked Strang, who was still with Mercury, to develop a Mercury version of the sterndrive.
From that day forward, the two companies, Volvo and Mercury, would compete for the sterndrive market share. Having gotten its start in the s, Penske-owned Ilmor Engineering began as an innovative manufacturer of high-performance engines for the car-racing industry. Responsible for engines that won iconic races across various series, including Indy racing and Formula One, Ilmor started stirring the waters in the marine industry in the early s.
For the next decade, Ilmor became a leading provider of both racing and recreational boat engines that provide enviable power and outstanding performance, including a new generation of MV10 aquatic products that brought multiple winners across the finish line in several boat racing series.
In , Ilmor started producing MV8 engines for recreational and towboat use, manufacturing over 10, in just five years. With another company that originally produced auto engines joining the ranks of Mercury Mercruiser and Volvo Penta in the marine industry, the pros and cons of relying on automotive engines as the basis for boat engines deserve further discussion.
New, lightweight high-tech engine blocks have had an impact on the auto industry, and now, sterndrives are bringing these same benefits to the boating industry. What are the benefits that come with these new and improved sterndrives? Quite a few:. A lightweight build is ideal for sterndrives. Sterndrives, however, are closing the gap with lightweight aluminum motors that offer all the perks of a sterndrive. They also come with a never-before-seen weight. Its lightweight build also opens the doors for diesel sterndrives, which get the ultimate gas mileage.
All sterndrives are seeing an improvement in their gas mileage. Advances in fuel efficiency in the auto industry have enabled sterndrive manufacturers to add technology that improves gas mileage — sometimes even outdoing outboards at cruising speeds.
For better or worse, the catalytic converter requirement is a bonus for the eco-friendliness that sterndrives offer. They produce fewer emissions than outboards, and with the continuous developments in reducing carbon footprints, the eco-friendly advantage of sterndrives is here to stay. Over time, Mercury has become a firm believer that the disadvantages of marinizing auto engines outweigh the advantages, leading them to build marine sterndrive engines from scratch — this is a significant difference between Volvo Penta and Mercruiser.
These disadvantages have been present for a while, but technology is why Mercury decided to craft their sterndrive engines from scratch, instead of converting their auto engines. Each of them works with a specific drive system, with some offering you a choice of different drives. Volvo remains percent committed to marinizing auto engines. The company cites leveraging the auto industry, and its continual advances in fuel efficiency, performance, torque and reliability, as the primary reason for its decision.
As General Motors continues to develop innovative engines, Volvo continues to marinize them, introducing many of those cutting-edge technologies to the boating industry. These advancements can continue to be found in the Aquamatic sterndrive and the drive systems offered by Volvo. This name should sound familiar — Aquamatic was the name Volvo gave to its first modern sterndrive when it was released back in While a lot has changed since then, this sterndrive continues to cater to the same crowd of boaters that want reliability and performance.
Aquamatic is an excellent choice for watersport enthusiasts and those looking for a leisure cruise on the water.
Volvo insists that all Aquamatics come with robust, low-end torque, exhilarating high-end power and superior mid-range response. In this motor, Volvo rotated the design degrees, causing the counter-rotating props to pull the boat through the water. This design results in a few fundamental differences, especially for those who enjoy watersports.
You have the potential to go faster, without losing maneuverability. The engine is connected to a drive unit that is attached to the rear, vertical, wall of the transom. What makes sterndrives different than a true inboard engine is that the drive unit can be raised and lowered. By contrast, an inboard has a fixed prop shaft beneath the boat that cannot be elevated.
As the name implies, the propellers on the drive unit are forward-facing which makes the propulsion system more conducive for things like wakesurfing since there are no exposed propellers off the rear of the boat.
But, as with conventional sterndrive engines, the drive unit of the Forward Drive is mounted on the transom — not underneath the boat.
This suggests that, regardless of which brand you choose, most boaters will be happy with their purchase. However, each brand does have some unique strengths and weaknesses as will be discussed next. A key strength of MerCruiser is its reliability 9.
Several owners commented that they have not had any major issues after years of ownership. While the brand did not get great ratings for fuel economy, a few recent owners did provide positive comments in this regard.
Perhaps this is an area that has been improved in recent models. Below are representative comments from MerCruiser owners regarding the reasons for their overall satisfaction:. As with MerCruiser, Volvo owners are also satisfied with the reliability of their engine.
And, as one owner noted, finding authorized service centers can be an issue in some areas as they are likely less abundant than MerCruiser dealers. In addition to asking boaters to rate their engine, we also asked which brand s they would consider and the one brand they would prefer if purchasing another boat. This gives us an indication of customer loyalty or commitment. Since the number of MerCruiser and Volvo owners in our sample was about the same, we would expect brand consideration and preference to likewise be about equal if MerCruiser and Volvo had the same level of commitment.
But that is not what we observed in our survey. About a quarter of respondents were undecided. So why the slight preference for MerCruiser? Typically everyone services Merc and fewer service Volvo Pros and cons of both. Its harder to find people to work on volvo penta's.
I love Volvo superior designs of their bolt on assemblies. Hydraulic fluid storage tank on the outside of the transom. Just above the water line. Perfect for dealers to service rapidly. I can only say that all of my Mercruiser 5. Just replace a worn out part as needed. Fuel filter. Oil changes. Not even the rubber exhaust hoses. You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Paste as plain text instead.
Only 75 emoji are allowed. Display as a link instead. Clear editor. Upload or insert images from URL. Reply to this topic Start new topic. Recommended Posts. Posted August 4, Link to post Share on other sites. Take a look at this Wonder when it was written since they talk about the XDP drives and how great they are.
Shepherd Posted August 6, Posted August 6, I have both companies parts DVD's loaded on my computer I don't really like the shift quality on an Alpha 1 vs. Moe 2 Posted August 7, Posted August 7, Posted August 8, Dabend Posted May 8, Posted May 8, Phillbo Posted May 8, I have a Marinemax near me and Monterey realer. I believe Marinemax probably services Volvo.
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