Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

Being fairly new to the boat stuff, I am curious as to why the Volvo Penta 496 is looked so down upon. Also, is the GM Vortec 496 w/525 HP looked down upon as well. If you were to build a new boat, would you consider VP or GM Vortec power? Why/Why not?

Everyone here talks about how expensive the Mercruiser stuff is, and I agree. Is the VP or Vortec a less expensive alternative?

I found online a place selling the Vortec 525 for $14,995.00. I'm assuming that is WAY below a Mercury Racing 525.

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

My Vortechs were real strong!!!

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

Looked down upon by who?
People who only read race mags?

Looked down on by Mercury marketing, for sure.

I would love Volvo penta power. So would many others who have exposure to boats that goes beyond racing marketing.

In fact, if I had some extra ching I would have already put Volvos in my boat.

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

I have to agree. Mercruiser has a stranglehold on the high performance market. It's just too hard(and costly) for someone to jump in and take some market share.

The motors are very similar, but I would take a Volvo drive over a Bravo any day!

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

I put Volvo's 600DPX's (no longer available) in my boat instead of Mercury's 575Sci's (also no longer available), saved myself $37,000, and never looked back. Vote with your wallet. There's a reason why Volvo Penta is #1 among independent (ie, non-Brunswick) boat builders.

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

It just seems that the few things I have read on here about the VP have been negative. I can say that I have read almost nothing on the Vortec engines.

How are the VP drives with regards to power handling? Do they seem to be as fragile as the Bravo?

Based on Fund's qoute, I guess one could liken it to the AMD/Intel procesor situation. It is proven that the AMD stuff is euqal in every way and better in many ways to the Pentium, yet you still find tons of people who say AMD sucks.

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

I haven't read too much negative about Volvo on OSO.
The people around here know the real deal. Not just the hype.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...8&page=1&pp=20

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

Great AMD/Intel analogy! That hits it on the head.

The link that fund posted has some good info on it.

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

There is nothing wrong with a volvo penta But for service and resale mercury is the best choice

Re: Why Not Volvo Penta or Vortec?
 

What site did you find the pricing on the vortech engines???