Took a nice ride this evening in my buddys' 2004 Donzi 28ft zx. It is powered with twin 350 mag MPI 5.7s with Bravo XZ drives. Has a stepped hull, captains choice exhaust, Latham power steering. Running 23 pitch Mirage plus props. Heres my take on it, Rides better than my 87 223ls, but not dramatically better, Speed was 67 GPS. 72 on the speedo. Not much more cockpit room. Actually, a little less between the bolster seats and rear bench. Does jump right on plane. But my biggest gripe, is why a boat that is so expensive, not have any style or character. Its just a fiberglass tub with some nice gaffrig gauges, some polished aluminum shift and throttle handles. no style, just all white with some vinyl graphics and a touch of purple vinyl interior trim. My pos 87 has more style and class than this newer model Donzi. Makes me feel better about owning an ole bird! Seems like the few performance v-hulls I've been around, nothing holds a candle to Formula!!! The Few Formulas I've seen, always are way nicer featured and styled boats!

This is gonna be good...

Seems like some boats go up in price down in quality and the older stuff is still around and just as good as it ever was IMO

Well well well... this is the kind of thread that can easily evolve into a full-fledged flamefest; "style" is such a subjective quality that everyone has a firm opinion what it means and no two people think exactly alike.

My personal taste in boats is pretty much the same as that of many people on this particular subforum - I prefer Formulas over most other brands. Not really brand loyalty but having owned a few boats since early 80's, I may be a bit biased towards build quality, fit and finish and especially hull design and Formula is just one of the manufacturers whose products meet my criteria. I'm NOT particularly fond of Formula graphics and color choices, my current boat looks like a herd of My Little Ponies threw up on it, but that doesn't really matter - paint and upholstery can always be changed and I just might do that. I don't really care that much for the brand either, a suitable model is much more important; to some people one brand is by far the only one they'll consider, to some it's just one of the preferred brands. It works both ways, another one of mine is Fletcher, even though I wouldn't be caught dead driving (or even seen in) 80's GT Arrowbolt.

Donzi? Why not, but not because it says "DONZI" on the side, nor any Donzi model would do, but I definitely wouldn't mind a 38 ZRC, for example. 28 ZX? Maybe, but I have to agree with you personally and subjectively, preferring 223 to it on many levels.

Formula makes an OK production boat. ALL HAIL FORMULA...

I don't know if it was a fluke but I had the oppurtunity to put a new stereo in a 98 Donzi 33zx a few year back. The rigging on this boat was very poor in comparison to my 311. It was very suprising to me at the time, boat had 500hps. The thing that stood out the most was wiring terminations and lack of clamps.

I am not trying to start a flame war in no way, just more or less posting observations. Everytime I look at another performance vhull on my lake, I'm just surprised how basic they are. Basically, was wanting to see if others opinions coincided with mine. Although I understand it may be a bit biased around here, seeing as it is the FORMULA forum...lol

really it's about the sum of the parts available to anyone and how they are integrated
how much thought goes into summing the parts
and the quality of the execution
Formula's niche is doing a damn nice job with exactly the above
an air of class and well thought out/well done integration
fitted into relatively timeless shapes and lines

and lets not forget customer support practically second-to-none

I have a friend that has and bought new back in 2007 a 38Donzi ZR w/700 Mercs. It is one fast boat but he has had one problem after another since new and all due to the quality of the build. And guess what kind of response and support he has received from the manufacture? Lets just say it's not what Formula has provided me over the last 7 yrs on a used boat that I purchased at 5 yrs old. Formula has exceeded my expectations beyond what I could imagine and now I'm looking to purchase my next Formula.

Post it in DONZI section and am sure you found different answers!!