If they did, would everyone still be building them?

cable steering and Bennett trim tabs. cheap technology. boat spends long periods of time at a fixed, moderate throttle setting. get a carb jetted right and fuel inj is not a big difference. and there are a LOT more ways it can break and leave you trying to get on plane with 1 engine, or paddling if you only had one engine in the first place.

IMO, the carbed HP500 is a great engine and is pretty simple to diagnose/work on (if) something goes wrong. One of my friends bought our 1996 27 Fountain with an HP500 in it. It now has over 400 hrs on it and other than a valve spring/valve seal change at ~ 235 hrs, it still fires up almost instantly, and runs very strong. A saying my friend has about ECM driven engines .... "when they work, there is nothing like them, and, when they don't work, there is nothing like them" :D . There are only 2 or 3 simple things that set off an alarm on a HP500, not hundreds like on the 496's or 525's and sometimes even the best folks can't figure out why the alarms go off. Mercury still makes carbed engines, but now they call them "turn key start" or "TKS" engines. Look at the 4.3 TKS, it is a 190 hp carb engine.

What???

It was a response to the question of carb motors being seen as old technology, so many of the big engines on here, and most high performance aftermarket being built are still carb until you get to the extremes.

500 hp!

hp 500! no question!!

doesnt price and brand of boat matter? Along with over all condition. rather have a nice boat that goes slower than a crappy one that goes faster.

He said they were the exact same model year and make of boat. So unless the one with the hp500 is ragged out, it is an easy decision.

Blue Motor Hands Down. The HP500 is very reliable, much better on resale. easy to modify and built for performance. The choice is easy, if these are the only differences. Good Luck! Had the carb'd 500HP in a checkmate 3 boats ago, it ran like a raped ape!