New Four-stroke Outboards introduced by Honda and Suzuki

by Andy Adams on 20 Feb 2010 At the 2010 Miami International Boat Show, both Honda and Suzuki introduced new four-stroke outboard models.

US National Sales and Marketing manager Alan Simmons took the podium in the Honda display to announce their new 115-hp engine, the BF 115. It will be available this North American summer.

The BF 115 is derived from the in-line four-cylinder 2.4 L dual overhead cam engine used in Honda's award-winning Accord automobiles. The features on this new engine include Honda's exclusive Boosted Low-Speed Torque [BLAST] system and a high-performance gear case which combine to deliver a strong hole-shot while Lean Burn Control provides best-in-class fuel efficiency at cruise. Specifically, the new BF 115 reduces fuel consumption by 20% over their previous model.

The new Honda BF 115 is CARB 3-Star rated.

Five years ago at the worldwide press announcement of their 150 and 175 hp four stroke outboards, Suzuki Marine promised to maintain an aggressive pace of new product development. Since then, Suzuki has introduced new models every year.

At last year's Miami boat show, Suzuki introduced the lightweight DF 60 and a totally new DF 8 and DF 9.9 models. Now, in 2010 Suzuki is continuing on this pace with the introduction of their new DF 40 and DF 50 new generation four-stroke outboard motors.

Both of these new outboards are based on Suzuki's in-line three-cylinder dual overhead cam engine with 941 cc of displacement.

Initial tests indicate that these new generation outboards use 23% less fuel than the previous 40 and 50 hp models especially in the cruising range where the engine is used the majority of the time. Suzuki engineers also report that the DF 40 and DF50 are 6% faster on top speed and 25% quicker than previous models.