Personal Watercraft Buying Guide (With Super-Shredding Video!)

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• jet ski
• personal watercraft
• buyers guide
• Kawasaki
• Sea-Doo
• yamaha

The past decade has seen a radical change in the typical personal watercraft enthusiast—and the machine he or she rides. Once driven by athletic action-sport nuts looking for a challenge, PWCs are now a toy for the entire family. Comfort and stability have become just as important as performance. So it's not surprising that more versatile three-passenger models account for 80 percent of PWC sales, while sportier two-passenger models that dominated the market a decade ago have all but vanished from showrooms. Propulsion systems have changed too, switching from antisocial two-stroke engines (which were noisy, dirty and smelly) to high-tech four-strokers that are some of the quietest and cleanest powerplants on the water today. One thing that hasn't changed: A PWC costs a fraction of what a full-size runabout does. It's also easier to trailer and fits in a standard garage. To get a better understanding of the typical features of a modern PWC, we disassembled a 2008 WaveRunner FX Cruiser SHO, an all-new model from Yamaha that delivers power and style in the high-performance cruiser class.

1. RE: Personal Watercraft Buying Guide (With Super-Shredding Video!)
I've ben riding supercharged pwc's since 2003 nd have ridden many makes and models. The new Yamaha SHO was a ski I looked at before purchasing a Kawi Ultra 250. The reason? The Yamaha doesn't have enough storage space up front for me and the Seadoo doesn't handle the open ocean rough water as well. But all three are well made, real fast PWC'S. And I do wish my Kawisaki had cruise control like the Yamaha an a built in place for a gps unit like the Seadoo. It's a buyers paradise right now. But remember, these suprcharged ski's are not maintence free.

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