Did the term "THE BIG THREE" influence your buying

EWATER · Criminal Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 75

I'm just curious on how many new ski boat owners and others had this term influence them in their decision?

Stanfield · Outlaw Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 131 City: Dallas

Not one single bit. In fact, it kinda turned me off to them.

EWATER · Criminal Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 75

I love that boat!

EWATER · Criminal Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 75

woops....that is the one in your profile.

Phaeton · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 572 City: Redding

Nope but I know a few people that wish they didn't own one of the big three after riding in or behind our boat.

SouthWaker · Posted: Mar 24, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject:

If i was in the buyers shoes it wouldn't mater to me, Cala-Air all they way! I think they are under rated, and someone has a orange one on here or either wakeworld that is sick! Twisted Evil

garveyj · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 877 City: Savage, MN

did not matter to us - infact we could buy 2-3 of our boats for the price of the "Big Three's"

NAW · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 5:30 am Post subject:

You'd have to define 'Big 3'

-Top 3 in manufactured boats per year?
-Top 3 in registered boats per year?
-Top 3 in sales dollars per year?
-Top 3 most 'well known' brands?

You may get a different answer from everyone. Just a thought.

Mobe789 · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 5:44 am Post subject:

i think the big 3 are overrated, great bots, awsome wakes, but you can get boats to pump out the same wakes, with the same features for way under 60k for a nautique

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

Was very upset when I learned CC was using GM powerplants so I looked at MC. Unfortunately MC also had GM powerplants so I went back to CC.

Ford, GM, Dodge

krbaugh · Addict Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Posts: 758 City: Edwardsville

There might be an argument made for big 2 but big 3. The next company in line has way fewer boats sold/built/registered than the BIG 2. The numbers are not even close. Not to mention that they are in danger of being over taken by both Fineline and Skiers choice.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

SouthWaker · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 7:36 am Post subject:

Icap im very sorry to hear that. Laughing

I would have a 2001 nautiqe in my driveway and could have saved about 7k, but i had to have the GM motor or else i would have been banned from the family.

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

Yep Wakebrad....only options from CC are PCM.....at least to my knowledge.

Hell yes the Big Three influenced my purchase.....EVERYONE from McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger King kept telling me....."Buy the Pro Crappie 175" How do you not listen to the Big Three?

E.J.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

E.J., PCM has blocks from both Ford and GM. My PCM is made by Ford.

jason2454 · Outlaw Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 240 City: austin

I think it would influence anyone who hasnt really demoed wakeboard boats before. Theres going to be the brands that everyone considers the best. People might say they are overrated but thats just because they cant afford them. So of course when buying our boat, we demoed the big 3 and about 3 other brands of boats. As far as I noticed, they deserved to be the big 3. Performance wise they had the edge(nothing huge but it was there) and from a luxory aspect the differences were night and day. I would put supra and tige up in the big 3 to.. probably just as nice of boats but they dont sell enough to justify them as the big 3. I could tell as soon as i stepped into a mobius that it was a much cheaper boat than the x30 or LSV.

krbaugh · Addict Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Posts: 758 City: Edwardsville

PCM is not made by FORD! They are a small company that converts engine blocks for use in boats

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

Truth be told.....I didn't even look HARD at anything but the VLX, X2 and SAN. I think there was "some" name recognition in there......Hell, I am just like that.... Previous boat was a Cobalt.... The nice thing about buying something with HIGH name recognition, it is easy to dump it when you want something else.

But I will break down the other options.... Skiers Choice...not an option....it was personal. Centurion.....actually love the boat and wake, but my friend has had SO MANY issues with his....just didn't really want to go that route. Sanger.....called Petersen to ask about the 215 and when they expected to be getting one in to look at/test ride.....told they would get back with me.....over a year later....no call back???? That is the roundup of the SLC inboard market.

E.J.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

krbaugh, if you're talking to me then .. duh. I own a PCM. PCM (back in '92 when my boat was built) converted blocks from both Ford and GM (they are both in my owners manual). I was curious as to whether they stopped converting Ford blocks and now are only using GM.

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

Again, was under the impression that the "current" PCM offerings were all Chevy powerplants... I could be wrong...would not be the first time...

E.J.

krbaugh · Addict Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Posts: 758 City: Edwardsville

Ahh my bad I read it toooo fast Embarassed

NAW · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 8:15 am Post subject:

If you're looking at units manfuctured annually:

1 & 2: Mastercraft and Malibu flip flop every year just about.

3: Skier's Choice

4: Correct Craft

5: Fineline (Centurion) <---Predict they will be #4 next year.

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

OH forgot about Tige.... Same dealer as my boat and previous boat.... Looked at them, boss didn't like.

E.J.

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

Wakebrad

CC switched to all GM powerplants in 03 I think. Something about drive by wire and emissions.

logan · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 9:54 am Post subject:

E.J., I argue your statement...

Wendy's in the big 3? Dude that is so Jack In The Box or Sonic I mean really, the classic triple is good and all, but they dont out do the sourdough jack...... Laughing

The "BIG 3" wasn't a factor for us. We didn't buy our boat so everybody would say, " Oh hey look, they have a super air, they are rich!" We looked at every brand (not centurion, if you want to know why, PM me I'm not gonna bash on them to everybody anymore) and when we look at Nautique it was like WOW, behind Nautique was Malibu, and behind them was Supra, MC dealers were idiots and wouldn't ever call us about a quote, my dad walked in and said " I want the x-2 right now, put it on the water, I'll pay cash right now." The guy's response was, "Let me get your phone number I can't get you a price or put it on the water cuz my boss isn't here." Your salesman should be able to handle it, they called us like 6 months later....

Rheyzar · Outlaw Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 196 City: Nor, Cal

The Big Two influenced my buying.

1 - How I felt about it after riding in and behind it.
2 - Price

Rheyzar -

Edited for specification of Big Two, being numbers 1 and 2 on my list. Wink

lanceuga33 · Outlaw Joined: 16 Oct 2003 Posts: 143 City: McDonough

Who is the Big 2? Because I'm 95% sure Malibu out sold everybody according to recent #'s I saw. #'s I saw went

1. Malibu
2. MC
3. CC
4. Centurion

Centurion is getting close to taking over that #3 spot.

To answer the question when I purchased my boat I was hesitant just because all you see in the southeast is MC and CC. I could get a lot of feedback on those boats but not much about Centurion. I went ahead and bought the Centurion and could never be happier with my purchase. The next boat i get will be a Centurion.

sperbet · Outlaw Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 208 City: Truckee

when the big 3 is mentioned it is not specific to number of units produced and sold. They are the regarded as the top three ski/wake boat manufacturers. It really does not have much to do with production and sales numbers. You can't compare a centurion to a CC just because they might produce and sell as many units.

logan · Posted: Mar 25, 2005 1:38 pm Post subject:

lanceuga33, centurion may be coming up to big 3 in sales....... but that's it, Big 3 is of the 3 best manufacturers. Not in sales terms,but quality.... glad to see you are happy with your boat though.

tdkosta · Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 3

Correct Craft is moving into a larger plant, if they haven't already. Expect production and sales to grow.

Competetion is great it makes products better.

Phaeton · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 572 City: Redding

jason2454, I disagree. I could afford any boat when we purchased ours and we went with what we felt was the best. More room, better performance, best ballast system, wake , warranty, etc.

SuBjEkTeD37, What makes you think that the big three has anything to do with the best manufacturers? It has always been the sales of the top three manufactures. Nothing to do with quality, warranty or performance. There are a ton of people who love there Sangers but you will not see them at the top because they are a small company who only produce a small number of boats per year.

tdkosta, Expect sales to decline just like they have been if they don't produce a larger more family orientated boat.

sperbet · Outlaw Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 208 City: Truckee

the big three has never been the top three in sales. the big three has always been bu, mc and cc. It has nothing to do with sales numbers. Centurion will never be considered one of the big three even if they are the number one producer of boats in the country. I don't see the current big three changing anytime soon. They are the big three for a reason. They make the best, highest quality boats.

Phaeton · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 572 City: Redding

sperbet, back your statement up. Hydrodyne was once considered the highest quality boat out there in there day.

wakechick79 · Outlaw Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 228 City: Virginia Beach

jason2454 · Outlaw Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 240 City: austin

[quote="Phaeton"][b]jason2454[/b], I disagree. I could afford any boat when we purchased ours and we went with what we felt was the best. More room, better performance, best ballast system, wake , warranty, etc.
[/quote]

thats just your preference. I am saying i personally noticed a big difference between the "big 3" and most of the rest of the boats we demoed. I think this would be the case for the majority of people shopping for boats. However there are boats out there that are very comparable to the big 3 but, you arent going to pick up a new, 40k boat that compares to a 60k "big 3" boat. The other boats i felt compared to these top brands were the tige's and supras that also cost very close to 60k. Now if you are only comparing the boats performance wise then thats different.