Malibu XTI's

Anyone have one of these? Specifically the 23XTI. Pros, cons etc? Found a good deal on one.

My buddy bought an '03 that he loves. He'd been in my D215 and liked the layout so that helped make his decision.
The resale is a bit harder than on the v-drives but that is reflected in the price. You can weight them really well with people and I like the separate seating areas. Biggest plus is more rear facing seats. The 23 has a wider aisle than the 21 I think which makes it easier traveling back and forth.
The XTI was my second choice on new boats so I obviously like the idea.

Not sure if you found a deal on used or new but Bakes in Seattle has 2 2007 XTI's I bet they would make a deal on.

I have a good friend with one. The wakeboard wake isnt bad with extra sacks. It has been an impossible task trying to get a surf wake out of it though. We have thrown 4 or 5 600lb sacks at that thing trying to get something out of it and nothing happened.

i have a 2003 xti and like it a lot... there are a few cons though. since it is on a diamond hull, it will make no surfwake. i have has 12 people in the boat and we couldnt make a decent wave. it is definetly a great crossover. over 28 the wake is awesome for the course imo. the wakeboard wake is decent with the tanks, wedge, and a few other people. the seating is awesome... i just put the people i dont like in the back so i dont have to listen to them

Thats funny. I have actually found a 23lsv that I am looking seriously at too. Is the Monsoon engine large enough for that boat?

our first 'Bu was a 21' Xti
great boat
we like our VLX much much more

with the direct drive boats having the engine mid ship, the seating is broken up into sections

the VLX and LSV have seating as a "pit", providing for a much more social boat

when I see posts about the "cross over" boats, most write about the wake and handling......that's why I made mention of the seating

we didn't realize that it was an issue until we went out in the VLX the first time

also, the engine noise was greater in the Xti
......that also led to a more isolated feeling for the driver

the 23' might have a different feel, but I would bet that you will be happier with the LSV

Thats kind of what I was thinking too Cliff. Do you know anything about the motors. The LSV I am looking at comes with the monsoon. I see a lot of them have the Hammerhead, or another one I don't remember. Is that engine going to be a dog?

I hear that the Monsoon is good
it was good for my 21' Xti

just re prop it to the 14 pitch and it ought to do fine
we have the hammerhead and love it....the dealer tried to talk us out of it, saying that I would never recoop my cost if I resold

but,he always puts the big engine in his boats.
.....I always go with the big boys....even with the old cars that I have had

others on here or at the Malibucrew.com will testify that the monsoon with the right prop will be just fine

Thanks Cliff. My father told me years ago to never buy an underpowered boat, and it has stuck with me through the years. I am not looking for speed obvously, I have another boat for that, I just want to make sure it won't be a dog out of the hole. The 14 seems to take that out of the mix.

I had a 2005 23 ft XTI, but traded it in for a VLX one year later. The XTI was a fun all around party, skiing, wakeboarding boat, but just took too much weight to make a great boarding wake. The engine (Monsoon) was fine, it actually was a better driving boat than the VLX, but then again that was probably due to it being a direct drive vs. the V-Drive of the VLX. In the end, if you want a good boat for wakeboarding the XTI is fine, but I would go with a V-Drive if your an avid boarder.

i like our 06 23xti, we put a 440 on the opposite side as the driver and a 150 in the compartment behind the driver then the factory ballast and power wedge at 1/2. with 2 people in the boat it makes an awesome wake and with 10 people even better. the nice thing about it is that you can put more people in the back of the boat. ive never ridden behind a vlx but im satisfied with the wake behind the xti and im still goin as big as behind a lsv. and like mentioned above the more rear facing seating is a nice thing.