.,New VLX for 2009?

I have heard that Malibu is going to come out with an all new VLX for 2009. Does anybody have the scoop on this yet? I can only imagine how much the price increase will be with an all new flagship model of such a popular boat.

Yes it will be new for 09. The LSV has been re-designed for 08 and when that happens, the VLX follows a year later with a similar redesign.

If its anything like our new LSV, it will be one crazy boat!

MM i cant wait, we are going to see how the x-star does this season and that determines whether we drop $$ in the x-star with wetsounds, wraps, subs etc. Or we sell it and drop $$ on a new vlx.

Twitch I think I already know the answer to that question... Especially after all the problems you've had, and poor service.

Malibu usually will re-vamp a boat every 4 years.

A well equipped VLX is about the only boat I would move out of my Sanger into, maybe a Tige and of course a 237. I love the look of MC's especially the X-Star but it just feels like a crap shoot with those guy's. You either have a load of problems or they are bricks.

maybe malibu will copy mc with the pickle fork

hopefully not

second not..

That would be the worst possible move imaginable.

Habitual usage of LSD would have to occur in the R&D Dept. for something that catastrophic to happen.

Highly unlikely.

yup malibu has a good thing going by not following the trend to create the pickle fork. nothing wrong with the forks but malibu has done very well in the past by not tryin to imitate what other companies do and keep thier boats clean. although im not sure i like the new all electronic stuff they are doing

Nu just think you could then have copy star while staying on the bu bandwagon

rG if I really wanted to copy the X-Star I'd get a Fake-Star like you...

whats wrong w/ the pickle-fork?
I think its a great innovation and it really doesn't effect anything other than the seating capacity and overall comfort level

I don't think you guys have anything to worry about as far as Malibu going to a pickle fork bow. If they were gonna do it then they would have done it by now. Personally, I enjoy the added pace in the cockpit area that Malibus provide over their pickled counterparts.

Nu Bu i think i know the answer too but maybe not you know, Im really mad at myself for getting all the stereo options when I could've hooked it up with a good sub and WS's but no we had to drop 3k for so so tower speakers, It sat at the fn dealer for 3 weeks being ready to go for 2 and no one called, grrrrr, i still love the look and wake, its just the quality i think, and copes, my friend has an LSV and i dont think hes had much go wrong at all. I love having the rarest boat on the lake, but im thining a blacked out bu would be awesome.

Cope is crap they have the worst customer service they just don't have employees who give a damn. They turn a lot of customers off to boat owner ship when it should be fun.

I dig pickle forks. I think they not only look cool but serve a nice function as well. I'd love to see Sanger put out a pickle fork boat which wouldn't be to tough for them since it's in their heritage. That said I love the standard hull as well.

i dont have anything against the fork, i just think its cool that BU has not gone that way. SCOTT A is right in the fact that most if not all fork boats have less space in the cockpit area and more in the bow. its nice when its 100 plus dergrees out but when its below that and your only rollin with 3 peeps the extra space is better in the cockpit

i was told by a malibu dealership that the change in design will not be drastic. the winshield for example will be split now like the lsv and some minor changes to the details of the tower. Also the hull will change the rep says the hull will produce a more mellow wake in his words. He said that the hard core riders prob will not like it as much as some of he poppiness will not be there.

I find it interesting that the dealer was saying that when that info hasn't been released, suffice to say he/she was speculating nothing more. Info will be released in July.

its a pretty well respected guy thats been at a major chain of dealers for a long long time. he def knows his stuff, but i guess you never know. granted malibu is from cali so they may get some info before its annouced to the public

usually by now the dealers know what the boat will be like if it due to release in early winter/ later summer. although if what soli is sayin that the wake will be more mellow compared to the past vlx's i think it will be a great boat. i like the more mellow wake of the lsv compared to the vertical wake of the vlx

i'm just glad the manufacturers are still building boats in light of our current economy.. should be interesting to see how new boat sales fare this year and next, for all the players..

i hope they only build 20 of these boats. they still need to sell the rest of the 07 and 08's. i think mastercraft has 06's on close out

The pickle fork designs are ugly as sin and Malibu would be crazy to jump on that bandwagon.

I am coming from a Malibu, and I was admittedly not a fan of the picklefork either. The design has grown on me as far as asthetics goes, and function wise, there's no comparison. The bow is huge, and there is more storage than I know what to do with. I think that all boat companies should find their niche, but is seems MC started a design trend, ie: Tige, MB, etc.

the coolest thing about the pickle-fork design is that it's a quick and easy place to store your anchor...

Why does everyone think that Mastercraft was the first to do a pickle fork.

Wasn't Cobalt the first?

Do we have to get into this again?

pickleforks came out in the late 60's early 70's on drag boats and then transgressed into outboard grand prix and offshore racing applications.. MC is towards the very end of a long list of picklefork designs that have been around for over 30 years..

(Message edited by h20jnky on May 28, 2008)

When the 04 23 LSV came out with its design change the 05 VLX followed.

In 08 the 23 LSV was redesigned again, taking many attributes from the 247, plus new dash, windshield and tower. If the 09 VLX follows suit, it should be very close in design to the 08 23 LSV.

yep steward thats exactly what the rep told me it should be a awesome boat with lots of cues from the lsv

"In 08 the 23 LSV was redesigned again, taking many attributes from the 247, plus new dash, windshield and tower. If the 09 VLX follows suit, it should be very close in design to the 08 23 LSV."

Stewart pretty much hit the nail on the head. Like the 23LSV for 08, the 09' VLX has taken many attributes from the 23 and added a little twist, from what I have seen. Should be a very sick boat for sure. Close in design to the 23, but different at the same time.

question about the fork ....

Is the fork a problem you you are in rough waters ?? i mean did the water can pass easily over the bow, specially with the x-star because the bow shape is kind of inclined on the water ???

Since the fork makes a flat area towards the front it actually bounces off the water instead of cutting through it. This keeps the bow on top of the wave instead of cutting through it and allowing water to go over the top. Not sure if I explained that right but that is what I have seen.

The picklefork drivers I've seen are habitual powerturners.

I think that is more because most of the people that buy them are idiots. I am starting to get the impression that most people that buy Mastercrafts buy them because of the status and don't actually board or if they do they are beginners. I might burn in hell because I have always been a die hard Mastercraft guy but after seeing my roomate's 08 VLX I may be changing my thought process. It is awesome. Push a couple of buttons and in 5 minutes you have full ballast wedge down and are ready to ride behind a top notch wake.

lot to be said about being able to save $40k over a new MC on a boat that offers more factory ballast, reliability, room and comfort.. no dig on xstar but i agree with brett.. it is status.. my buddy who is a core rider, has had nothing but problems with his '07 and his tower is a joke.. looks like it is made out of jello when in rough water.. in addition to his frustration and now having the boat for sale, he had to go and spend an additional $1500 on fly high sacks and pumps to install additional ballast just to get the wake to proportion.. x's are a dime a dozen on our lake and half the time it is just some newbie or dudes cruising for chicks with all the gear and shwag and an overpayed for stereo system doing a little riding every now and then and usually destroying the good stretches of water because they are trying to surf and don't know any better.. you guys might remember the thread where we were considering an X2 and drove it last week.. our minds have changed. to each his own.. MC is a decent boat, way overpriced but a decent boat if you want status.. i am sticking with BU and will let my riding skills achieve the status.. end of rant.

I felt you might have a change of heart ManFox, good for you, and good luck on finding that new boat.

Brett and Manfox i agree, atleast now I know im not the only one with many problems on my 07 x-star, none yet this year, but only 2 rides, we've got our fingers crossed, if it doesnt hold up, 09 vlx on the way definetly.

did this problems have been corrected on the 08 x-stars ???

Thats what i am wondering. Because its possible that we go for an 09 x-star if they have everything improved from the 07. Not really sure.

you guys need to hop on an '08 MB Tomcat. 2400 stock fills and drains in 60 seconds. The bow is VERY difficult to dunk, is the most incredible rough water ride I've ever been in... oh and MSRP is only 69k. I'd sell you mine for much less with an NVS system! (only selling to get the 2009 version with new graphics and a few design modifications).

Of course, it is a promo boat for me so that is worth mentioning, but it would not change my opinion of the boat at all if was not the case. It's cool to open the left gate on the tank and watch the boat go from level to heavily listing in 60 seconds for surfing!

I do think that everyone has stepped up their game and there are a lot of good boats being made right now...

08 X Stars have tower braces, and for 07 you can get them warrantied. My 08 has been flawless. A couple of points. I would agree that out of the box, a VLX throws a better wake.....but how many of us ride stock ballast? X-Stars have more wake potential. I have owned both, so my opinion is pretty objective I think. Sacked out, and X handles much better than a wedged VLX. I love the pickle fork now for the following reasons, storage, and space. BTW, I have never dunked the front end even with 3 adults in the bow.
I live on a private lake, so the X is used for what it was designed for, wakeboarding. I would agree that there are a lot of posers, but they are not all on X Stars. I have noone to impress, and I ride an X star because I want to. I really don't care what anybody else thinks. Most of my neighbors don't like it, but they are slalom skiers, so whatever.
I think that you would be hard pressed to get a Bu 40K less than the comparable MC as well.

I love how the boat that's "built to a higher standard" needs braces be added to its tower to stop it from shaking so damn much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2ygM9xpT0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieA_I-PV-0s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj90SSBI-K8&feature=related

Man that Schitt would piss me off if I paid 20k for a boat let alone 80 or 90k.

They have some awesome engineering built into those boats .

good stuff Grant.


It cracks me up every time i'm driving down the road behind a MC. Those towers are like wet noodles.


I'm saving those links for the next time I have a customer shopping Bu' against a MC. Good find.

(Message edited by baschralper on May 30, 2008)

I was pretty scared last year after delivering Mastercraft's to my customers and driving behind them. One of them had 4 MC tower speakers and the other had 4 Pro-80's. Holy crap. Overall it is a very poor design.

On the good side the swivel racks are the best by far.

wow i was close to buy a 40th anniv. but now i am scared i think i will revised my option and buy a SAN 210 2008 !

^^^^good choice

The Xstar tower is beefier and sturdier than the other boats.

if the MC tower is your definition of "beefier" and "sturdier" then let me save you some money and sell you our old ten foot pole and a 5 section slalom line..

The Xstar tower is different than the rest of the boats in the mastercraft line if I am not mistaken. That is all I meant.

That's funny. All that guy has to do is turn the colar at the bottom of the tower to tighten it back up. Just came loose.

Yeah, silly him for not knowing he just bought an $80K tinker toy.

must need to tighten them up before you tow them down the freeway??

MC should put that in the owners manual.

here are some spy photos of the 09 VLX


http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15120

Any ideas if this would change the VTX as well?

The spy photos were removed. Anybody else have them?

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/585999.html?1212427099

What is the deal with the throttle control going all the way down like that third clip there? I noticed on my friends X1 that to get max throttle you have to almost stand up to get your arm in the right position to push the throttle to max position. Are all wire drive throttle's like that ie Malibu, SAN, Supra? Doesn't seem like ergonomically it very works well. Couldn't they eliminate a little of the movement on it and make it just parallel to the floor?

Bu's dont have wire throttles I believe on all their models.

I mean wire as electronic, sorry. I think most are all electronic throttle's anymore, correct me if I'm wrong

malibu has been drive by wire sence 07 or 06. but there is still a shift cable that went away in 08.

Ah I see. I test drove a VLX in 06' that was Throttle By Wire as he called it, with the electronics instead of throttle cable. I wasnt for sure. But after all that, you figure they could dial it in so you aren't having to push it clear to the floor to get full throttle?