Opinions on the 2007 Malibu VRide?

Well, I've got one on order. Just wondering what everyone thinks of the boat and perhaps the options you'd all be looking for. This is my first boat and boy did I dive in deep!

Thanks for the feedback!

Shawn

You ordered it and now you want to know about it? j/k, and congrats on the purchase! Depending on where you live, a heater and shower could be worth their weight in gold. Get the wedge and as much ballast as possible, if you don't use them oh well, they will be good for resale. Again, looking at it from a resale perspective, I would get the monsoon 340 upgrade. I believe that this engine comes with the new cats on it which would be nice for wakesurfing. If you are going to want a bumping stereo, opt to not get anything from the factory as you can get more bang for your buck els where. I personally would never get a boat without a tandem axle trailer, but if you don't tow much or if its only short distances then you could get away with a single axle.

Check out www.themalibucrew.com and do a search and you will get more info then you would ever want to know!

Yeah I know. Saw stars in front of me while I was ordering it!

I've done a bunch of research on it, and it has everything you mentioned other than the 340. Salesman says there is no need for it, but I never did ask how much the upgrade was. Should I not get the kicker 10 inch with amp? I know I could probably find a bit better for the $531, but do I want to go through the trouble of installing it and such? I don't want a concert on the water, just something to have a nice sound to it, and I still have a chance to cancel the sub if I should. It'll have the tandem axle extreme trailer, so no worries there.

Thanks for the input so far!

Shawn

Shawn,
I just picked up my brand new 2007 VRide and put my 10 hours on it in the last week. I came from a 2002 Supra SSV and am absolutely pumped about the new purchase. I did a lot of upgrades and maybe should have gone up to a different model, but I was very happy where the price/options came out. I love the way it looks, the interior is very plush and the wake is great. Malibu really thought this boat through.

I got the 340 (not sure how much of a difference it makes, but I love it). I got the manual free-floating wedge and the 3 tank ballast system. I did the heater, which I thought was silly, but I like it so far. I did the full upgraded stereo. It is insane. 3 rockford fosgate amps, 10 inch sub, tower speakers... very loud and clear. People say you can get better bang for your buck elsewhere, but what stereo shop with finance it in with your boat purchase? Just seemed like at that point, I would rather get it with a good stereo than spending $2500 cash after the fact.

I upgraded boats this year and thought I went a little too much, but this thing is sweet. You will love how it rides inside and behind the boat.

CONGRATS!!

They are great boats. I agree with the stereo comments. It is much cheaper to do it yourself.

Sounds great Mike. Could I ask how much they hit you for in upgrading the engine? I'm thinking about it, but I'm already at $47,000 and would rather not go too much further. But hey, it's only money!

I'm going down there today to make doubly sure I'm getting everything I want on it. I just copied a boat they had on the lot that was sold 30 minutes before I got there.

Oh, and I got the Rockford sub and amp ordered, not a kicker.

Shawn

I want to say the engine was 1200 ???? Not sure. Between 800-1200. We got out the door just under $50k. I wanted to be a few grand less, but we just kept upgrading things. Like I said, we just put the first 10 hours on it. I could not be happier. Taking it in for the first service this week, couple adjustments on things, but this boat is PURE. Great wakeboard boat. Remember, this was their flagship boat in 2004.

340 monsoon for sure!! A MUST!!!

I'm running the 320 and I have no complaints. I've loaded the boat down with people and ballast and I have no problems getting out of the hole. You will be pleased either way you go. I know I may take a hit on resale of the boat but I plan on keeping it a long time because I'm very pleased with it.

Instead of paying 1200.00 for the monsoon. You can reprop the boat for 350.00 The extra power is only needed if you are running 3k in ballast. For comparision Mastercraft runs a 310 stock in a heavier boat, supra and moomba run a 325 in a bigger boat.

$50k for a vride? i thought that was suppose to be their budget boat? at that point how much more to get the vlx?

It is the entry boat, but that is pretty optioned out V-Ride.

i see this all the time - how much to get this or that. these boats have such a huge range to them it is impossible to throw out a number. for what we were looking at and the options we wanted, it seemed to go in a jump of 4-5k. by that i mean.
vride 49k, vtx 53k and vlx 57-58k.

you can get a vride for 40. stripped, not one upgrade on anything and you are out the door. you can get a vlx for 70k+ (silver edition).

we originally were about about 45 for the boat and then we got greedy and threw the upgraded stereo and engine, and you are at 50. like shawn said, it's only money, but it is a boat. judge for yourself what's more important.

vlx is around 60k, give or take a few grand depending on the options. The stripped down v-ride is in the low 40s so when you add some options is gets to the upper 40s in a hurry.

maybe its just me but i would rather a stripped down vlx for $55k then a pimped out vride for $50k

Compare/Contrast a Stripped VLX and a Pimped out vRide please.

what is so much different at that point? 6" of length, a couple on width? I would rather have the best boat I can get for the cheapest amount.

i would take the vlx cause it's a newer hull and looks so much nicer, to me i see the vride as an old hull and it looks dated to me, but hey maybe thats me

The VLX would have been nice. But to get the VLX with the options I have on the vRide would have made it an easy $55k before tax! This vRide is $47k before tax and it has every option I wanted on it. I like gadgets, so of course Malibu offering these options is money outta my pocket!

Power wedge, shower, heater, flip nav light, amp and woofer, silver throttle knob (Had to have it ) full ballast, fiberglass platform.

Shawn

They are both great boats, but if you are within a few thousand...get the VLX! Its bigger, the wake is bigger, and it will have better resale...plus it comes with many standard things that are options on a v-ride.

*Edit* I am not talking about your case Shawn, I am just responding to Entrust and Mikes comments.

(Message edited by jetskiprosx on April 30, 2007)

No problemo. Hey Mike, what are you doing for a break in procedure? I've heard many different things, but nothing concrete. Are you following the manufacturers recommendations, or do they even recommend anything?

Just curious how long I'm going to need to putt around the river before it's riding time!

Shawn

Everyone's opinions are noted with the VLX vs. vRide. You can get more options for your money with the vRide. I did so much research it was silly. Sure a lot of the options come standard on the VLX, but you will pay almost $10,000 more for that boat if you went option for option. If you don't think so, go to the dealer and option it out. I did and I have looked at dozens of used boat ads and ran so many figures my head hurt. People say it has better resale because it sells for more in a few years, but you paid more. The dollar amounts they drop and percentages are the same. I ran analysis on keeping this boat for 2-3 years and selling it. They each drop very very similar numbers year to year.

If I had $10,000 to blow, I would get the VLX. It has more bling and it is the bomb. I agree with you there. The boat pops. I was drooling over the silver edition at the boat show, but for the money, you can get a completely optioned out wake boat for far less than the VLX. The wake with ballast and wedge is very sick as well.


Break in - I tried my best to follow the manufacturers procedure. It was hard because I had never done it before. I tried to basically vary my speed a lot, never traveling the same speed for more than a couple minutes at a time. I went back and forth from idle to different speeds. It worked since the water was cold and there wasn't too much temptation. After 6-7 hours we decided to take a couple runs. It has 9.7 hours and I still haven't completely hammered and put it wide open. I don't know if I am doing it perfectly, but I feel like I did what they recommended.