Please help talking a friend off a cliff

[WIskiier]

Tige 20V

I am a recreational skiier--push it fairly hard and have skiied behind my 20V Tige and Malibu's 20 VTX and find both are good slalom boats. I skiied behind outboards and light boats so the wake is a little bit more to manage but have to admit we (the family) love the 20V's ride, room and versatlity. No ballast and we wakeboard and surf. We tube. The biggest dissappointment is the huge wake for beginner skiiers. We love to hang out in the boat and the pontoon seems obsolete now that we have the 20V. Sadly, slalom is a dying art form in my world so the boat that does it all with style and comfort is the V-drive. Selfishly, I would love to have a direct drive for the glass morning runs but would not be happy with it for family time.

[Wakeman22]

Tell him.

DON'T DO IT"

He will regret it later.

[Wakeman22]

Seriously he will regret it at a later time. He will loose on the resale when he decides to upgrade to a v-drive. There is so much more room and better family oriented than a direct drive. At that price point there are a lot of Tiges out there. Also have him look at boat test dot com for reviews. And if all possible get him out on a few for a real personal test. I would think that other boats. V-drive will have just as good of a wake. My 24ve at 28mph and above has a very nice ski wake. I do not ski anymore but take out a friend and he loves the wake.

[bigskymudflaps]

You guys have been awesome. I agree with all of you. I've forwarded all the messages to my friend and he's coming a bit down. However, I think I may lose the war. He really likes the idea that the DD will be more fun to drive, light, 425hp, nimble, etc. It will ski better, but he hasn't ever surfed.......... I'm getting closer to getting him to go on a test drive of a new boat. Our dealer has most boats, just not the z1, which might be the choice if he's going vdrive. I really wish there was some video of someone out there on a slalom ski. Thanks again to everyone who has piped in.

[labrat]

The Tige Z1, R20, RZR or used 20V vdrives handle great with their tracking fins. IMHO they are as much fun as any direct drive I have driven, Actually more fun because you don't get beat to death in rough water on the way to find the glass on many lakes.
Has your friend ever driven a vdrive that is equiped with tracking fins? They make a world of a difference.

[BrownClown]

A good friend of mine, who is a competitive skier, bought an R20 last year because it was a great all around family boat with fantastic storage space. He was a Nauty guy thru and thru until he saw what the R20 had to offer.
He skis @ 32-34 mph and thinks the wake is great and couldn't be happier with his boat.