Does anyone have any experience with this brand of motor ? NISSAN LINK I am looking at their new 9.8 four stroke for my drift boat . I havent heard anything bad about them around here but there are very few people that actually run four strokes on their boats and those that do are running Honda's... It weighs in at around 84#'s wich I believe is bit lighter than the comparable Honda , the warranty is the same three years , it actually looks like an outboard motor instead of Honda's lopsided, silver mushroom concept and the cost is about $800 less that is a big factor . There seems to be quite a few shops that are factory authorized service / dealers around my area so support shouldnt be a problem if a warranty issue does arise ... What do you guys think ? I would appreciate any opinions either way ......Thanks Von Warner

I asked the same thing afew months ago.And the only negitive replys I got was about getting them serviced or repaired.But if you have a shop that will work on them in your area that shouldnt be a problem for you.I ended up buying a yamaha T8 instead.Its a great little motor.

I'll let you know what I think of their 6 HP 4-stroke longshaft in a week or two when mine arrives from Cabela's

My fishing buddy just put a 25hp tiller w/ lectric start & power trim/tilt on his 15 ft lund...

looks sweeeet, runs nice, lots of bells and whistles... havent given it a real workout yet so I cant really answer your question. but I dont think you can really go wrong though.

One thing I would look at is the tilt mechanism... some of the newer motors have alot of plastic in this area. My old johnson 9.9 was all metal, and damn near bullet prooof. lift the motor up halfway and it locks for shallow running... or lift it all the way out of the water for beaching it.

I bought one last spring as a kicker for my Bayliner and had no problems with it. I was looking for the lightest and least expensive motor and that is what I settled on. While the Yamaha and Honda are probably the better choice if money is not an issue, I am very pleased with mine. I put quite a few hours on it and have had no problems. It starts on the first or second pull and trolls down to almost nothing. My .02!

I was just down at GI Joes,and they had all their Nissan and Tohatsu motors on an store special. All the motors they have in stock are 30% off. I saw a 9.8hp,and 4hp 4 strokes at the Lynnwood store.

Actually all I seem to see anymore are 4 strokes. There is talk about many lakes forbidding 2 strokes and I believe some have already.
I owned a 4 Stroke Yami and now a 4 stroke Merc, but my needs may be a little different. I purchased my motors for assured safety should I have a break down as well as a trolling motor. In my case I spent the extra money on the brand name. I didn't want to put life on the line with a motor I never hear anything about, Good or bad.
This is the only purchase I've made in a long time where I actually cared what the brand was.

A friend of mine who spent 20 years working as a general purpose mechanic on fishing boats in Alaska bought a Nissan kicker last summer. He is also probably the most mechanically gifted person I know. To date he has been very pleased. For me, his testimonial is very powerful.

Also, I am told that the Mercury 4-stroke portable outboards use the same mechanicals as the Nissan and Tohatsu. I can't back that up with anything substantive, though.

BTW, does anyone remember when Yamaha was new to the US outboard market? I bet there was some grumbling about those cheezy imported outboards

If they are anything like Nissan cars and trucks, I would stack them up against any Honda or Yamaha (or Toyota for that matter, if they made outboards). I absolutely intend to purchase a Nissan 4 stroke as soon as I can figure out a way to fit my old Merc 2 stroke cowling on it to hide it from my wife. . . .

Finegrain,
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying one is better than the other, I just haven't heard a single thing about Nissans. As a matter of fact if this thread started a week ago and I read all the praises I would have done more research on them myself. When I walk through a marina and I see Yami after Yami and hear good things about Yami, I feel more confident.
Mental or practical? It's security for me.

My Tohatsu 4stroke 4 horse was great until it was stolen. If'n you guys run accross a 02' model with a salt water prop for cheap- let me (or the Seattle PD) know! Serial # 11688

The Nissan is made by Tohatsu .... they are exactly the same motor , the only difference is the decals . Tohatsu wanted to have a more recognizeable name for their motor and contracted to use the Nissan name for the American market . that is why a Nissan motor costs you about a hundred bucks more than the same motor with a Tohatsu decal on the side ... It seems that these days most of the motors are joint ventures .. I have heard all sorts of different variations . One thing I heard is that the Yamaha uses Tohatsu parts on some of their models ...My experiance with Tohatsu comes from the years I spent in alaska on tender boats .. Our skiff had a little 8 horse Tohatsu that ran like a champ .. We never had a bit of trouble with it and it always started on the second pull, even on freezing cold days it would fire right up ... It seemed like their were a lot of Tohatsu motors on little skiffs running around in the fleet .... Their must have been a Tohatsu dealer in Bellingham or Seattle that was trying to get its feet of the ground .... That being said , I went ahead and ordered the Nissan 9.8 4 stroke long shaft today ... the total price is $1770 ....I could have bought a used motor for way less than that , but I dont want to buy someone else's headache . I feel pretty confident I made the right move ... Thanks for all the replies and advice ......Von Warner

Bombardier(evinrude,johnson) has used Tohatsu as manufactures of their small 4strokes.

Last time I checked Merc. was still using Yamaha powerheads for their 4strokes. I have a 98Merc.,50hp.4stroke that for the past 3years has been nothing but problems.

Personally, I would never buy anything from Nissan. After 9/11 the French Gov't really made me mad and Nissan is mostly French owned so I boycott them.

CLICKY HERE >>>>>> Tohatsu . You are right about the Renault / Nissan Merger . I dont think Tohatsu has sold out yet .....Von Warner