Volvo Penta Tow Mode

[tgrace98]

Maybe there's a reason all the r3s on the market have a 300 in them
People keep boats that have plenty of power. I had 300 ponies in my 200 and that wouldn't happen again.

After sitting in an r3 and an r5. I figured it was just 2 footies.

[Big Block Power]

I was going through at least 2 boats a year with 5.7s in them till I got the BB. Had this boat now for 3 summers coming up with no urge to sell it. I can guarantee you we see just as bad of water conditions on our lake if not worse and haven't thought twice about selling it. If your going to do anything bobrae please get at least 350hp.

[NautiGirl]

Maybe there's a reason all the r3s on the market have a 300 in them
People keep boats that have plenty of power. I had 300 ponies in my 200 and that wouldn't happen again.

After sitting in an r3 and an r5. I figured it was just 2 footies.

It's a thing, I told Kate our next boat would be a R3 since its "big enough". Then I sat in a R5. Huge difference.

[BobRae99]

I was going through at least 2 boats a year with 5.7s in them till I got the BB. Had this boat now for 3 summers coming up with no urge to sell it. I can guarantee you we see just as bad of water conditions on our lake if not worse and haven't thought twice about selling it. If your going to do anything bobrae please get at least 350hp.

If I end up being able to make a deal I can live with on an R3, it will be equipped with a VP 350. I think that is the sweet spot drive unit for the R3 in terms of performance and price. While I think the 300 would be more than adequate, the 350 provides a bit of margin for those days when I have the boat loaded down with adults with one skiing.

While the 380 and 430 provide more top end speed, I don't really boat that way. I know several people who boat on Lake of The Woods, Ontario and have friends scattered around the lake. They sometimes take a 15 mile trip to visit. I can see a higher speed boat of value on that lake system. I also see fishing boats form the many lodges flying from fishing hole to fishing hole with fly in customers. Again I see the value in being able to cruise at 60 mph.

Where I boat (Lake Winnipeg), there is really no place to go. You can cross the lake (18 miles in teh south basin) ro go to one other community north of where I boat (10 miles), but mostly we motor 2 miles out of the marin to a bay and then water ski or wakeboard and swim or otherwise just float. So for me, I don't see the value in the extra speed.

There is the cost to pay for the increased mph. The base engine is $98,823 and does 50 mph. The 350 (@$6,494 over base) gets you 4 mph, 380 (@$11,968) gets you 6 mph and the 430 (@$22,087) gets you 10 mph (the latter two choices having a slower time to plane).

Like someone has written, everyone values the power differently. Personally, I think the VP 300 would be fine and most new boats I see in inventory and for sale have a VP 300 in them. The next most popular choice seems to be the 350. I've only seen one boat for sale with a 380 (that wasn't a forward drive) and I haven't seen any 430s in the R3s for sale.

To each his own though

[BobRae99]

When I push "Tow Mode" on the EVC controller, I get something along the lines of "option not installed". However, I do have "Cruise Mode" which works as explained above. I'm not sure of the difference. It wasn't that important to me when I purchased so I left it off.

To complicate things, I think there's a Zero-Off type of cruise option as well. That was explained to me as more of a ski/wake/surf boat feature that is GPS based. (And I would have lost my second glass panel.)

Interested in others' experiences/knowledge as well....

On the R3, they put the Zero Off round display on the console to the right of the steering wheel (at least that is where it is on Surf models). The panel on the bulwark to the right of the throttle control comes standard with EVC but it’s information is integrated into the Garmin display. You have to add the option, but looking at Volvo’s website, it looks like it can be programmed in after. Not a must have option anyway.