Our very own ‘Wet Stig' has been putting this years PWC through their paces. Read what he thinks of the Kawasaki 250, the Yamaha 160 Cruiser and Sea Doo's GTX 4-TEC Supercharged Ltd amongst the many others that he has been reviewing this year.

Over this season I have been able to ride the all the current four stroke Jet Ski's on the market and I would like to tell you my views on them.

Kawasaki Ultra 250

The first commercial PWC to blast out 250HP the Kawasaki , on paper, looks like a speed freaks dream. When I first climbed aboard I just thought to myself “This feels BIG”, and on starting the engine the whine of the supercharger sent a shiver down my spine as the power is just phenomenal. The handling is very quick and precise you may notice that when you are turning on power the revs pick-up this is because the ski is very race focused but when you put the ski into reverse if u blip the throttle when you are turning it tends to rip the handle bars back in to the straight position. The comfort is easy on the body and arms because the seats have enough padding to support you and the handle bars are in a good position yet because it's a big ski I would have thought that it would be very stable but on idle it seems very unstable this maybe because of its race design.

Yamaha FX 160 Cruiser

First impressions with the FX Cruiser are the sleek lines, gentle curves and the deep, well padded seats.  As the name suggest, this is a Cruiser and with the armchair seats, adjustable handle bars and foot rest pads, your ride position is incredibly comfortable, though after about an hour on choppy seas the seat padding does feel sparse.

The handling is very light in the steering and the delivery of the power is well manageable whatever level of skier you are. The ski isn't really built for 180 degree turns and wave jumping, but more for towing a skier, wakeboard or donut.

YAMAHA VX110 SPORT

The YAMAHA VX110 SPORT is a good introduction to jet skiing being a smaller version of the FX CRUISER and still a 3 seater.  The only problem I encountered is that because it's restricted to 110hp, when you build the revs it waits until approximately 3500rpm before it starts to pull away.  Other than that it's the same as the FX160.  If you do choose the VX I would suggest the VX cruiser, as the cruiser seat is very comfortable and it also has reverse whereas the sport version does not. Many people who own the Sport use them as tenders for their boats as they are low enough to fit inside the hull of most boats.