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Tmoore22

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My parents recently retired and moved to a new place on a decent sized inland lake in Michigan full time. The place came with a 2011 Harris Cruiser 220 and although it is decent boat they are looking for something a little nicer now that they are settling in for the rest of their lives on the water.

There is a Bennington dealer right on the lake that I have already purchased a Sea Doo from this year so there is a small relationship there. We went and sat with my sales rep and settled on a 23SSR with a Merc 150, SPS performance tri toon, blackout package, PMX2 stereo, Kicker speaker upgrade with amp/sub, dual battery, extended rear deck, etc. He says if we order now we’re looking at July delivery.

MSRP came out to be $64,393. The dealer was offing us a 3% discount off that number with no extra fees. Is there anybody else here that has bought a Benny recently that can speak to if that is a fair deal in this market? Just reading some older posts in the forum had me dumbfounded that 3-5 years ago people were getting anywhere from 20-35% off MSRP!

Also, we went into the process thinking we would go with a 115hp Merc but came out of the meeting thinking a 150hp for an extra $3,900 may be worth it. The dealer was pretty adamant about the 150. I keep seeing “you’ll never regret more HP.” There won’t be any tubing etc. as this boat will be mostly used as a cruiser to hang out on the sandbar, but will a 115 be a little sluggish regardless with a tri toon?

All in all, regardless of the price they will most likely make a purchase next week. Due to the current economic climate prices surely won’t go down and I’m sure there could be even another slight increase to the 2023 model years if they were to wait.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and thoughts, I look forward to contributing to the discussion here for years to come.
 
Welcome to the forum Tmoore! Getting 20-35% off MSRP was in a different time in our lives! Definitely pre pandemic! That was maybe attainable on the upper echelon models (Q and R) but not on the lower end of the spectrum. (S) The more expensive the boat with all of the bells and whistles the more off of MSRP. That is no longer the case! $64393 sounds like a decent deal with a 150 with an SPS and some goodies but the dealer can do better than 3% off MSRP! C'mon! Go with the 150! The 115 will bog down the more your boat is loaded and is better for resale! End of story!
 
What lake in Michigan ? I dont know if he has sold his allotment ,but a friend of mine owns a dealership in Northern Michigan .
 
Coldwater lake, so about as south as south gets in Michigan. If they ordered this, the dealer would be bumping one of their stock allotments and replacing it with this custom order
 
Sorry ,Im way up north, about 25 miles south of the bridge between Burt and Mullett Lakes on the Indian River .

Get the 150 HP . My opinion is to max out the pontoon package you are ordering and you will never buy HP for as low as you will than at the initial time of purchase . These days with the motor shortage there is a very long wait for repowering .
 
Don't even consider the 115hp. Too many boaters have gotten it to save money and most regret it.
 
Welcome to the forums. Another Michigander here. Like Jack though, I am much further north on Houghton Lake.

Devil is in the details with options and price. However, in this climate, the overall price for what you are listing actually sounds pretty decent to me. As noted, any significant % off MSRP is a thing of the past. However, 5-10% off MSRP would be nice and is still often achieved by most buyers I have heard from. 10-15% off in this market would be a locked in signature for me in this climate.

Would that limited 3% off MSRP be a deal breaker for me in this market? Probably not. Buying through the local dealer that can service everything, and is more invested in doing so because you bought from them, usually is a big bonus. Much more convenient. It is not usual for dealerships to put their own boa buyers ahead of others in the service department. Given backlogs can be 4-8 weeks for repairs as a “buying boat customer” in Michigan these days, and how short our boating season is to begin with, that alone has a certain value. For retirees, ease of dealing with someone local also has a certain value. However, 3% still just seems very low.

I agree with everyone about sticking with the 150HP. For the price differential (not too much more IMHO), I would certainly stick with the 150. Lightly loaded, the 115 on the tritoon will perform very nicely. Performance drops fast as you load more people on it. 150 will hold performance level all the time. Even for cruising, the 150 simply wont work as hard and will be running at lower RPM’s at various cruise speeds.

Also, should the need or want to ever tube with friends kids or grandkids(?) arise, the 150 has it covered with zero issues.

And finally, the 150 holds its value! It is highly desired from a resale perspective, where the 115’s don’t hold the same attraction to buyers. For $3900, that is probably money better spent than the blackout package (and I have and LOVE the blackout package). IF I were personally debating on somewhere to cut costs, it would be on the blackout package before the motor.

Anyway, I am a talker and rambler. I will shut up. Glad to have you aboard. A congratulations to your parents settling into retirement. Exciting! No better way to do that than lakeside on the water with a Bennington!!!
 
I think the 150 requires additional rigging - be sure to check (build sheet suggests another $4K on top of the motor cost). If money is a not a huge factor, the 200 DTS provides the digital controls - and those are SWEEEEEET.
 
If you plan on doing any watersports (tubing with the grandkids/etc.) I'd advise a minimum of 150 + either twin ellipticals or a tri-toon.

I had a twin-tune 115 and it was good for 25 mph, and no fun for kids any older than 4 years old on a tube. Tri's are also way better with more people, and with rough water.

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, we went ahead and ordered the boat today. We stuck with the 150 Merc as advised, and was able to get the dealer to drop a little extra off the price based on a couple other quotes we got in the area (one a little higher the other a little lower). They also included a set of bunks to add to our shorestation to accommodate the tri toon.

It would have been nice to buy this setup a couple years ago but I am sure people will be saying the same thing two years from now! Let’s just hope we hit a plateau in pricing soon.
 
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