2008 Honda Aquatrax F15-X Turbo 3-Passenger Wave Runner, 11'2" Hull.

One Owner, Super Low Hours, Marina-Maintained, Fully Serviced and Ready for Water. 

Honda AquaTrax F-15X Displacement 1.5 liters.

Making 197 horses, the fuel-injected, dry-sump DOHC four-cylinder revs to 7100 rpm, and an IHI turbocharger adds 10 psi of intercooled boost. This Honda still lacks an electronic throttle, but otherwise it’s nearly as modern as current car engines. (Honda, how about plugging this engine into a Fit to create an Si version?)

We put the 11-foot-long F-15X to work in Lake Michigan, and it definitely delivers on broad appeal. It’s quiet at speed, comfortably seats three adults, deftly cuts through choppy water, and possesses convenience items such as three storage cubbies, smart-looking digital gauges.  And what a gratifying engine: immediate throttle response, almost no perceptible turbo lag, and in an instant, it hurls the 950-pound craft on plane from rest.

We couldn’t resist strapping on our test gear for a few acceleration blasts, and 0 to 60 mph takes just 6.2 seconds. The F-15X isn’t the quickest craft out there, and its acceleration tapers off sharply as it approaches the 65-mph top speed. In fact, there’s so much drag at that speed that simply releasing the throttle slows the watercraft at 0.5 g, or about half the force of a full-on panic stop in a car. That’s why its 0-to-30-mph time is even more impressive—a 1.9-second sprint that nearly matches a Corvette off the line. Without scaring us too much, the F-15X pulled more than 0.8 g in a 300-foot arc.