2010 210 Challenger Review Starts at 34,699 with twin engines at 310hp. 20'6" long. Trailering weight: 4070lbs. Seating for 10. Transat Seats. ITC - Electronic throttle control. USB/MP3 capable stereo.

New for 2010 is the 210 Challenger, Seadoo's new 20.5' jetboat, replacing the outgoing Utopia models. At first glances, it looks like just an enlarged 180 Challenger, but don't let that fool you. It's a completely different and vastly improved model. Seadoo recently invited me to test drive their newest model near Cape Canaveral and how could I pass that up? It was a school holiday so the whole family decided to come along.

The 210 Challenger is a complete new model for 2010. It's Seadoo's first model to come with their new flexible transom design and their "Transat" seats. It's also the first jetboat model to include their ITC, intelligent throttle control, and this is quite a feature.

The 210 has a standard walkthrough bow rider layout. There's a forward anchor compartment that also houses a bow ladder. You'll need to swing the ladder out to access the anchor though. Finished storage is available underneath the swing up seat cushions. Both bow seat backrests also flip up to access storage inside the console areas and it's quite a large storage space. The SE model also includes two additional bow speakers.

Moving aft we get to the cockpit area. The center windshield is the usual flip over design. The center door is also the usual split swing design but it's made of clear plastic, a nice touch. The passenger side has a glove box, non-lockable, and a smaller open space just above it. The drivers space has a multi-function LCD and GPS speedometer for displaying various info including depth and fuel flow. The SE model includes a tilt steering wheel. The only new things in the drivers space are the ITC and the single lever control. ITC is also a first I "think" for any boat. The 210 is a twin engine boat, but for the first time, is controlled using a more traditional single lever like one would find on an outboard boat. Push forward to control forward speed, pull backwards to go in reverse and control reverse speed. When the boat is in neutral and you grab the handle, you'll need to squeeze the top to engage the safety to allow you to move it out of neutral and into forward or reverse gear, just like on an outboard. But that's where the similarities end. The actual throttle response of the engines is not directly controlled by the lever. It's all handled by ITC.

ITC is brand new for 2010 on Seadoo's jetboat models. In its most basic mode, it's just serving as an engine synchronization module that works all the time. However, it can do so much more. A multifunction LCD display interface and a few buttons for navigating the various functions opens more doors. One function is fuel economy mode. If you activate this mode and then just floor the throttle to WOT, the boat will accelerate to normal cruising speed and will adjust speed to achieve maximum fuel economy, usually around 30mph. I did some runs both with the wind and into the wind, and whenever I switched directions, I could feel the speed change slightly and also see in the display how the fuel economy was being affected. Very neat. Another function is ski mode. You might be tempted to think that this is just perfect pass, but it's a lot more. Perfect pass is only useful for maintaining speed once you get there. ITC Ski Mode even automates pulling the skier out of the water! When the skier, wakeboarder, or tuber is ready to go, all the driver needs to do is floor the throttle and steer. It doesn't get any easier. Ski-mode has 5 "ramp" settings for controlling how strongly to pull the skier out of the water. A setting of 1 is good for inflatable's. Wakeboarders might use 2 or 3. Slalom skiers would use 4 or 5. You also set the target watersport speed and once the boat has pulled the skier out of the water it will then maintain that speed. I really wanted to try this feature out with a wakeboard and despite the temps being in the high 50s, I took the plunge. Upon jumping in, I immediately had second thoughts. With everybody in the boat laughing and my teeth already chattering it didn't make sense to not try it out now. The water was a bit rough so I didn't know how well I'd get to test it out. With my wife driving the boat, I decided to start with a ramp setting of '2'. Keep in mind, I don't really wakeboard anymore behind our current Challenger 2000 simply because having to deal with the steering and throttle frustrates my wife and me having to constantly give out faster/slower hand signs. With the rope pulled tight, I yelled go. She floored it and in no time I was up and wakeboarding along. The initial pull was just about right, and more importantly, just as quickly as I got pulled out, the boat was also basically right at the correct speed. Usually about now, I'm yelling slow down since a lot of boat drivers don't back off the throttle quickly enough. ITC nailed it right on. And even as I cut back and forth, I couldn't sense any change in the boat speed. Afterwards, my wife said she could tell the boat engines were adjusting as I cut back and forth. Even though it was really cold, I decided to try one more run, with a ramp setting of '4'. Wow... I thought the handle was going to rip my arms off if I didn't let go. But I was able to hold on. And once again, I was quickly at the correct speed, with maybe 1 or 2 seconds of lag in the ITC backing off on the throttle. Very nice. Afterwards, my wife mentioned how easy it really was. She really did just floor the throttle and not once during my runs did she ever touch it again. Another mode, is cruise control, so that if you're just cruising along, instead of dealing with the throttle lever, you can just push a button for going up/down in 1mph increments. There's also a docking mode that limits the upper range of the engines to make the boat easier to control around docks but I personally found the upper range was still too much that it didn't really make sense and maybe since I already knew how to handle a jet didn't find it as useful. First time jetboaters will more likely find this feature useful as they learn to maneuver the boat. Once certain modes are activated and you are above idle speeds, if you change your mind, you'll need to come back down to idle to cancel that mode. So if you're cruising the intracoastal in fuel economy mode and you want a short extra burst of speed to pass a boat, you'll first need to idle down to get out of fuel economy mode. However, I was able to activate fuel economy mode while already on a plane.

The rest of the cockpit space is what one would expect however all of the seat cushions are hinged for easily lifting. Another nice touch. No more trying to pull out or squeeze back in a cushion. Just lift! The floor locker is lockable. A standard removable cooler is beneath the stbd side hinged seat cover nestled into a custom molded holder. The battery switch is just behind the driver on the outside of the cooler locker.

The transom is where things change again. Whereas older Seadoo models only had raised pads and Yamaha only offers transom seating, Seadoo has found a way to offer both via their new innovative Transat seats. When up, you've got the more traditional transom look and a raised seating surface. Due to the center walkthrough, you can't however lay down. Release some locking snaps, and you lift and then swing out the seat. Now you can sit, lay back and relax on the transom. The stbd seat also has a remote with display on the SE model. There's also a center mount for the SE's included table. The transom also includes an additional huge foot storage locker, big enough to store a wakeboard, ropes and ski jackets. No reason for anything wet to even enter the boat! It's got split offset length doors. It's also self draining. You can't access the transom storage however if the TranSat seats are open as they prevent you from lifting the doors. A two step boarding ladder is recessed just under the center of the transom.

The standard base and SE model start out with twin 155hp normally aspirated 4-stroke engines electronically controlled. A twin supercharged 215hp option is available for a total of 430hp. This is the model we were testing out. All models have closed-loop cooling. You'll still need to manually flush the exhaust though if you boat in saltwater. The engine hatch is raised from the handle directly beneath the center of the rear seats and the hatch raises to provide full access to the engines from the top. The battery is located on the stbd side of the engine compartment.

It was a cold day with about 1-2' of chop. The wind was blowing out of the north as we pulled out of the ramp area and headed south along the intracoastal. 3 adults and 2 children and the ride was very comfortable. Steering was balanced. No matter how I got onto a plane, there was virtually no bow rise. We headed south for quite a ways and along the way we started trying out some of the ITC modes. The ITC is accessed via a few buttons that perform multiple duties. Sometimes you need to read the LCD screen for additional functions. The screen also has the ability to shows lots of other information like fuel flow, rpms, hours, depth, etc. While on a plane, I was curious and wanted to see some other data and this is where the minimal buttons interface was a bit cumbersome to operate since I didn't know the system yet. It would be nice to see a few more buttons added or just provide an LCD screen that can show all the data at once. While heading south, we finally passed the southern tip of the island that opened up an area of smoother water protected from the wind. I got a little more aggressive with the handling to see how she'd handle the turns and she didn't disappoint. Above planing speeds, around 35+mph, a sharp enough turn will break the stern loose. Later on, during our return trip back to the ramp, heading north into the wind, the water was a little rougher. But the ride was well handled for a 21' boat. I tried pushing our return trip into the 40s and it did require more steering effort and the ride was getting bouncier with the occasional bigger waves, so I pulled back into the 30s. During our trials, the computer told us that at dead idle speeds we were averaging 2gph, in fuel economy mode we were up to 9gph at planing speeds in the high 20s. Pushing her into the high 30s,low 40s gets you into the high teens, and at WOT, around 52mph we were consuming 32gph. But don't take these numbers as anything official, this was a test boat and might not yet be calibrated. Maneuverability back at the dock was also excellent. In neutral, the boat essentially spins about her center. It takes getting use to but once ones learn it, most drivers then feel like they can do more with their jetboat then they could with their outboard or stern drives.

Afterwards, I sat for a while trying to think of what negative aspects there were to the boat. I really had to think for a while. Probably my first gripe, and I'm digging here looking for one, would be the quality of the single lever control. The plastic felt a little cheap and the handle itself felt flimsy and on one occasion, even though I was squeezing the handle to get out of neutral, I couldn't get it out of neutral. But don't get me wrong, and think that I want two levers back. I loved the one lever as it makes it easier for non-jetboaters to right away feel comfortable and at home. Maybe just a higher quality one lever is needed or maybe this one just had some issues from what I'm sure were a lot of test runs. The only other issue I could think of was the limited number of buttons for interfacing with the ITC, but this really is solved by just using and getting use to it. Another small gripe was that I wish Seadoo could have just gone the full 21'. The bow area was a little tight and at 5'9", I wasn't able to stretch my legs out. I don't understand why Seadoo had to cut it short at 20.5'.

Pricing:

• Base - 34,699
• SE - 38,699
• 430hp - 43,699

The SE model adds
1) bow boarding ladder
2) 2 more speakers up front and a transom display stereo remote
3) Tilt steering
4) pull-up stainless steel cleats
5) bimini top
6) Tonneau and cockpit covers
7) snap in carpet
8) table and table mounts

The next question that inevitably comes up, is from those that have decided they want a 21' jetboat and now need help deciding between the Seadoo or Yamaha. I mostly try to stay out of that question and just indirectly answer it by listing all the specs for both boats and letting the users decided for themselves based on what their priorities are, which boat is best for them. However, in this particular case, I actually think that I can honestly answer that the Seadoo is the best 21' jetboat choice. When you compare the base Sea-Doo 210 to the Yamaha 21' lineup, Yamaha does have a 21'er starting out $2200 cheaper that does include a bimini and some other nice small touches, but it's also got lower hp engines and slightly less performance. When you factor in all the nice extras that the base 210 has like ITC, fuel flow, closed loop cooling, more hp, a few more mphs of top speed, the extra $2200 does seem worth it. You can't add any of that stuff to the Yamaha. But a bimini, table, speakers, etc can all be added to the 210. The only worthwhile features I can think of that the Yamaha has that the seadoo doesn't, are 6" more length and some jet intake cleanout ports for clearing clogged intakes. And if you're comparing the more equivalent Yamaha 21'er, the 212SS to the Seadoo 210SE, now you're only talking about a $400 dollar premium. Without a doubt, the 210 is worth the extra $400. And remember, there's also a 430hp option available for the SE for those that want even more performance. And even better, at least as of the time of this writing, Seadoo is offering a larger rebate ( $3,500 AND 3yr warranty ) versus Yamaha's choice of EITHER 7.99% financing, 3yr warranty, OR $1000 in accessories.

If you're on the fence about getting a 21' boat, without a doubt, you owe it to yourself to get out ASAP and take the 210 for a test drive.