With a new engine and more gadgets than you can shake a stick at, the Yamaha Cruiser FX High Output is looking tempting. Spicer rides the cruising craft with charisma.

For 2009 the Cruiser FX HO has received more than a simple repackaging. On the surface, it may only look like a lick of silver paint, but this an altogether different animal - packed with gizmos. Yes, it is still a cruising craft but now it’s even more about the FX. Pulling together Yamaha’s arsenal of technical features from recent years, this PW is bristling with reasons to ride it. So let’s get involved.

Hunkering back into the lumbar support, I grab the bars and blip-blip the lanyard into place.

Slowly exiting the marina, I decide to try out the FX HO’s no wake mode. With this, it is literally just a push of a button and off you go, with no need to hold the throttle lever. It regulates RPMs for the optimal speed (approximately five miles per hour) to navigate through no-wake zones such as this. It is a very nice touch thatmakes the boring bit

Leaving the marina’s boundaries, the river ahead of me is clear and wide so I throttle on and get going quickly. The Cruiser FXHO shifts with an eagerness and ardent acceleration that betrays its size. Parting the water in front of me, the Cruiser leaps up and onto the plane within a matter of seconds. There is certainly an improved pick up from the previous generation FX HO, and this partly down to the fact that the hull is constructed from the lightweight Nano Xcel material, which is a first for the FXHO.  Coming up behind another Waverunner I start playing in its wake, then bank up onto one side of the hull while keeping it pinned.

White wash sprays up around me as I carve in the miniature wave, but soon I bank off in the opposite direction, riding alongside the riverbank. It feels lighter on the plane and the bottom end has definitely been improved but the $64,000 question is: how is the top end? Well, the 2007 FX HO’s 1052cc engine has now been upgraded to the new 1,812cc beast, as used in the SHO, and it makes an incredible difference. Admittedly, it doesn’t have the supercharger but this naturally aspirated whopper kicks out over 180hp, which is an increase of 20hp from the previous FXHO. And that amount of power, combined with a hull that weighs the same as a Kit Kat, means it shifts like shit off the proverbial shovel.

Keeping the power on with trees flitting past beside me I sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. The adjustable handlebars and hip support seat give the sensation of riding a Harley, or a Honda Goldwing. Due to the 1,812cc engine’s grizzle, you could come away from the ride feeling like you had done a round of Hang Tough on Gladiators, but with the cruising seat it provokes a laid back approach to riding, so you don’t tend to monumentally thrash it, as you might with the more race-orientated FZs. Instead your attitude to the ride is more composed and, even when nailing it, the Cruiser is a comfortable ride that you want to stay on. It is the perfect craft for wistful afternoons cruising, dreaming of a young Felicity Kendall skipping naked through an autumn forest, kicking up leaves . . .

The icing on a cake that’s already fit for a big fat cake addict is the new cruise assist and no-wake gadgets, which were also showcased on the SHO. On the surface, the concept of cruise control on a PW sounds dangerous - like trying to spoon feed a crocodile mincemeat - but inevitably Yamaha have put safety precautions in place. It works by finding a speed you like, in my case 42 mph, holding the throttle lever steady exactly at that speed. Then pushing and holding the cruise assist button for three seconds, when it will bleep. Once set, the driver can increase or decrease the engine speed in increments of 250 RPMs with a button - a real benefit when towing a wakeboarder. When the throttle is disengaged the system shuts off. However, while the need to have the throttle lever engaged - at all times - for the cruise control to function is sensible, it does take the excitement away from feeding the crocodile.

Yamaha have been making improvements to their various watercraft year-on-year, and the 2009 FX High Output Cruiser combines different qualities of each. These include a handy reboarding ladder, which makes it easy to climb back on after a swim, or a dramatically wet dismount. The twist trim system is consistent with the Waverunner range – efficient and very useful in lumpy conditions – although you need to ease off the power to make it easier to twist. It also has a low RPM Mode, which can reduce fuel consumption by up to 26 per cent.

Finally, it has throttle by wire reverse system that controls RPM in reverse gear for maximum thrust efficiency.

All in all, for a cruising craft this has incredible zest. In all honesty, it doesn’t feel that much slower than the supercharged SHO. Ok, so the bottom end snarl isn’t quite as ferocious as the SHO, but the lightweight hull combined with that monstrous 1.8 litre engine makes it feels like a different PW altogether from the previous model FX HO. It shifts - in a big way. The only minor downside, is that I’m not an enormous fan of the metallic silver colour on the water. But who cares? It feels light, handles fantastically, and has ample torque and top end. And as you may have gathered, I rather like it.

FX Cruiser High Output Specification

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