The Verado is re-engineered in its present form. They changed rods, pistons and the ECU to improve performance and fuel mileage on smaller boats. We have not done much with the present 2008 Verado, though we are a huge fan of four stroke engines. The original Verado combination we really enjoy. Here is one of our reasons we like four strokes, many customers today finance their rigs long term, and others still keep them up to and over 12 years. On a two stroke engine, odds are that during that cycle you could have a powerhead problem. Depending on how many hours you fish a season. That is a very expensive item on a 7 year old boat or older, in comparison to the value of the rig. With four stroke we feel there will be a higher end user hours return for the owner, thus better service and satisfaction, as well as much lower maintenance on the large impactive items. Just our reasons! BCB