 | Mercury MerCruiserAnnounces Drive Design Advancements that Provide Smoother ShiftingImprovements to Alpha and Bravo drives provide best-in-classperformance
Recent designenhancements to Mercury MerCruiser's Alpha® andBravo® Drive product lines have elevated shift quality to anew level of excellence.
"Theadvancements reduce shift effort and noise, vibration and harshness(NVH) in all models and make the Bravo models best in class in thisimportant aspect of perceived quality," said Jay Povlin,Mercury MerCruiser vice president of sales, marketing and productintegration.
Shift-relatedtesting performed on all Bravo models by Mercury engineers showed a70-85 percent reduction in NVH from previous models, thanks to anew clutch design that makes shifting smoother. Not only did thenew Bravo drives outperform previous models in the testing, theyalso significantly outperformed all competitors. Research has shownthat NVH is frequently an important factor when consumers considerpurchasing a marine engine.
Anothershift-improvement made to all Bravo drive models is a new internal-clutch shift lever and a redesigned back cover that provide abetter-defined neutral position. In addition, Bravo Three®drives now have a redesigned thrust bearing for even longer life,and a new ribbed top cap on X models provides greater structuralintegrity and increased cooling capability.
Shift-qualityrefinements on the MerCruiser® Alpha drives include revisedengine-management programming and reduced shift effort enhancementfor all MPI models.
"We seethese marked improvements to our industry-leading drive technologyreally enhancing performance and adding to our proven reputationfor outstanding reliability," Povlin said. "And becausecustomer input indicated these were the types of drive improvementsneeded for more enjoyable boating experiences, we're certainthat our customers will be extremely satisfied with the newdrives." |