Quintrex Freestyler X prototypes 2023 First Drive

Stealth? By that we mean the new “partially submerged” Rotax S engine that lands here via Quintrex’s new Canadian owner, BRP, that’s not quite an outboard engine, yet not quite a sterndrive.

First, a bit of history. In May 2020, Canadian powered recreational product specialist BRP stunned the world by announcing it would immediately close Evinrude, its century-old outboard engine-making division.

It was a radical decision, coming just months after the launch of its new range of 115hp, 140hp and 150hp outboard engines based on a 1.9-litre three-cylinder two-stroke block that made it the lightest engine in the 150hp performance class. Direct fuel injection technology gave it enviably low emissions.

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For a while, nothing was said but for some mumbles of Project Ghost, a rumoured new semi-submerged powerplant that turned like a conventional outboard engine, but sat low like a sterndrive.

And then it dropped. The 1.9 was back, but now it was making two right-angle turns instead of one before sending power to the prop. Along the way, Project Ghost lost its Evinrude heritage and became part of the Rotax family of jet ski, ski mobile, motorbike side-by-side and ATV, go-kart and light aircraft engines.

It also kept the “stealth” name, becoming the Rotax S, largely because its low profile means it can tuck away out of sight under a rear deck.

The unique engine was tipped to become part of the Quintrex range via a version of the Freestyler bowrider range, and while a couple of US boat brands started using it last year, we’ve had to wait until now to see it in a boat completely manufactured in Quintrex’s Coomera, Queensland factory.

The platform for the Rotax S is the newly introduced Quintrex Freestyler X, which stands alone from the conventionally outboard-engined Freestyler bowrider line that switched to Mercury power as a factory default in the wake of Evinrude’s demise.

The Freestyler X is the first new Quintrex model since the Freestyler and Frontier models were updated with the Apex hulls in 2017.

The boats will go on sale in late May around the same time as the production boats make their Sanctuary Cove debut. Australia will take the 115hp ‘S115’ and 150hp ‘S150’ versions of the Rotax S on two same-but-different models.

First, let’s look at the boats. The Rotax S engine does not fit a normal transom, so Quintrex had to build two new boats around it, the 5.0-metre 555 and the sub 6.0-metre 595.

The Freestyler X platform is similar to the conventional Freestyler from the start of the bow lounge forward, but aft of that the differences start stacking up. Both our test boats are pre-production prototypes, and the odd paint chip and scrape hint at a lot of development miles.

The centrally split dual console is larger, with a huge glovebox (it uses friction hinges to stay open, a feature also used on all hatches) in front of the port jump seat, and a moulded plastic dashboard large enough to take a 9.0-inch Lowrance HDS9 multifunction touchscreen behind the helm. The Rotax S engine is tuned to work with Lowrance chartplotters showing a very specific display – more on that later.

The cockpit on both new models is longer, affording extra room via the completely redesigned transom that has a pair of long pods extending on either side of the engine, and framed on the top by a large sun pad. The side profile with the rising waterline of the bow and pods makes the Freestyler X’s profile look a bit like an old-school sailboat sitting at rest.

The boats are made from three different thicknesses of alloy ranging from 3.0mm topsides, 4.0mm bottoms and the transom's 5.0mm-thick material that you'd normally see used on the hull of a plate boat.

Now the engine. Its three-cylinder configuration as both the S115 and S150 weighs 255kg. At 150hp and with variable exhaust ports giving it the performance edge, it is around 50kg heavier than an equivalent 3.0-litre Mercury four-cylinder four-stroke outboard engine. The 115hp is around 90kg more than Mercury's 2.1-litre four-cylinder four-stroke.

The Rotax S sits in a void beneath the rear deck, framed on either side by the pods that provide more stability and flotation at rest. Trimmed right down the Rotax is buried deep, with even its logo sitting below the waterline.

The watertight Rotax S is quite blocky to look at. At idle, an exhaust pressure relief valve opens below the waterline and at the front of the engine – the roiling water deep in the void between the pods looks completely foreign compared with a traditional outboard. Exhaust exits via the four-bladed Rogue stainless steel prop’s hub once you get moving.

Above the Rotax S is a large sun pad with a trapezoidal central section hinged on its leading edge that swings up like a duck tail to let the engine rise four-fifths out of the water. This is how you will trailer the Quintrex Freestyler X.

You can’t really see the engine, even on the trailer. In the old Evinrude days, you had to fill a reservoir under the engine cowling with two-stroke oil, but with the Rotax S, you lift up a hatch in the cockpit floor and add it to a tank beside the battery box. The reservoir is good for around 100 hours of run time – depending on use – before needing a top-up.

When you tip the engine up, you can see the cavitation plate sits slightly higher than for a conventional outboard engine, and the wide sides of the engine cowling have what look like lifting strakes moulded into them.

The Rotax S draws the air it breathes via a flexible snorkel on the front of the engine connected with an intake manifold below and behind the port seat. The air intake is completely sealed from water ingress.

The engines are only available in 635mm (25-inch) shaft lengths. 

Quintrex won’t sell you a Rotax S engine. Instead, it will sell you the complete BMT package for a set price: $89,990 for the 115hp Quintrex 555 Freestyler X, and $99,990 for the 150hp Quintrex 595 Freestyler X. There’s no haggling for a cheaper price.

The boat will come on a conventional trailer appropriately rated for the combined mass of the boat and engine – no special towing treatment is needed.

While those prices sound high, Quintrex is positioning the Freestyler X range as a premium product.

That means it is packed with plenty of surprise and delight, using features such as good quality seats with contrast piping, lined side pockets and underfloor storage spaces, and a huge glovebox to make it stand apart.

Small-item storage is also considered, with small pockets on both coamings near the jump seats handy for stashing a smartphone. The floor is alloy and covered in a soft rubber surface to provide grip and full-sun comfort.

The windscreen is special. All three panes are exactly the same size and shape, which has the added benefit of making the walkthrough into the bow lounge just that little bit larger and easier.

The bow lounge is nice and wide, a feature of the Apex hull under the Freestyler X with its distinctive ‘pickle fork’ bow that carries the exposed chines right forward.

The bow is configured very differently from other Freestyler models that use rotomoulded plastic anchor wells. On the X, the forepeak is a large padded platform with lidded access to the anchor well, meaning you can now easily use the front of the boat for beaching.

The aft section of the cockpit has a large lounge running the full beam, comfy enough for up to four people to sit side by side without too much elbow clashing.

Behind the bench seat is the Max Deck, a 1.2-metre-long padded sun lounge that runs across the full internal beam. The Max Deck is separated from the aft bench seat via a bench seatback that’s around 200mm deep.

There’s no access to the bilge of this boat, so ensure you have a working automatic bilge pump.

The steering used for this boat is a SeaStar hydraulic system with an electric assist that lets the skipper change the weight of the steering through three settings from finger-light to quite stiff. This is the first Quintrex model to give a nod to its new owner, with the tilt-adjust sports steering wheel featuring a BRP roundel in its hub. The throttle and shift controls use a digital connection to the stern, giving an immediate response from the Rotax S.

Unique to this boat is a steering angle indicator that shows on all three running screens on the Lowrance, as well as a tilt angle gauge. There’s no telltale, and there’s no temperature gauge on any of the screens, so the engine relies on the NMEA 2000 data fed to the Lowrance multifunction touchscreen to let you know if it gets too hot.

Quintrex claims there’s no real comparison between the Freestyler X models and the conventionally engined Freestyler boats running Mercury power as the Xes are a big step above in terms of quality, fit and finish.

The Rotax S engine will require servicing every five years, although an annual inspection is recommended. It will carry a five-year warranty.

The Quintrex Freestyler X models both carry more weight due to the extra material used in making the pods and Max Deck transom. However, offsetting this is the Rotax S’s reduced weight due to its unique-for-this-class three-pot configuration.

Testing the new Rotax S platform was quite superficial, with a few runs along the Gold Coast’s Coomera River to draw an initial sense of where things are. We drove the boats with a full belly of fuel onboard and four adult passengers, a good model for a family of five heading out for a day on the water.

We took both engines up to around 4500rpm, something we’d consider a good cruising speed. On acceleration, both boats pointed bow-up before settling comfortably on the plane once over the hump.

There wasn’t really much of a difference to feel in terms of performance between the 115hp Qunitrex Freestyler X and the 150hp version. The slightly longer boat obviously carries a little more weight than the smaller one, but the time to plane was similar for both models.

The same goes for speed. At around 4100rpm both boats were sitting around 18.0 knots over the water. We didn’t get a chance to write down figures for the 115hp Rotax S, but in the 150hp version – expected to make up the bulk of Freestyler X sales – we were using around 1.4 litres a kilometre at 18.1 knots with 22 per cent of trim wound on. At 4800rpm, those numbers jumped to 1.62L/km and 25.6kt.

As for trim tabs, the Quintrex Freestyler X doesn’t really need them. The helm is super-responsive to engine trim, so it’s easy to tip the Rotax S up too high and cause the hull to porpoise. A little bit of trim is better than a lot.

The proven Apex hull under the Quintrex Freestyler X is as good as ever at hanging onto the water like a limpet in tight turns and deflecting spray when crossing wakes.

Refinement? We’d mark it as good, not great. The deep front seats are excellent at damping vibration from the Rotax S engine, but especially the 150hp will give anyone on the rear bench a tingling sensation at running speeds. The noise both engines make, too, is noticeably loud at high revs and while it’s still easy to have a rear-seat conversation, it’s not yet a candidate for a class-leading label. NVH, then, is something that can only improve.

One thing we’re not yet sure about is a tendency when throttling down for water to come up over the Max Deck. Slow too quickly and water will wash over the entire platform, with only the raised bench seatback stopping it from spilling over into the cockpit. You can mitigate this by slowing more progressively or even performing a hook turn to come to a stop. At rest, though, the Max Deck is a brilliant asset, although an aft sunshade extending from the optional tower will, in our view, give it more versatility.

In the early days of Tesla, it was really only those who bought the electric cars it made who understood just how game-changing the technology would one day become.

The same is likely for Quintrex Freestyler X buyers. The Rotax S engine is definitely a game changer, and a big diversion from the mainstream just like Tesla was in its early days.

Tesla got better over time to create products that are the envy of rivals who are now rushing to emulate its success.

With just a few tweaks, the Quintrex Freestyler X will be there, too.

There must be more in store for this engine, with Quintrex’s parent company, BRP looking to add battery-fuelled options alongside its internal combustion line-up. The Rotax S may be the ideal platform to do that.

Model: Quintrex 595 Freestyler X
Length: N/A
Beam: N/A
Draft: N/A
Weight: N/A
Alloy: 3.0mm (topsides)/4.0mm (bottoms)/5.0mm (transom)
Engine: 150hp in-line three-cylinder two-stroke 1.9L/255kg (max weight)
Fuel: 99L
Passengers: 8

Model: Rotax S115
Pricing: N/A
Engine type: Two-stroke direct injection
Cylinders: In-line 3-cyl
Fuel management: EFI
Weight: 255kg (lightest model)
Displacement: 1865cc
Bore x stroke: N/A
Maximum output: 115hp @ 5500rpm
Operating range: 5000-6000rpm
Shaft length: 635mm (25-inch)
Alternator: 12V/40A
Trim method: Power trim/tilt
Gear ratio: N/A
Recommended fuel: Regular unleaded
Gearcase oil capacity: 1.5L
Counter-rotating: Not available
Servicing: 5 years (inspection recommended every 100 hours)
Emissions rating: CARB 3-star/OEDA 3-star
Warranty: 5 years (when serviced at Quintrex dealer)

Model: Rotax S150
Pricing: N/A
Engine type: Two-stroke direct injection
Cylinders: In-line 3-cyl
Fuel management: EFI
Weight: 255kg (lightest model)
Displacement: 1865cc
Bore x stroke: N/A
Maximum output: 150hp @ 5500rpm
Operating range: 5000-6000rpm
Shaft length: 635mm (25-inch)
Alternator: 12V/40A
Trim method: Power trim/tilt
Gear ratio: N/A
Recommended fuel: Regular unleaded
Gearcase oil capacity: 1.5L
Counter-rotating: Not available
Servicing: 5 years (inspection recommended every 100 hours)
Emissions rating: CARB 3-star/OEDA 3-star
Warranty: 5 years (when serviced at Quintrex dealer)