David Lockwood•24 Sept 2012

REVIEW

Riviera 445 SUV

Name: Riviera 445 SUV
Brand: Riviera

A new class of Riviera that aims to please all

LIKES

- Great performing IPS-driven hull

- Big cockpit for the Australian way of boating

- Aft cabin layout is a benchmark for pod boats

- Enlivened interior design with Euro styling

- Riviera has strong financial backing

NOT SO MUCH

- Helm seat foam was too soft

- Overhead galley cupboards and micro seem slightly intrusive

- We’d like a bigger inverter and watermaker, especially as there’s a water blaster

OVERVIEW

- New class of Riviera

As with most big car and boat manufacturers, platform sharing is a popular way to maximise the return on investment in things like moulds and tooling. Riviera has done this previously with its Sport Yachts, removing the flying bridge and adding a different lid. So it is with this SUV.

The 445 SUV is based on the Riviera 43 Open Flybridge cruiser that has been a big hit since its release in 2010. Basically, the hull and twin IPS Volvo Penta pod drives, the engine installation and engineering, and the accommodation plan are the same or very similar.

But the saloon has been remodelled to create a superior entertaining space, with the addition of an aft galley and enlarged dinette and lounge. There is also a new lower helm station. All of these things have been created with a minimum of new mouldings and, thus, expense.

The 445 SUV is also the first new model following Riviera’s sale to (Rodney) Longhurst Holdings in March 2012 and the subsequent return of Wes Moxey to the position of CEO. Moxey's interim gig was creating Belize Motoryachts. He engaged interior designer Georgia Drudi, who has worked with Ferretti, for those boats and now she's added her touch to this 445 SUV.

Unlike the run-of-the-mill Rivs, this interior has wow factor in line with European boats. There are two-pack painted cupboards, bright accents and contrasting textures. A whole new direction for Riviera on the interior-design front.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT

- Under $1 million loaded

Today’s increasingly bespoke boat-building business means customers have a wider choice of finishes and fitouts. When the 445 SUV was unveiled, Moxey said he wanted to showcase what Riviera is capable of doing. So boat #1 has plenty of options, some bold interior colour choices, a cool silver hull… but still a sub-million-dollar ticket.

Among the key options were cockpit docking joystick, air conditioning, top-shelf Raymarine electronics package, teak decks, cockpit barbecue centre, transom dinghy railing, extended rear awning, forward sunpad, convertible saloon dinette to berth, sliding aft single beds that create a double, and some soft furnishing upgrades.

There were also underwater lights, a gurney with bow and cockpit outlets for easy boat washes, upgraded AV systems in the cabins, extended swim platform and upgraded painted hull colour. Galleyware and bathware were bundled to create a complete boat. But we’d add a bigger inverter, watermaker and a tender, of course.

From a base price of $795,00 our demonstrator was selling for $915,000. That’s around the money for what is a high-quality Australian-built boat designed, in both SUV and flybridge guise, for bluewater cruising using Volvo Penta IPS pod drives.

LAYOUT

- More space, greater utility, additional comforts

Our 445 SUV had an extended swim platform with dinghy rail. It’s deep enough to plonk a folding chair, sit and do lunch or double as a fishing centre with the addition of a cutting board and rod holders on that dinghy rail.

Geared more as an entertainer, our 445 SUV sported the optional-mid-transom barbecue centre with electric barbie, hot/cold water, small sink, drink holder, recess for tongs, garbage bin and storage space.

You can have a live bait tank in place of the barbecue centre if you want to seriously fish and, trolling the options list, there are outriggers, more rod holders and padded bolsters available. With an aftermarket half-tower one could even create an Express-style sportfisher.

Infloor fish boxes and side storage lockers are included along with toe kicks tracing the cockpit to facilitate landing that whopper while leaning outboard. Pleasure boaters will appreciate the deck space for doing lunch and the optional extended canopy with side quarter clears that provides shade and weather protection.

Steps to the side decks, wide walk-arounds, a bow rail with intermediate wire, and cabin-top rails help your passage forward. The twin sunpads sit securely in tracks, while radar and communications domes add to the purposeful look.

The optional silver hull and clever matching silver trim panels on the hardtop break-up what would otherwise be a big white expanse of fibreglass. As such, this is a nicer-looking boat than the Sport Yachts. It’s also a more flexible layout without the built-in furniture.

The boat does have outdoor mezzanine seating by way of a two-person aft-facing lounge under the hardtop overhang as per the 43 Flybridge. An icemaker, top-loading freezer and storage module are opposite, with a teak-topped servery that will be handy when doing lunch.

An awning window and opening saloon door usher you inside and frame broad views while sitting at the big dinette immediately to starboard. It converts to a double bed, an option we’d definitely have for those grim-weather days kicking back and watching a movie.

The galley is the highlight, although the eye-level cupboards and microwave oven seem a tad intrusive. The cupboards are two-pack finished, there are solid ‘stone’ counters, soft-close drawers, hard-wearing Amtico vinyl flooring, and LED lighting throughout. Appliances include a two-burner cooktop with removable pot holders, drawer fridges, and that convection microwave oven.

Side-opening windows and an exhaust fan take care of ventilation. But the SUV differentiates itself from the Sport Yacht by not having a sunroof. There are hatches instead. The boat also features simplified digital BEP AC and DC switching. A water gauge was in the galley.

Italian indoor/outdoor fabrics are used throughout, with light straw-coloured cockpit upholstery, burnished orange (in vogue) accents, and a metallic tungsten helm-seat covering. These mate with light-oak joinery and two-pack kitchen cupboards for a contemporary look.

Dark oak flooring and other textures including leather and suede add to the effect. Owners will like the fact that all the cushion covers are easily machine washable. Of course, you can pare things back should your prefer something more traditional.

ACCOMMODATION

- Two big staterooms and en suites

Accommodation extends to a two-cabin/two bathroom layout, which is the same as the 43 Flybridge. The stateroom with island queen-sized bed is forward. It’s flanked by extended portlights as per Sport Yachts rather than the flybridge boats. These direct more light into the cabin and created an almost surreal backdrop in the photo hereabouts.

Thanks to IPS pod drives permitting aft mounting of the Volvo Penta engines, the accommodation gains. There are three adult-sized single beds, one longitudinal before a portlight, and two transverse, in effect, under the saloon floor. The latter had an optional sliding mechanism to create a double -- perfect for those windy nights when water’s slapping the bow.

While headroom exists only around the aft cabin entrance, which will be welcome when pulling on your clobber retrieved from the nearby hanging locker, the aft cabin doesn’t feel pokey thanks to large areas of glazing. With opening portlights, you also gain natural ventilation. Riviera includes a warning system in case you leave the portlights open and turn on the ignition.

All told, with the optional convertible dinette, the 445 SUV can sleep seven. Not that you will pack that many aboard, but it’s nice to know there are sleeping options if things get noisy at night. A bed in the saloon has been our saviour before.

MECHANICAL AND HULL

- Modelled on the time-proven 43

Engine access is via an electric-lift cockpit floor, with a separate day hatch into the adjoining utility space, where we noticed oodles of room around the generator. There’s a Delta T venting system with washable membrane, heavy-duty sea strainer for the generator, Racor fuel filters forward for the transverse tank on the centreline, and wing tanks carrying 460 litres of water.

The Victron charger has a 650W inverter for the AV system, but we’d upgrade it to a 1800W inverter so we can run the microwave oven and power points for boiling a kettle, charging your laptops and so on. An engine room camera, feeding back through the Raymarine electronics package, is another nice option.

As for the hull, Riviera says the collaboration with Volvo Penta began at the start of 2009. Despite carrying the same beam as the previous 41, the hull is said to be an altogether new one in keeping with IPS demands for a smooth bottom -- no prop pockets and no keel -- and a measured amount of deadrise, which averages 17 degrees from midships to transom, and 15 degrees at the tail, which is still quite deeply vee’d.

The hull bottom is all hand-laid solid fibreglass including the chines, with cored decks and cabin top, independent hull compartments with bilge pumps, a watertight collision bulkhead, and vinylester resin to ward off osmosis. Read standard Riviera tried-and-tested layup.

ON THE WATER

- Excellent riding IPS boat

IPS is short for Inboard Performance System, comprising rear-mounted twin diesel engines coupled to independently articulating or steerable underwater drives with forward-facing Duoprops. With a joystick docking device also mounted portside in the cockpit, you can park the 445 SUV on your own.

At the portside helm, vision proved pretty good during our offshore sortie out through Sydney Heads and north to Manly then back home again. The grey helm pod has an automotive look, with twin 12in Raymarine multifunction displays tied to a 4kW 48nm radar.

The throttles sit mid-dash on a raised module that included autopilot facia, with Volvo Penta engine monitoring panel and stereo remote nearby. In short, everything has a place and there’s a place for everything all within reach of the two-person helm seat.

The foam on the helm seat was too soft and will be changed, we’re told. The floor here has been sunken half a step to facilitate full headroom when standing. That and the portside location are unconventional, but as Riviera says you do pass approaching boats port-to-port so it makes navigational sense.

With twin Volvo Penta IPS 600s (D6 435hp engines), top speed is 32.2 knots according to the official data. This is almost three knots faster than the 43 Flybridge spinning the smaller T2 propellers and carrying more fuel and weight. In other words, the 445 SUV was propped not so much for serious hauling as weekend waterway play.

That said, smooth cruise of 3200rpm returned 26-27 knots and the best range of 339 nautical miles or 0.21 nautical miles per litre. At 3000rpm, you get 23.2 knots for 313 nautical miles. Except for slow displacement speeds, range and efficiency decrease below 20 knots with this IPS set up.

But with the rear-mounted engines under the cockpit rather than saloon floor as per a shaft boat, the 445 SUV sounded pleasantly smooth and quiet when cruising. The common-rail fuel injection system on the D6 engines ensures there’s not whiff of diesel smoke but plenty of poke.

The relatively narrow and agile hull travels in great trim, proved dry, and it seemed more stable than the 43 Flybridge that totes more weight up top. It’s one of the better IPS boats we’ve driven.

VERDICT

- All things to all people

We’re told the SUV is based on a customer feedback for a bluewater boat that can do a bit of everything just like, well, a SUV. Hence the reason there’s no built-in furniture/seating or a tender garage (per Sport Yachts) to impede cockpit space for fishing or outdoor recreational pursuits.

In lots of little ways apparent to this reviewer, the 445 SUV has refinement. It’s a luxurious, well-designed and well-executed single-deck cruiser with a whole new level of style. There will be other SUVs based on future Riviera flybridge boats and sharing their platforms.

The SUV is a good formula and, hopes Riviera, one that gains traction.

Specifications:

Price as tested: $915,00 with twin Volvo Penta IPS 600s and optional cockpit docking joystick, air-conditioning, top-shelf Raymarine electronics package, teak decks, cockpit barbecue centre, transom dinghy railing, extended rear awning, forward sunpad, convertible saloon dinette to berth, sliding aft single beds that create a double, underwater lights, gurney with bow and cockpit outlets, upgraded AV systems in the cabins, extended swim platform, upgraded painted hull colour, soft furnishing upgrades, galleyware and bathware

Priced from: $795,000

LOA: 14.46m

Beam: 4.57m

Draft: 1.20m (max)

Weight: Around 13,750kg (dry w/standard twin IPS 900 engines)

Sleeping: 5+2

Fuel Capacity: 1,800 litres

Water Capacity: 460 litres

Holding tank: 151 litres

Engines: Twin IPS-600/435hp Volvo Penta D6 turbo-charged, fully electronic, six-cylinder common rail diesel engines with pod droves

Supplied by:

The Riviera Group,

50 Waterway Drive

Coomera, Qld, 4209

Phone (07) 5502 5555

See www.riviera.com.au.

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Riviera 445 SUV

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