Why Malibu let Australia build its own sub-$70K Malibu Response TXR ski boat

Malibu Boats Australia’s “passion project”, the Malibu Response TXR, kicked off at the start of this year with one thought in mind – build an entry-level ski boat that Australian customers wanted.

Unlike the US, where wakeboarding and wakesurfing are gaining in popularity, skiing is still a dominant part of the Australian on-water culture. Combined with the fact that the entry-level LXR was ageing and due for replacement, the decision was made early this year to develop an in-house replacement that would become the Australian boat brand’s 13th product.

“We wanted to make sure that we had an introductory model [to the Malibu range] that regular people … could afford,” Malibu Australia chief executive Price Taylor said.

“When you get that $150,000, $200,000 range it’s a little bit different. So you can get into this TXR for about $65,000, $70,000 and we wanted to make sure it was still available.

“So we took the LXR and completely redesigned it from the bottom up, form the exterior to the interior. And we didn’t just go softly on it, we had [Malibu Boats Australia operations manager] Simon [Hill], a six-time Australian slalom champion, ahd he was a key part of what works, what did the riders want, what needed to change.

“We had families come down and look at it and say ‘Look, I like this, I like the cupholder here’, so we got a lot of input.”

Malibu’s US-based global chief executive, Jack Springer, was in Australia last week to look at the TXR, and gave it his tick of approval.

“He [Springer] was so excited about it that he did his own introductory video, and to get that from that group over there was pretty exciting and great for this group here.”

Hill said the hard-chined Malibu Response TXR was a “thoroughbred waterski boat” with some clever thinking brought into it.

“We’ve been looking over the dash for 15 years, so this is the first time in a long time you can look through it,” Hill said. “It’s an important thing for slalom, because you can see where the next buoy is, and even lean over from the driver’s seat where the windscreen is cut out to pick up a ski or something.

“The ergonomics on this boat are remarkably improved.”

A brief test at Lake Hume just outside Albury hint that the Malibu Response TXR’s on-water dynamics are just as strong as the interior’s utility.

Our test boat used the 5.7-litre V8 sequential injection engine that will soon be offered alongside the latest generation, GM-sourced direct injection 5.3-litre V8, which Malibu brands the “Monsoon”.

The driver now sits lower and better protected behind a helm framed by a larger windscreen, giving more of a sense of being inside the boat. Forward and side vision are very good, with decent wind protection for both the helm and observer.

Superseded power delivery aside, the Malibu Response TXR handles more like a go-kart than a boat. Sharp chines bite into the water while turning, providing strong lateral grip. They also help turn the boat when power is backed right off.

Other little tricks, such as replacing the space-robbing gas strut on the glovebox in front of the observer’s seat with friction hinges, and fitting removable carpet patches to floor storage bins so they can be pulled out and dired, add unseen benefits.

A more comprehensive assessment of the new boat’s abilities will come soon.

Moving around the boat is made easy via a fully carpeted floor – a Malibu staple that Taylor says “is here to stay” – that runs straight up to the hull. Leaning over the side to retrieve things out of the water is easy, too, with the footroom-robbing coaming storage bins now a thing of the past. “We went through this thing in the 1970s where we could just put skis in the side pockets, and we seem to have lost that in the 1980s,” Hill said. “Now it is back.”

Malibu’s US parent will see how well the Response TXR does in Australia before making a call on whether it would like to expand the ski boat to its home market. “In Europe there’s still a  solid ski market, too,” Price said. “There’s an opportunity there.”