For days, your preconceived notions have been disappearing faster than the unagi (grilled eel) off the platter at the Honda reception in Hamamatsu, located between Tokyo and Osaka in central Japan. So far, you've only been wrong about the people, the country and Honda. Zero-for-three, which puts you perilously close to "ugly American" status, but slowly you're becoming better informed.

Myth number one: The people are formal and reserved, showing little outward emotion. Two: The Japanese are great at analyzing other people's technology and perfecting it, but they aren't innovators. Three: Honda doesn't place much importance on the American outboard market.

The more you learn about Honda, the more you have to admire it. Most mega-corporations are run by CEOs with financial backgrounds - you know, the dreaded bean counters - whose priorities are all about maximizing profits, pushing the letter of the law and making sure they get a hefty salary bolstered by stock options and bonuses. At Honda, most of the executive positions are filled by engineers "including CEO Takeo Fukui, who as a junior engineer in 1973, made a name for himself by helping the subcompact Civic attain the new U.S. air pollution standards without resorting to using a $1,000 tailpipe filter, also known as a catalytic converter. And although executive salaries aren't revealed at Honda, it's estimated that the entire 36-member board of directors shares a $13 million compensation pool. So where does the money go? Not toward providing fancy private offices or executive dining rooms, because there aren't any. The stockholders make out pretty well, since Honda has turned a profit every single year without ever having to lay off an employee, despite advances in automation, such as robotic welders. As you might expect when engineers are in control of where the money gets spent, the R&D budget is huge - nearly $5 billion this year. So what do they do with all that research money? They dream.        

Honda's slogan, "The Power of Dreams," is more than an ad agency spin, it's a mantra they live by daily. And Honda is delving into many different areas to develop new technologies for the future, such as hydrogen fuel cells and clean diesel engines that can rival hybrids in fuel economy. One of its more publicized ongoing experiments is ASIMO the robot, which can perform a number of human-like activities. They've even been studying the elusive cockroach in order to develop anti-collision technology.

This year, they'll begin production of the HondaJet, which is said to be 40 percent more efficient that others in its class. Also making it to the marketplace is a more efficient thin film solar cell that can be manufactured using 50 percent less energy, which was first tested at the Hosoe Plant where the Honda BF90/75 outboards are built.

The eco-friendly factory is a marvel of modern engineering, which even gathers rainwater, despite being located on Lake Hamana. The company still adheres to the principles of Soichiro Honda, who started the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu in 1946 and said, "After materials are carried into the factory, nothing but products should be carried out from it." Mr. Honda decided 4-strokes were the future of outboards because of their environment-friendly nature. Even back in the early 1960s, he didn't like the idea that 2-strokes put petroleum products in the water and said, "Because the water raises rice and the fish live in the water, I don't want to contaminate it." Honda has only produced 4-stroke outboards since it began in 1964, and it's the first to have an entire three-star lineup that complies with the California Air Resource Board's (CARB) strict 2008 requirements that all outboards be Ultra-Low Emission engines.   

The holy grail of outboard performance is an engine that gives you a great hole shot, is economical at mid-range cruise speeds, and can give you an extra kick in the seat of the pants at full throttle. And the Honda BF90 scores high in all three categories, using a variety of technologies. Low-end acceleration has traditionally been the forte of the 2-stroke engines, but Honda takes on the status quo with a system it calls Boosted Low Speed Torque, or better known as BLAST, which uses the engine's computerized brain, the Electronic Command Module (ECM), to aggressively advance the timing all the way to the knock point to take full advantage of the richer air/fuel mixture being fed to the combustion chamber. BLAST only kicks in when you jam the throttle quickly; if you ease the throttle forward, the spark advances normally. Punching out a hole shot on a Lund aluminum boat on Lake Hamana near the Hosoe plant results in a satisfying snap of acceleration that Honda claims is 20 percent improved, thanks to BLAST. Hopping on plane in less than four seconds, the Lund 1700 Explorer accelerates to 30 mph in just eight seconds.

To enhance fuel economy when a boat is cruising between 2000 and 4500 rpm, Honda uses a lean-burn system to reduce fuel consumption by varying the air/fuel mixture from 12.5:1 all the way to 18:1 under light load conditions. Since running an engine lean produces more heat, you can only do this if you have an exceptional cooling system, and the BF90/75 uses a three-way system that features two thermostats, allowing the cylinder head to actually stay cooler than the engine block itself. On a different test session at Lake Lanier not far from Atlanta, the BF90 powers a Smoker Craft 172 and gets 7 mpg at 4000 rpm at a cruise speed of 25 mph.

From its inception, Honda has been heavily involved in racing, because like horses, according to Mr. Honda, "Racing improves the breed." Honda is currently the only supplier of engines to the Indy Racing League, and like those 750-hp engines, Honda's largest outboards, the BF225 and the BF90, all use Variable Valve Timing and Lift (VTEC) to ensure when you jam the throttle all the way to the stops, you can wring every last ounce of power from it. When operating the outboards at cruise speed, a mild cam lobe configuration is employed to maximize economy and performance at that rpm range, but when you reach 5200 rpm, a hydraulically actuated pin links side-by-side rocker arms so that they're now being controlled by lobes (those bumps in the camshaft) that are more like those you find on a race cam. The benefit of this system is that you get turbocharger-like performance, without taking a corresponding hit in fuel economy. During a thrilling top-end run at Lake Lanier,  a lightweight Allison runabout powered by a BF90 reaches 57 mph. Looking down at the Honda fuel flow gauge reveals that it's getting 6.3 mpg. Despite the fact that the BF75 doesn't use VTEC, it still performs admirably, pushing an 18-foot Alumacraft bass boat to a top speed of 41 mph.

Consumers will also be getting more horsepower than ever with its lineup of new-generation engines that's expected to expand by four new models in the next five years. In previous years, Honda built engines that actually produced the horsepower labeled on the cowling, but in order to match what American companies were doing, new generation engines like the BF90 actually have more horsepower (Honda says about 96 hp). Despite the added technology and horsepower, the BF90 EFI weighs in at 359 pounds - 14 pounds less than its carbureted predecessor. The BF90/75 outboard is derived from the same 1.5L engine that powers Honda's compact car, the Fit, which behaves more like a sports car than an economy car, despite getting 38 mpg on the highway. Having been in production for years in Japan (and now available in the United States), the engine has had millions of miles of real-world testing. Not that you were taking  a chance, because no one has more experience building internal combustion engines, as evidenced by the 19.6 million Honda cranked out last year - more than any other company on the planet.

Honda has always had a well-deserved reputation for reliability and fuel efficiency, and the BF90/75, with a five-year warranty (offered on all Hondas until March 31, 2007), should be no different. Despite letting other 4-stroke manufacturers take the lead in getting large horsepower outboards to the market, look for Honda to reclaim its place as a performance leader with its new generation of outboards. After all, Mr. Honda was a racer.

HONDA BF90 EFI

Test results were gathered on a Smoker Craft 172 Ultima with two passengers and 24 gallons of fuel. 

Engine Type: In-line 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, EFI, SOHC
Weight: 359 lbs. (with 20" shaft)
Displacement: 1496 cc
Warranty: Five years (through
March 31, 2007)
Price: $9,585 (20" shaft)
Top Speed   42 mph
Time To Plane   3.5 seconds
0-30 mph  8.2 seconds
Decibels @ Idle  55 dB-A
Decibels @ 30 mph  81 dB-A
Decibels @ WOT   91 dB-A