Boat test for the 2005 Viking Sport Cruisers V70 Express with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, videos, engine test reviews, and ratings for the 2005 Viking Sport Cruisers V70 Express.

That sports car metaphor is also supported by the V70's performance. Nineteen degrees of aft deadrise, cupped chines, power-assisted steering, the swim platform's additional waterline, and the twin Cats' 630-hp edge over the standard 1,360-hp MANs produced a thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly dry ride. Acceleration was quick, with only moderate (four degrees max) bow rise, and an average top speed of 45.3 mph was equally satisfying, although according to the Cat displays, the engines weren't fully loaded. (Subsequent tests by Viking with different props produced a top speed of just over 46 mph.) And that was with 900 gallons of fuel and seven people aboard.

Seven people may seem like a crowd for a test, but it surely didn't feel like it. Credit that to the expansive main-deck area abaft those four seats. The inside half includes a ten-person U-shape settee and table to starboard across from a smaller settee, standard wine cooler, and LCD TV with optional Bose home-theater system. It's here and below on the accommodations level that you see the work of TDI, which has produced a most un-European interior of tan and beige suede and leather, natural cherry, and copper-tone Avonite, accented by sand carpets and hardwood floors.

A triple-panel sliding-glass door opens to two-thirds width to join this area with an exterior that's nearly equal in size and about half of which is shaded. Like all exterior decks, it is teak-clad. Another U-shape settee with folding table lies to starboard, while to port is a mini-galley (the main one is below) complete with two-burner stovetop, sink, ice maker, trash bin, and pull-out drink drawer, plus an L-shape settee.

Getting the idea that the V70 was designed for outside fun? Wait until you see what's aft of each of those settees: a two-person sunpad (there's a third on the foredeck). To get maximum length, hinged headrests can also function as backrests for the settees. Pretty crafty—but not as crafty as what's farther aft. Beneath the sunpad and abaft the engine room is crew quarters with a head/shower and single berth to starboard (future models will have another berth to port). Accessed from beneath the starboard sunpad, it's surprisingly roomy—especially when you consider there's a garage on both sides. The wider port-side one is for the tender and the starboard garage is for the PWC. Both have windlasses.

With all that potential for exterior fun, you could almost forget about the lower deck. But you'd be ignoring a full-beam amidships master, a port-side double-berth stateroom, and a forepeak VIP—all with en suite facilities that include an enclosed shower. You'd also miss the fully equipped starboard galley, which complements the topside minigalley.

And you'd miss the American feel of a yacht that looks European from the outside. That's a combination a lot of builders on both sides of the Atlantic would love to have. Maybe they need to create their own European Union.

Viking Sport Cruisers
(609) 296-6000

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