G23 or M230 decision

[Merk44]

Current 23 LSV owner here—love the boat, but my warranty is up in the spring and I’m ready for something new. Malibu’s been great to us and the new M230 is a sick boat, but we stopped to look at the G23 and were blown away. Honestly, we think the M230 has the better-looking exterior, but the G23 interior and overall fit/finish are hands-down better.

We’re scheduled to lake test both, and I’m guessing that’s going to be the deciding factor. Let’s be real—these boats are bought for performance.

What I’m looking for: honest opinions from 2025+ G23 owners.

• What do you love about it?
• What do you wish was different?
• Anything you’d change if you ordered again?

I’ve got a build in the system with all the bells and whistles except Steer Assist—I know how to drive an inboard and don’t need it for Texas lakes. I specced the bigger motor, but my dealer says the ZZ6 is plenty for what we do.

I’ve heard chatter that the surf wave is too steep and harder for beginner surfers—is that legit, or just people who don’t know how to dial it in? How are the factory settings for surfing and wakeboarding?

Finally, any big issues you’ve seen in your first year with the new hull?

Appreciate any insight before I pull the trigger.

[morrow]

Love the new 2025, EXCEPT the tower camera. Seriously, don't buy a 2025. Wait and buy a 2026 instead. Nautique completely botched the tower camera on their 2025 G Series. They have apparently fixed it for 2026 (have not seen to confirm). They are unwilling to do anything to fix it in 2025 models. The tower camera is not functional on the 2025s.

[hal2814]

I went from a 2022 G23 to a 2026 G23. The 2021-2024 G23 hull is a revolutionary redesign that completely changed the surf profile while mostly keeping the wake profile of previous G23s. The 2025+ is more refinement of the 2021+ hull where they went in and addressed a lot of the 2012-2024 shortcomings but didn’t drastically change the surf or wake profile. The 2025+ maneuvers better at slow speed, has less bow spray, and can get on plane easier fully loaded than the previous gen. As far as wake/wave the 2025+ G23 gets back a little of the lip the 2012-2024 lost and has a slightly over surf wave in the more skim-oriented settings. It has more room to work on the engine, larger rear compartment access, a slightly larger screen, and a better windshield. This all seems like small stuff and it kind of is but it also greatly changes the overall boat experience. For example, the tighter turn radius to pick up fallen riders is huge when you’re on a crowded lake.

as far as what I love about the G23 in general, in 4-6 minutes I can dial up a surf or wakeboard wake for my riders and we’re ready to go with the same wake/wave we always have. Malibu is also pretty good about this but a lot of the tab-based and deeper v boats aren’t. My crew size doesn’t matter. Regular or goofy doesn’t matter for surf. There’s not some process like getting your ramfills full, then setting surf size to x and non-surf side to y and set your tabs and a, b, and c. And pray to god nobody moves around the boat in the meantime. I just fill all ballast, and give it a speed and wave/wake shape and it’s remarkably consistent even when one rider is regular and one is goofy and even if someone decides to go to the front or back of the boat or switch from side to side.

There’s really not a lot I wish were different. I don’t like how expensive the options are but I think that’s everyone these days. It doesn’t let help that you pretty much need thruster and the telescoping tower to maintain any kind of decent resale. But overall I don’t think there’s another boat in its class and I looked hard this time around. The new x-star is probably the closest.

[Merk44]

I went from a 2022 G23 to a 2026 G23. The 2021-2024 G23 hull is a revolutionary redesign that completely changed the surf profile while mostly keeping the wake profile of previous G23s. The 2025+ is more refinement of the 2021+ hull where they went in and addressed a lot of the 2012-2024 shortcomings but didn’t drastically change the surf or wake profile. The 2025+ maneuvers better at slow speed, has less bow spray, and can get on plane easier fully loaded than the previous gen. As far as wake/wave the 2025+ G23 gets back a little of the lip the 2012-2024 lost and has a slightly over surf wave in the more skim-oriented settings. It has more room to work on the engine, larger rear compartment access, a slightly larger screen, and a better windshield. This all seems like small stuff and it kind of is but it also greatly changes the overall boat experience. For example, the tighter turn radius to pick up fallen riders is huge when you’re on a crowded lake.

as far as what I love about the G23 in general, in 4-6 minutes I can dial up a surf or wakeboard wake for my riders and we’re ready to go with the same wake/wave we always have. Malibu is also pretty good about this but a lot of the tab-based and deeper v boats aren’t. My crew size doesn’t matter. Regular or goofy doesn’t matter for surf. There’s not some process like getting your ramfills full, then setting surf size to x and non-surf side to y and set your tabs and a, b, and c. And pray to god nobody moves around the boat in the meantime. I just fill all ballast, and give it a speed and wave/wake shape and it’s remarkably consistent even when one rider is regular and one is goofy and even if someone decides to go to the front or back of the boat or switch from side to side.

There’s really not a lot I wish were different. I don’t like how expensive the options are but I think that’s everyone these days. It doesn’t let help that you pretty much need thruster and the telescoping tower to maintain any kind of decent resale. But overall I don’t think there’s another boat in its class and I looked hard this time around. The new x-star is probably the closest.

This is great info and appreciate the write up. We looked at both models back to back last weekend to get feel of each before lake testing. Everyone is to excited on the lake and didn’t want to miss anything. As for a static environment, the M230 has better exterior look and lines but the G23 interior, fit and finish is hands down the winner. The lake test and seeing the performance of each will be the decider.