Is fairline 62 targa gt a good boat?

I'd rate Sunseeker above the other choices......If you can swing the 62-64' Sunseeker Predator, that is an AMAZING hull and ride, best in class and better build quality than the others you're thinking of. I'd put Princess above the latter two and slightly below Sunseeker overall. Although the 54' express they built doesn't run well (can't see over the bow when running, it runs so bow high). Fairline has been in and out of bankruptcy, their build quality is ok to good, but I've seen a lot of design issues where you just scratch your head and say, who on earth thought of doing this, this way. I hear the Galleons are decent quality but no direct experience.

If you consider "class" as the type/size of boats, then I wouldn't consider Pershing with surface drives and designed for performance to be in the same class. Not the same target customer and, especially in this case, not mentioned or asked about by the OP. A better comparison to the Predator would be Riva and I don't even consider them to be in the same product grouping, but Riva also capable of performance the Sunseeker isn't. Still Capt J address the OP, didn't go off on a tangent.

True that. I do notice the OP is all over the board though, no real class there at all. Predators and Galeon Skydecks are a far from similar, which does leave one open for other suggestions possibly. You are correct though, John1999 did have specific boats to compare and his only question was is the Fariline Targa 62GT a good boat. Of course it is. Good for what? Good at what? I don't know. It looks good though

Yes, I am keeping in class. OP is talking about European MY expresses with traditional props and shafts. Specifically compared the 62' Fairline to much smaller Sunseeker Predators, a Galleon and something else. It's only logical to compare the fairline to a 62-64' Sunseeker and well the only other English step child would be the Princess 62' express....would be apples to apples............ Of the choices the OP presented, Sunseeker is the clear leader in performance, quality and ride. I can speak on Riva as I've never run one. Another boat to consider would be a Neptunus express.

Pershing is in a totally different realm with Arnesons. Most owners and even a lot of Captains can't run them, can't trim them properly, and they have entirely different handling characteristics both at the dock and in a sea, they're performance all the way, bottom/props need to be crystal clean at all times, more maintenance, much harder to run and dock. You're comparing a Ford Mustang GT to a Ferrari challenge car with that comparison.

Azimut is a lot of headaches as far as maintaining one.

We can agree to disagree, but Fairline was in serious financial trouble in that era 2013-2019, or for the first 2/3s of that era. They didn't build many yachts during that time period, and you hardly see them on this side of the pond. I've had the pleasure of running 2 of them and one of them was a 78'. A lot of placement of items was just not good, the interior design was not good, and the build quality was all over the map, some areas done very well, and other areas of the boat items were just thrown in there with no though. On this 78', the entire forward half of the salon level, my head rubbed against the ceiling (it was that low) and I'm 6'3, in the first half if I had sunglasses on top of my head they rubbed on the ceiling. A 1" sill on each door frame so you always busted your feet going through stateroom doors. The master sink faucet was so low and close to the sink that you could only get your hands under it if they were horizontal. Many items like this. Boat performed horribly also as far as speed and range and had no range.....180NM on a 78'. They got the COG too far aft and until you burned off half fuel at cruise it was teeter tottering between 17-19 knots back and forth back and forth.....with the tabs all of the way down........

There is only 1 62' Targa for sale in the U.S. and 2 65' Flybridges. The 62' Targa has a million steps everywhere throughout the boat, steps into staterooms (with those god forsaken sills on the doors), steps in the middle of staterooms......it's like no thought was made on the interior, like they just screwed wood to existing stringers wherever it ended up. The master has a 6" step in the middle of the stateroom and the salon is very narrow. You can't even get out of the forward half of the dinette because the steps are in the way. Plus the engines are Volvo's and butted up against the forward bulkhead so tight you can't service anything on them. Sunseeker on the other hand, has flat floors, flat staterooms, the door sills are flush with the floor, you know like an architect got on a computer and actually designed the interior of the yacht, like all good builders do.........even Azimut does that.....

Here, look at the pictures and focus on the flooring and door sills, and other things that I mentioned, the boat has a million steps everywhere and the sills stick up 1" above the floor height.

2013 Fairline Targa 62 GT Sports Cruiser for sale - YachtWorld

In comparison here is a same era 2014 60' Sunseeker. If you look at the pictures, the floor is completely flat throughout the helm level and aft deck with only a step up for the companion helm seat. Stateroom floors are flat, No door sills sticking up, better layout in all areas and a lot roomier. An engine room where you can actually walk around the motors to the outbound side versus having to climb over them with the gears buried under wood work.......A dinette directly across from the galley with a flat floor without any steps to trip over and spill your food everywhere.

2014 Sunseeker Predator 60 Express Cruiser for sale - YachtWorld

Part of the issue is opposite sides of the Atlantic. I can tell you without any hesitation that most US buyers would not consider the Pershing at all as an alternative to the Predator. You see which boats the OP lumped together and others do when they come here to ask. Perhaps in the med buyers would look at all boats of a similar length and include Pershing and Riva and many other performance brands, but here the typical buyers of Sunseeker, Princess, Azimut, Galeon, and Prestige are not even mentioning or thinking of Pershing. Pershing's market share is far greater in Europe than the US and I suspect much of that is that it's a far better boat for the Med than for cruising the ICW.

Lower end of the price range will mean lower end of the s

Rather than saying this one is better than that one, you have taken the time to point our why this is your opinion. Quite valuable to anyone considering this "class". Sorry, could not help myself. Although I would put Riva and Pershing in the group as they are sport coupes, surface drive or not.

Arnesons are a VERY HARD sell in this size range and over here. Especially for owner operators. I'd say that out of all of the owner/operators of 60-65 yachts that are proficient, only about 10% of those could safely maneuver an Arneson boat in their normal travels. (Docking, ICW operation, etc.)