Sea ray 47 Sedan bridge or Carver 52 voyager

I would consider Neptunus on your list as well as it is also a good boat and falls somewhere into the middle of that mix.

The original boats had interior finishes on the same level with much larger, more expensive yachts, but layout and accessibility were questionable. Keep in mind the Neptunus name is not widely known and this can effect resale value.

Just remember that by definition the ones you're looking at have not sold at those prices and many will ultimately sell for far less. Asking prices for used boats is a circus unto itself.

Why?

https://www.google.com/#q=boats+using+v+drive

V drive thing or Sea Ray thing?

I have not seen really any issues with v-drives being less reliable. The early Searay MPM/ZF v-drives (stand alone with a seperate transmission and jackshaft) were indeed problematic or suffered longevity issues due to their aluminum case, they stopped using those around 1994 ish. They're generally used quite a bit by various manufacturers in the size range you're looking at. Off the top of my head in the types/size of boats you're looking at, the manufacturers that use v-drives off the top of my head are :Searay, Sunseeker, Azimut, Neptunus, Cruisers, Carver, Marquis and many others. As for additional fuel consumption, I haven't seen that either as it's really a moot point because generally a V-drive boat will have a slightly better shaft angle and make up any in-efficiency of extra gears by more efficient shaft angle.

The 56' Neptunus is a good riding/running yacht. Their 63'-64' are also good running and riding and well made with quality falling somewhere between the Searay and Hatteras.

Well, considering how many Searay's I've seen that have skidded across the tops of sandbars at cruise speed by their owners, I would expect most all of those situations would have transmission problems if they were so equipped instead of v-drives also.