@Jody_Sealwhy did you sell your 196?
Though I agree with most of what you’re saying, the fact is most tournament skiers won’t train behind a ZO 196 because they’re not being run at any tournaments. As hard as it is to imagine, the 2010-18 200’s have gone the same way. In my opinion these two boat models are the best ski boats ever built and yet they’re basically superseded in terms of tournament machines. I firmly believe the TSC1-3 196 tracks the course infinitely better than a 2022 Prostar, with the TXI so far behind it’s not even in the conversation. Yet both of those are what buyers will go for because they face them at tournaments, despite the cost.
I think if Nautique threw away the current mould and built only 200’s for the next 20 years and only updated colour schemes almost all skiers would be happy. The problem is these companies themselves, year on year profit increase is needed so new models have to be invented to extract more cash from customers and so the circle goes.