My wife and I and our 2 kids wanted a boat with much more room than our old MasterCraft 190. We saw an Outback V on the lake and stopped the owner and took a tour. We were very impressed with the room and decided to attend the Atlanta boat show to order a new Outback V. While at the show we also checked out the LS (same hull as the LSV). The one thing that we really liked was the higher freeboard!!! We felt safer with the kids riding in the front with the seats sitting lower, or actually the sides of the boat higher. We decided against the LSV because we are a big slalom skiing family and the wake would be too much for us with our skiing passion. You can get an LS for about 500 bucks less than the Outback V with the same equipment, expect to pay another 3600 bucks for the LSV. If you don't ski then you would like the LSV, if you ski then the LS is better. We had our minds set on the V drive but the LS, still with the engine in the center has a TON of room. We had 10 people in it the other day and still had room! The beam (width) is so wide that we even ordered the jump seat and put it behind the drivers seat for even more seating.