Riviera 4300 Sports Express Review (2025 Edition) by Aquaholic

On Deck

The idea of the Riviera 4300 Sports Express is to give you the proper walk-around feel but with more comfort than you normally get. You step straight onto a high-load swim platform that can carry a tender, but drop it into the water and it becomes a beach area, angled with built-in steps down into the sea. It’s somewhere you can sit, dangle your feet, or launch straight off for a swim.

The transom is home to a very clever barbecue zone. There’s a grill, a sink, storage, and even a through-hull locker that disappears right under the cockpit seating, which is great for paddleboards, so you don’t need to inflate and deflate an inflatable one every time. It’ll take a solid board that slides all the way through. Another hatch opens to reveal deep storage that’s easily big enough for a seabob, an outboard, or extra fuel tanks.

The cockpit itself feels like party central. Two facing L-shaped settees and a fold-out table mean you can sit around chatting or open it right up for dining. The whole space is air-conditioned, but you can also drop canopies to enclose it or leave it open to the breeze. Riviera even added a side door and sliding roof, so you can run this area any way you like.

There’s a secondary cook station in the cockpit with sink, fridge, bin, and storage for stemware and cutlery, plus a freestanding cooler that doubles as an extra seat or can be lifted out and taken to the beach. All the thinking is practical: smoke from the grill stays outside under the open sky, while drinks and snacks are at hand inside.

Forward, the side decks take you to a bow that’s been designed with seakeeping in mind. If you drive into a big green wave, water is channelled through scuppers and blasted overboard rather than pooling around your knees. Up here you also get a vast sunbathing pad, Fusion speakers with stereo controls, USB chargers, and a neat cantilevered cocktail table that hides behind cushions until you want it. Shade poles take a bimini, and there are lockers for fenders, chain washdown points with both fresh and salt water, and a remote anchor control.

Through the sliding companionway door inside and Riviera has kept it all very open-plan, so the whole family feels connected. The saloon flows front to back, and although this is a cockpit-orientated boat, the lower spaces have been made comfortable enough for weeks away. Hardwood on the steps and floor sections keeps it tough underfoot, with carpet in the cabins where you want it soft.

The galley is split between above and below. On the main deck, the cockpit cook station covers the day-to-day with sink, fridge, bin, and storage for stemware and cutlery. Down the stairs, there’s a fully fitted galley with more refrigeration, a cooker, and deep lockers carefully shaped so crockery doesn’t rattle itself to pieces underway. Another bin is tucked away, and everything has its place.  

The saloon itself has room to stretch out with the air conditioning running, feet up on the settee, maybe a film on the TV. The single heads is big, with a separate shower cubicle, sink, loo, and plenty of stowage in lockers and behind the mirror. When the sliding bulkhead and door to the forward cabin are closed, the layout gains a sense of privacy, but left open it feels communal and sociable.

Details are everywhere: flush-fitting doors, grippy tread at the foot of the steps so wet swimmers don’t soak the carpet, and a little ice maker set by the stairs for a sundowner without going hunting. CZone control panels handle electrics and monitoring, mirrored at the helm but duplicated here so you can check batteries or lighting from below.

Owner's Cabin

Right up in the bow, the owner’s cabin keeps things simple but very usable. There’s a big bed, plenty of hanging space, and the whole area feels open and bright when the bulkhead is left slid back. Riviera has designed it so you can decide how you want to use it: slide the bulkhead across, clip it in, shut the door, and it becomes a private cabin. Or leave it open and it flows into the saloon as one big space.

The overhead hatch adds light and fresh air, and it doubles as a second escape if needed. Carpeting underfoot makes it feel warm and homely, but the hardwood tread stops short of the step down so anyone nipping in from a swim isn’t tracking damp feet straight into the cabin. It’s the sort of space that works whether you’re weekending as a couple or staying on for longer.

Guest Cabin

Under the cockpit, Riviera has gone for a smart bit of flexibility. Instead of two singles or just one double in this cabin, you get both: a proper double on one side and a single on the other. That means if another couple joins you, they’re not stuck in bunks, and if it’s the kids, well, you can keep them safely out of each other’s reach depending on how long their arms are.

The space is naturally more compact than the owner’s, but it works well for what it’s meant to do. There’s alsoa little privacy curtain you can pull around, so guests or children can shut themselves away a bit.  

Lift the cockpit floor and the whole engine bay comes up nice and straightforward. Pop the catches, give them a twist, and up she rises. Down in the bay, you’ll find the Volvo Penta IPS units. This particular boat is on IPS650s, each based on the D6 block and producing 480 horsepower. You can have IPS600s as well at 440hp, but why wouldn’t you go for the bigger ones?

The IPS pods sit right aft of the engines, neatly arranged, and Riviera’s quoted the performance with typical precision. Flat out, she’ll make 32.3 knots. Settle her at about 28.7 knots and that’s your cruise, with a range of around 189 nautical miles allowing a 10% reserve. If you drop the speed back, of course, you’ll stretch that, but this is a planing boat so she’s meant to be driven properly on her lines.

The space is impressively well equipped for a boat this size. There’s an air-con unit, a compact watermaker that’s surprisingly small for what it does, a generator, and an automatic fire system. Fuel filters are right in sight, and there are remote shut-offs on the tanks in case of emergency. Even a freshwater hose is plumbed in down here, something you rarely see at this size but a nice Riviera touch.

Riviera has an excellent reputation for after-sales and dealer support, so when it comes to warranty work or sourcing parts you’re not left chasing shadows. Structurally (hull, deck, flybridge, hardtop) Riviera now offers a 7-year Structural Limited Warranty or up to 2,800 hours of use (whichever comes first). For non-structural components, the coverage is a 2-year Express Limited Warranty. The IPS drives are brilliant for handling but they do come with their own servicing schedule: pods, seals, and software checks are more involved than a straight shaft, so you need to budget for that.

There’s also a lot packed into this boat. Air-con, powered canopies, a generator, watermaker, CZone controls: all of it makes life more comfortable, but more systems mean more checks. The balance is that Riviera has laid it out sensibly. Access to filters, pumps, and tanks is easy, stowage is organised, and you don’t spend half the yard bill on an engineer just working out how to get to things. That practical design saves money in the long run and makes day-to-day ownership less of a chore.

For alternatives, it’s worth looking at the Tiara C44 and Jeanneau NC 14. The Tiara leans heavily into American styling with a big cockpit and IPS handling, and the French Jeanneau pushes the idea of a floating apartment with straight-sided styling and maximum interior volume.

The Riviera 4300 Sports Express is a brand-new line for the yard, and it feels like they’ve struck the balance just right. It’s still very much an open, walk-around style of boat and it just keeps you out in the fresh air.  It’s a boat that works as a weekender, comfortable for a couple, and perfectly fine for family cruising. The 4300 Sports Exress is a brand-new direction for them, and on this evidence, you can see why Riviera will likely build more of them.