which older engine is better

Looking at late 90's ski's and not sure which ones to look at. My buddies have GSX and GTX's with the 787 white engine and really never had any problems except we just had to replace an engine as it took a crap but after 10 years thats not too bad. But I've had friends with the Limited's and all three of them I've seen went through several engines just in the first few years. This was back in like 97-98 was there a problem back then with the design or were they always crap. I can pick up the ski minus engine from the one guy that never replaced the engine after the third time for cheap but if I did that should I put the oem engine back in or a smaller more reliable one. Oh and I'm thinking about getting two a 3 seater and a 2 seater.