Most head-to-head comparisons in this business are a mess. Different hulls, different engine packages, different builders, different intentions - and the buyer ends up weighing five variables at once and choosing on the interior photographs.
The Sunseeker Superhawk 55 and the Sunseeker Predator 55 are not that. They are one inch apart in length overall. They sit on the same 16' 2" beam. They run the same twin Volvo Penta IPS 950, rated 2 x 725 HP, on pods. They carry the same 476 gallons of fuel and the same 114 gallons of fresh water. Both have two heads.
Which leaves an unusually clean decision, because the list of things that actually differ is short enough to read in one breath.
The four numbers that differ
Half-load displacement: 57,500 lbs on the Superhawk 55, 63,273 lbs on the Predator 55.
Draft at full load: 4' 8" against 4' 10".
Maximum speed: up to 38 knots against up to 36.
Accommodation: two cabins fixed, against two with a third optional.
That is the whole difference. Everything else on the two specification sheets matches.
Where the 5,773 lbs went
Line the two layouts up against each other and it is not hard to see.
The Predator 55 has a single-level main deck with a generous saloon and an L-shaped galley up there, whose side units connect to the linear cockpit wet bar so that with the patio door open the inside and outside run together. Above the saloon it carries a retractable glass and carbon fibre sunroof that glides aft electrically at the touch of a button from the helm console, under a sweeping double-curved single-piece windshield. Below there are two cabins, a lower saloon to starboard and a storage or optional utility room - and that room can instead be specified as a twin cabin with en-suite, which is how the boat gets to six guests. The owner's cabin is full beam.
The Superhawk 55 does none of that. The galley is down, in an open-plan lobby at the bottom of the steps, lit from an expansive overhead screen with electrically operated blinds. The main deck is helm, cockpit and a large central wet bar with several furniture configurations. Forward is a VIP cabin with en-suite; aft is the master, with sliding berths that make up a double or two singles, and black lacquer panelling. Two cabins. That is the ceiling.
A main-deck galley, a retractable roof, an extra cabin and the structure to carry all of it are exactly the kind of things that add up to the better part of three tons. None of that is wasted - it is just weight, and weight is the currency this comparison is denominated in.
What the weight buys back
Two knots at the top end, off identical engines. 38 against 36.
Two inches less draft, which matters more in a thin inlet than it does on paper.
And a hull that Sunseeker says was drawn specifically around the IPS propulsion system rather than adapted to it. The part of that you can actually assess is low-speed behaviour: how the boat sits on the pods, how the joystick answers in a crosswind, how honest it feels at walking pace in a tight berth. Do that on the day, in a berth the width of the one you keep.
Two things to do before you sign
On sea trial, run the boat at the rpm you genuinely intend to sit at, and ask the dealer for observed burn at that rpm in writing. Then do your own arithmetic against the 476 gallons under the floor. Fifteen minutes, and you own a real number instead of somebody's recollection.
And be careful with aggregator listings on this range. The large third-party databases still carry the previous-generation Predator 55 - a 59' 1" boat with a 46-knot maximum - as though it were the current model. It is a different boat: today's is 56' 3" and up to 36 knots. Check the length and the maximum on any listing before you take the rest of its numbers seriously.
So which one
If your weekends are four people, and you would rather have deck than berths, take the Superhawk. It is the lightest and fastest boat Sunseeker builds under 60 feet, it draws less, and it has not been softened to cover a use case you do not have. The two-cabin limit is not a compromise on this boat; it is the specification.
If you ever need six berths, or you want the galley up in the saloon where the cook is part of the party, or the retractable roof is the thing you keep thinking about, take the Predator 55 and accept the two knots. It is the more flexible boat and it does not pretend to be the faster one.
And if you are shopping outside Poole while you decide, the two boats worth standing on are the Pershing 5X at 54' 2" and the Riva 58' Capri at 56' 8". Same brief, three different accents. Walk all of them in the same week if you can - it is the only way the differences stop being adjectives and start being obvious.