I have the luck of fishing on both , plus the 28 carolina classic too. I like the classic or albie if you are a trolling guy only , chunking the boats will roll a bit with the 24 deg deadrise . they will cruise 24 to 30 knots in 3 to 5 ft seas without beating you to death . the cabin down below is a plus for storage and a place to take a snooze .
now if you are a run & gun type of guy the contender will be faster and better ride for you , chunking out of this boat will be easier too because you can walk down the sides chasing a fish .f uel usage will be less on a gas boat with twin outboards than a diesel boat with twins.
I have chunked out of the classic I used to fish and it was OK . she had the twin 330 cummins and we burned about 1.2 mpg at 24 or 30 knots it seemed not to matter on speed the burn was the same .
this year we are running a 3070 pursuit cc with twin yamas . I'm not sure how we are going to like this rig until we fish it more . I am fishing a 38 ft florida custom diesel boat for charters this year too.