Looking for a 4WD ATV, Need suggestions

[Muggzy]

Hey Guys,
Been ridding a Banshee that I rebuilt several years ago. I'll keep it until I die, but I'd like to get a 4WD ATV that has a little more versatility. I ride mixed trails in woods only and would like to be able to have some choices. Sometimes I just wanna go out and take a nice easy ride in the woods or take a friend along for the ride. I'll have about $3-4000 to spend and don't mind doing some work at all. Anyone got any suggestions?

[finsteratv]

Honda Rubicon 500
i've also heard great things about the rincon. I like my dads rubicon since it also has a solid rear axle so although you have a lil less clearence (still a bunch) you dnt have near as much body roll as you do with IRS. plus with my dads you can even jump it a little bit in the dunes :eek: :p

[outacontrol]

I have a 06 Kaw Brute Force 650. twin cylinder power, solid rear axle, and lots of hop ups available, its a great fast quad! You can pick them up in your price range...

[Drfat400ex]

Well I dont think you could find one for under 4g, but them renegade 800 are sweet! My buddy has one and it keeps up pretty good on the trails and i took it for a spin through the swamp, didnt even feel like you were goin through anything slid right through. Pretty reliable machine too.

[honda400ex2003]

id be on a rincon if i wanted to ride a 4x4 all the time.

my dads is great in 650 form. id def look for the 680 with fi and such on it and enjoy the ride.

the renegade is almost too much for trails, it is fun for about 20 minutes. you get tired of the tires spinning and having to lug it around for a long time.

my buddy just got rid of his gade to go back to a yfz for the same reason.
i would take a rincon over a renegade or something any day. the ride of the rincon is so smooth and power delivery is smooth compared to the can ams.

the can ams are great though too if you want an outlander. they just feel heavier than the rincon in general.

just my .02 though,
steve

[SRH]

i had a brute sra...great quads, if i was going to do it again id go with the irs model tho, ur limited with the struts on the front of the sra

the kawi v twin cant be beat, reliable and powerful

[wilkin250r]

Every once in a while something stands out as really important to one person, and another person couldn't really care less.

For a utility, I like comfortable quad. If I was getting one, I'd be looking for a Yamaha Grizzly or a Polaris Sportsman. I know the Brute Force is a great quad, but the last one I rode the seat was as hard as a sport quad. It's not a big deal on a sport quad, because I'm up off the seat a lot of the time. But I obviously don't ride a utility the same way, so I have different needs.

The Renegade is comfortable, big, and powerful. But I want something with racks, I want to be able to haul extra gas for the whole squad, maybe a cooler, tools, ect.

I know it sounds silly, but a soft comfortable seat to me is more important than IRS, power steering, or even (in some cases) engine size and power.

[chucked]

I loved my brute force 750's. expecially if you are looking for a smooth ride, the irs is wonderful.

[SRH]

Originally posted by chucked
I loved my brute force 750's. expecially if you are looking for a smooth ride, the irs is wonderful.

i was gonna say, the brute irs is def a plusher ride than the grizzly and way more reliable,

the polaris are cadillacs, i wouldnt mind having a new 850 xp or even the old sportsman 500

[HondaRacing83]

Lots of mixed opinions here.. I'm gonna have to partially agree with finster. My dad had a Honda Foreman 500 for a couple years, it was red and an 07. He had a supertrapp exhaust, k n filter, outerwears, itp mudlites, ss rims, etc. i loved that thing. its practically the same as a rubicon but the rubicons are automatic(coreect me if im wrong?) and my dads foreman was electric shift. you just hit a button to shift. my unlce has one to. my dad sold that and bought a grizzly 700, pro circuit t4 which he took off and sold, itp mudlites and ss rims, realtree hardwoods camo, handguards etc. i love it, its so powerful and can walk all over my 400 in a straight drag. very comfy in trails to. My only complaint is its very short. easy to flip, foreman wasnt. my dads tossing up the idea of a renegade or outlander, hes leaning towards the outlander and might go order a new camo xlt or whatever there deluxe model is in the 1000 or 800, he cant justify the couple grand price difference between 10horrse so prob the 800. for you id suggest the foreman. grizzly 660 if you can find one cheap because you cant find 700s that cheeap.

[chucked]

Keep in mind whos talking about their dads four wheeler vs. the ones who actually own(ed) one

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by chucked
Keep in mind whos talking about their dads four wheeler vs. the ones who actually own(ed) one I've rode them plenty times to have a valid opinion.

[beastlywarrior]

Guess im kinda biased towards the big bear 400 or the old wolverine 350

[SRH]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
Lots of mixed opinions here.. I'm gonna have to partially agree with finster. My dad had a Honda Foreman 500 for a couple years, it was red and an 07. He had a supertrapp exhaust, k n filter, outerwears, itp mudlites, ss rims, etc. i loved that thing. its practically the same as a rubicon but the rubicons are automatic(coreect me if im wrong?) and my dads foreman was electric shift. you just hit a button to shift. my unlce has one to. my dad sold that and bought a grizzly 700, pro circuit t4 which he took off and sold, itp mudlites and ss rims, realtree hardwoods camo, handguards etc. i love it, its so powerful and can walk all over my 400 in a straight drag. very comfy in trails to. My only complaint is its very short. easy to flip, foreman wasnt. my dads tossing up the idea of a renegade or outlander, hes leaning towards the outlander and might go order a new camo xlt or whatever there deluxe model is in the 1000 or 800, he cant justify the couple grand price difference between 10horrse so prob the 800. for you id suggest the foreman. grizzly 660 if you can find one cheap because you cant find 700s that cheeap.

honda is a pure work horse, very rigid feeling ride , and no where near as powerful

grizz 660 and 700 arent bad but down on power aand ride no smoother than a brute

[finsteratv]

maybe its just me but my dads honda rides like a dream...soft seat too! i've seen other utes out in the dunes but usually no hondas and we havnt had problems with ours anywhere. builds trails well too. and hondaraing83 the ruby is auto but you can switch to semi-auto hand shifting. button. good on gas

[Tommy Warren]

anything but a polaris... My buddy had an 850xp and couldn't keep it running at all ended up trading for a raptor 700 + cash

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by Tommy Warren
anything but a polaris... My buddy had an 850xp and couldn't keep it running at all ended up trading for a raptor 700 + cash ive heard some bad things about polaris to. especially the older ones. i think the newer ones some of the bugs are worked out but someone told me they had a screwy tranny. its like a car or somethin and will lock up goin up a hill? or pitchin it sideways? idk my dads buddy has the 1000xp and its dumb fast for a ute. whats the point? wheres the 1000 motors in sport quads!

[Muggzy]

Wow. I should have expected so many different opinions. I'm looking at a '02 Sportsman 700. It' s been stored under a tarp though and needs work but I like the idea of IRS & 700cc's - the guy's asking $1800. I also have a friend with a Grizzly 700(?) and he loves the thing. On trails, he's got no trouble keepin up.

Comfy? Yeah, my 48 year old arse wouldn't mind sitting down once in a while, but I'm also looking to use the thing to make some trails for the Banshee though, so racks are a good thing to haul a saw and some tools and even a gas can to keep the Banshee full of fuel when I take a friend along http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab266/Muggzy_photo/Icons/BrumBrum.gif

[SRH]

Polaris gets a bad rap , there good quads and cheap to own , and great performance , easy to work on , tons of parts out there

[tbrackman84]

I would go with a honda rincon or foreman or something. Because they're hondas :D But seriously, everyone in my family has honda utilites and they are all sweet, recons, old trx 300's foremans, ranchers, they are all good. You really can't go wrong with one of them in my opinion. But i've also two other 4wd's enough that i can give an opinion on:

One was a kawi prairie 700, i liked it because it was smaller all around than most other big bores, but it made some awesome power. The one i rode had bighorns on it. It handled good and went like a son of a gun. I think you can get them for a pretty good price too.

The other was a grizzly 700 with power steering. This one had alot of **** done to it though. Full exhaust, some kind of programmable cdi box, big SS wheels and tires. It had a ton of power and the power steering was kind of neat too. It was alot different from stock when i was riding it though so I can't really make a good estimate on how one would be stock...

[rundrave]

Here is what you need to do, instead of listening to all the bias reviews on here. They all are good brands, all have pros and cons. You need to get out and ride each and determine what feels the most comfortable to you. not one someone says on the internet.

My vote is to go with Polaris, you cant beat their AWD system, no messing with any lockers etc like most other brands.

And to all you guys suggesting Honda, I believe the original poster wants a 4wd ATV, and arent Honda's 3 wheel wonders? :)

[Muggzy]

Originally posted by SRH
Polaris gets a bad rap , there good quads and cheap to own , and great performance , easy to work on , tons of parts out there

That's what I'd heard. And since I do all of my own work, easy to work on and available parts are a big deal. I've also heard good things about their 4WD and IRS.


Originally posted by rundrave
Here is what you need to do, instead of listening to all the bias reviews on here. They all are good brands, all have pros and cons. You need to get out and ride each and determine what feels the most comfortable to you. not one someone says on the internet.

The forums are just a starting point. I make up my own mind but wanna hear some opinions. The ones that count the most are the ones from people who've had problems on a machine they've owned and those who have specific reasons for loving their own machines. I'd love to try 'em ALL but I don't know that many riders. I don't like going into a shop and test riding their stuff either when I know there's almost zero chance that I'm gonna buy from them. I just don't roll that way.



Originally posted by rundrave
My vote is to go with Polaris, you cant beat their AWD system, no messing with any lockers etc like most other brands.

And to all you guys suggesting Honda, I believe the original poster wants a 4wd ATV, and arent Honda's 3 wheel wonders? :)

I have a friend who professionally services power sports machines and he says pretty much the same about the Hondas. He also loves their engines but hates the way the rest of the Hondas are designed/put together.

Funny thing is he rarely gets Grizzlys. Don't know if that's b/c they don't need much servicing or they aren't too popular around here.

[SRH]

Originally posted by Muggzy
That's what I'd heard. And since I do all of my own work, easy to work on and available parts are a big deal. I've also heard good things about their 4WD and IRS.



The forums are just a starting point. I make up my own mind but wanna hear some opinions. The ones that count the most are the ones from people who've had problems on a machine they've owned and those who have specific reasons for loving their own machines. I'd love to try 'em ALL but I don't know that many riders. I don't like going into a shop and test riding their stuff either when I know there's almost zero chance that I'm gonna buy from them. I just don't roll that way.




I have a friend who professionally services power sports machines and he says pretty much the same about the Hondas. He also loves their engines but hates the way the rest of the Hondas are designed/put together.

Funny thing is he rarely gets Grizzlys. Don't know if that's b/c they don't need much servicing or they aren't too popular around here.

we part out wheelers, ive got 3 or 4 in the last year with blown rods...whenever i buy a polaris all thats wrong is some worn bushings....cake for any guy who does his own work

[axellmusic19]

I have ridden a number of polaris sportsmans and trailbosses as well as some ranchers, and foremans. I vote for the sportsmans. I love yamaha, but the suspension and ergonomics of the Polaris family is very smooth and easy going. I know the yamaha/suzuki utility's are B/A but if you are looking for reliability the sportsmans are fine. The hondas were interesting haha. The ones I rode were for farm use and mud bogging. The rancher is high quality but will not be very fun to ride in the long run. The foremans are animals for traction and also reliable but very slow and somewhat heavy. Just my personal experience has enjoyed the polaris sportsmans the best for all around trail machines. Besides, more power, suspension travel, grip, and more can all be added aftermarket, but design, comfort, and ease of use are hard to find naturally. Especially power steering without killing the bank. Hope this helps! :)

[Muggzy]

Originally posted by SRH
we part out wheelers, ive got 3 or 4 in the last year with blown rods...whenever i buy a polaris all thats wrong is some worn bushings....cake for any guy who does his own work


Originally posted by axellmusic19
I have ridden a number of polaris sportsmans and trailbosses as well as some ranchers, and foremans. I vote for the sportsmans. I love yamaha, but the suspension and ergonomics of the Polaris family is very smooth and easy going. I know the yamaha/suzuki utility's are B/A but if you are looking for reliability the sportsmans are fine. The hondas were interesting haha. The ones I rode were for farm use and mud bogging. The rancher is high quality but will not be very fun to ride in the long run. The foremans are animals for traction and also reliable but very slow and somewhat heavy. Just my personal experience has enjoyed the polaris sportsmans the best for all around trail machines. Besides, more power, suspension travel, grip, and more can all be added aftermarket, but design, comfort, and ease of use are hard to find naturally. Especially power steering without killing the bank. Hope this helps! :)

Thanks! Both a big help http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab266/Muggzy_photo/Icons/sport-1.gif

Hey SRH, send me your contact info, I may be looking for parts in the near future :-)